Chapter 39 Laughing about the Hutongs in Beijing

In Jin Yuelin's living room, there was a lot of laughter and conversation.Lin Huiyin's topic attracted the friends present. She is introducing to everyone a book she has read recently——"Jingshifang Lane Chronicles".This is a edition published by Baozhentang during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, written by Zhu Yixin in Yiwu.The book Gou Shen researched the scale and construction of streets and alleys in the capital and the evolution of their names after the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and provided a basis for them to study the architectural history of Beijing. Huiyin said that according to the textual research in the book, the outside of Daqingmen, which is now Zhengyangmen, commonly known as Qipan Street, was extremely prosperous as early as the Yuan Dynasty. ".In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Qianbu Gallery continued to be used as an annex in front of the palace.

"But," Huiyin took a deep breath, and continued, "this book doesn't mention that there was such a bridge city in Bianzhou as early as the Sui Dynasty. When the capital of Bianliang was established in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was opposite The area around the Bianhezhou Bridge is called the Royal Street, and the gallery houses on both sides are also called the Royal Gallery. It is recorded in "Tokyo Menghualu" that the Royal Street to the south of the palace gate is about 300 steps wide, and the Royal Gallery on both sides was originally City people are allowed to buy and sell during the period; since the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, the trading here has been prohibited..."

Huiyin finally concluded: "Such a very beautiful building was copied by the Jin and Yuan Dynasties and used for the outskirts of the Beijing Imperial City. It was maintained in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and became custom-made. The text in "Jingshifang Lane" proves that at this point." Sicheng continued Huiyin's words: "After all, Zhu Yixin was a scholar of Confucian classics in the late Qing Dynasty. The textual research of the name 'Hutong' shows its hard work." The topic was extended from this, starting from the hutongs in Beijing and talking about the evolution of the name "hutong".Xu Zhimo said: "Scholars of literacy have studied it for a long time. Hutong is a provincial writing, which has the same origin as the word 'nong' in Shanghai alleys. In the drama "Zhang Sheng Boils the Sea" written by Li Haogu, a man of the Yuan Dynasty, Yangshijiao was mentioned. "Touzhuantaer" is probably the earliest word for these two words to appear in writing."

Speaking of this, he smiled: "Among the hutongs in Beijing, the most well-known among the Chinese people is the Eight Great Hutongs, probably for the same reason that Shanghai's Four Horse Road was famous in the late Qing Dynasty." You say what you say, and I say what you say, saying that the names of Beijing Hutongs are friendly, humorous and vivid, far better than the dull avenues in New York.Like a ladder alley means that the alley looks like a ladder, with all the uphill paths.Pocket alleys are the same as the boring gourd and melon alleys. They are dead-end alleys with only entrances and no exits.Those hutongs inhabited by southerners, regardless of whether they are from Hangzhou or Wuxi, are collectively referred to as "Suzhou hutongs" in old Beijing.

There are several horse temples and horse temple alleys in Beijing. Why is it not called the Dragon King Temple? Why are there few horse temples in other places? Back in the Warring States Period, King Yan Zhao built a golden platform for dead horses.After that, whether it was the Mongolian rulers in the Yuan Dynasty or the Manchu rulers in the Qing Dynasty, they were all peoples who rode on horseback. They conquered the world by gold and iron horses, so they would naturally respect horses as gods and build temples for them. The alley got its name from the Temple of the Horse. The name of Hutong also conveys the living environment of old Beijing.For example, there are many alleys named after wells in the city:

Sweet water well, bitter water well, three-eye well, four-eye well, Gaojing, and Wangfujing; the names of some hutongs point out the division of the old capital city: Yangshi, Zhushi, Luomashi, Jianchang, Fine Brick Factory, Liuli Factory, Bingmasi, Luanyuwei, Dashilan.Seeing these names, people will have many imaginations and associations.