Chapter 10 2. Heart of Beijing

In fact, the Beijing city of the Ming Dynasty was not based on Nezha's eight arms, but a new capital city re-planned and built on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty capital city in accordance with the etiquette system of "Zhou Li·Kao Gong Ji". Regarding the planning and construction of the capital, as early as two thousand years ago, the Confucian classic "Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji" stipulated: "Craftsmen run the country, with nine miles of square, three gates beside it, nine longitudes and nine latitudes in the middle school, nine tracks of warp and painting, left ancestor and right community, facing the future market."

That is to say, the capital is square, nine miles long on each side, and three gates are opened on each side.There are nine roads in the city, nine in length and nine in width, and the width of the road can accommodate nine cars running in parallel.The left wing is the Taimiao where the emperor's ancestors are sacrificed, and the right wing is the Sheji Altar, which is dedicated to the god of land and grain.The front is the palace where the emperor lived, and the back is the market where people trade. The initial Beijing city was divided into three parts: the palace city, the imperial city, and the capital city. Later, during the Jiajing period, the outer city was added to form the fourth city (the outer city was only covered by the southern city due to lack of financial resources, but not all of it).After the outer city was completed, the capital was also called the inner city.

After the completion of the Beijing City Palace, the Ming Dynasty official commented: "At the beginning, when Beijing was built, Fanmiaoshui, suburban sacrifices, mandala, palaces, and gates were all regulated like Nanjing, but it was more open and magnificent." (Volume 232 of "Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty") The splendor and magnificence of the palaces, altars, and temples in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty surpassed that of Nanjing, and it has the majestic spirit of the capital of the emperor.The city of Beijing is divided into four cities: Miyagi, Imperial City, Inner City and Outer City:

The most important city in Beijing is Miyagi.Miyagi is the imperial palace, also known as Da Nei, also known as the Forbidden City. It is the place where the emperor governs and lives, and it is also the heart of Beijing, the so-called world.According to the understanding of celestial phenomena in ancient China, Ziwei Xingyuan (Polaris) is high in the middle of the sky, eternal and surrounded by stars. It is the residence of the emperor of heaven, so it is called Zigong.The emperor is the son of the emperor of heaven, so he uses the purple palace to symbolize the residence of the emperor in the world, and the palace city where the emperor lives is strictly forbidden as stipulated: those who enter the palace city without permission have "sixty sticks and one year's work"; Those inside are twisted." (Wanli "Da Ming Hui Dian" Volume 166) Therefore, the palace city of Ming and Qing Dynasties has the name of the Forbidden City.This name casts a mysterious color on the palace.

The second most important city in Beijing is the imperial city.Outside the palace city is the imperial city, where there are supervisors, bureaus, divisions, treasuries, etc., which serve the imperial court.About 18 miles around the imperial city, there are 7 gates on all sides: Daming Gate (renamed Daqing Gate in the Qing Dynasty) in the south, Chang'an Left Gate in the east, Chang'an Right Gate in the west, and Chengtian Gate (Tian'anmen) in the middle. The East is Dong'anmen, the west is Xi'an Gate, and the north is Bei'anmen (renamed Di'anmen in the Qing Dynasty).The walls of the imperial city are covered with bricks, painted red, and covered with yellow glazed tiles.The red walls on both sides of Tiananmen that we see today are the southern city walls of the imperial city.The imperial city was also listed as a forbidden area, and ordinary people who trespassed without authorization would be punished with one hundred sticks. (Wanli "Da Ming Hui Dian" Volume 164)

The third most important city in Beijing is the inner city.Outside the imperial city is the inner city.The inner city was originally called the capital city, and also called the big city. After Jiajing repaired the outer city, it was called the inner city.In the Qing Dynasty, the inner city was where the Bannermen lived.The circumference of the city is about 45 li, the city wall is 12 meters high, and the inside and outside of the wall are covered with bricks.There are turrets on the four corners of the city wall.The outside of the city wall surrounds the moat.Today's Beijing Line 2 subway was built on the site of the original inner city wall and moat.There are 9 gates in the inner city: the south, Zhengyangmen (originally called Lizhengmen, now called Qianmen) in the middle, Chongwenmen in the east, Xuanwumen in the west; Chaoyangmen in the east, Dongzhimen in the north; Dongzhimen in the west. , Fuchengmen in the south, Xizhimen in the north; Andingmen in the east and Deshengmen in the west.During the Zhengtong period, archways were erected outside the nine gates; after the completion of the nine gate towers in the inner city, the lofty towers and pavilions were as solid as gold, and Cui Wei was magnificent, giving it a new look.

The fourth most important city in Beijing is the Outer City.Outside the inner city, it covers the outer city.In the 32nd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1553), in order to defend against the harassment of cavalry outside the Great Wall, the outer city was built according to the regulation of "the city must have a Guo, the city must defend the monarch, and the Guo must defend the people".It was originally proposed to build 120 miles, but due to lack of financial resources, only 28 miles were built in the south, and seven city gates were opened: Yongding Gate in the middle of the south, Zuo'an Gate in the east, and You'an Gate in the west; It is the East Bianmen; the west and south is the Guangning Gate (the name of Emperor Daoguang Minning was changed to Guang'anmen in Qing Dynasty), and the north is the West Bianmen.The city walls were built with bricks and a moat was dug.

In this way, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing had four cities—the Miyagi, the Imperial City, the Inner City, and the Outer City.Traditions of history, influence today. In short, the completion of the city of Beijing centered on the Forbidden City reflects that China in the early 15th century had a strong and unified country, abundant financial resources, intelligent and hardworking people, and superb architectural standards.This is the most brilliant masterpiece in the history of ancient Chinese capitals, and also the most magnificent chapter in the history of world capitals. I would like to introduce an interesting historical phenomenon here.

The layout of the palaces in Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty is centered on the Taiye Pool (now Zhongnanhai and Beihai). The three groups of palaces in Da Nei, Longfu, and Xingsheng are in the shape of "Pin", and the Taiye Pool is sandwiched between them, forming "Taiye is the main body and the palace is the guest". Layout.However, Beijing in the Ming Dynasty concentrated the palace city on the east bank of Taiye Pool, forming a layout of "the palace is the main part, and Taiye is the guest".Why is there such a switch between subject and object layout?There are cultural reasons for this.Herdsmen "live by water and grass", and feed on cattle and sheep, and cattle and sheep live on grass, and grass lives on water, so water is the life of grassland culture.Zhu Di, who moved his capital to Beijing after usurping his nephew's throne by force, lacked a sense of security most in Beijing, so he put the high walls of the Forbidden City in the first place, and Taiye Pool was a place for leisure and recreation.Therefore, the layout of Yuan Dadu "Taiye is the main place and palaces are guests" and Ming Beijing "palace is the main place and Taiye is guests" is the reflection of grassland culture and farming culture in urban planning and palace layout.

Beijing City not only has the imperial palace as the heart of the whole city, surrounded by many city pools, guarding the imperial palace layer by layer, but also has a central axis as the backbone and soul of the whole city.