Chapter 8 Tianqi Temple and Dongyue Temple

Even in terms of realistic elements, it is not too simple.As mentioned in the previous article, there are some close-to-real place names, such as the north gate of Baoyu is Deshengmen, such as Gulou West Street is the real street name in Beijing, etc.But this book does not use only one style of writing, such as east, west, north, south, or truthfully, or pointing east and west, so when encountering these places, readers must use their own common sense to judge.For example, if you read a Western character, you will think it is really Western, and if you read an Eastern character, you will think it is true Dong. Some places make sense, and some places make no sense.Here is an example to illustrate:

Chapter 63 records Jia Jing's death, "ordered his descendants to help his coffin and enter the capital through the Beixia Gate". This Beixia Gate can also be called Deshengmen, but I think Xizhimen is more like it.Most of the famous places in Gyeonggi are in the western suburbs, and Jia Jing may be resting in that area.The word "North" can no longer be seen very dumbly, but it is not very obvious.For example, in Chapter 80 Xu Baoyu "takes a car out of the Tianqi Temple outside the West City Gate to burn incense and repay his vows", this West City Gate is clearly the Qihua Gate where I live now.There are two proofs:

(1) Tianqi is Dongyue.In the thirteenth year of Kaiyuan Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the god of Mount Tai was granted the title of King of Qi, see "Edict? Etiquette Chronicle".It is commonly known that Dongyue is the origin of Tianqi, that is, the so-called Great Sage Qitian is also conceived from then on. (2) According to the description in this book, Tianqi Temple coincides with the current Dongyue Temple outside Chaoyang Gate. Baoyu was timid by nature and did not dare to look at the images of ferocious gods and ghosts.This Tianqi Temple was originally built by the previous dynasty, it is extremely magnificent, but this year it is very old and extremely desolate, and the clay statues inside are extremely vicious. (According to the Gengchen edition of Zhiyanzhai)

Those who have visited Dongyue Temple must say that the scenery is just like it.Since Tianqi Temple is designated as Dongyue Temple, the irony allusion that Baoyu came out of Chaoyang Gate and Ximen is Dongmen is undoubtedly.On the other hand, some records about directions are not reversed, such as the North Gate in Chapter 43.If you say the opposite everywhere, you will go to "Qianwai" and "Xuannan" again, and it is not a joke to say that there is nothing to be stubborn about being deserted. I think that the pen of a book is flexible and varied, and it must not be stared at.If you look blankly, you are right here, and wrong there, which makes people bump into walls everywhere, and feels like walking into a ecstasy.