Chapter 21 3. How deep is the courtyard?

Writer Hong Zhu wrote in an article titled "Beijing's Compound": "For a long time, the living environment of Beijing citizens has two characteristics: first, there are many hutongs. Scattered in the quaint, 'one food, one drink' market life; secondly, there are many courtyards." Compounds are usually divided into two categories: one is troops and ministries, and the other is universities and scientific research institutes.These new immigrants who moved into the capital after the founding of the People's Republic of China built walls around land early on, establishing their own "sphere of influence". Bones and frames.At the same time, the compound culture that has influenced Beijing for half a century has also been born here.

When New China was first established, soldiers enjoyed special power and status.Although the veteran cadres of "Dajiangshan" come from all corners of the country and come from poor families, their children have created a unique "red aristocratic culture". In "Days Related to Youth", Fang Yan, Gao Yang and others shouted in a proud tone: "The children of cadres are fierce, please don't get close." Zhu Dake commented very well in his new book: "The superiority of identity, The arrogance of status, the arrogance of the family, the sensitivity and insight into political power games, all these elements nourish the youth in the compound. On the gray street, the military uniform clearly marked their prominent status, making these 'animals' show Gave a 'fierce' look, and radiated an air of distinction among the people."

When the painter Chen Danqing heard Liu Suola say that Wang Shuo was "a child from a compound in the military region", but that she herself "grew up in an alley", she felt a little incomprehensible: it is said that most of those who grew up in an alley were urban poor, But Liu Suola is clearly a child of a high-ranking official, and Liu Zhidan is her uncle.Chen later realized that after liberation, the homes of some leaders and celebrities were also located in Hutongs. Different from the large courtyards of ordinary people, most of these houses are single-door houses, isolated from neighbors, and most of them have been remodeled, with special boilers, kitchen and bathroom facilities.Because of the high status of the Liu family, after entering the city, the residence they were assigned was a Sihe mansion deep in the alley, which was naturally much higher than Wang Shuo's "big courtyard" that accommodated hundreds of military families.

Chen Danqing later lamented in the book that the first generation of leaders of the Republic knew what good housing was.For example, Kang Sheng's manor is now open, and it is called "Zhuyuan" Hotel, which is the former palace.Xiao Dezi and Sheng Xuanhuai lived there. There are big trees, old trees, all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, pools, terraces and corridors.The good houses in Shanghai and Nanjing are Western-style houses, which are also full of first-generation officials. However, relying on existing resources alone is obviously unable to meet the housing needs of urban cadres, so large-scale construction of courtyards centered on work units has become an option.

On the extension line of West Chang'an Avenue, from Muxidi to the north, passing through Baishi Bridge to Zhongguancun, people can see another urban landscape of the capital Beijing.There are no alleys and one-story houses covered with gray tiles, nor are there any palaces or temples nestled among low-rise one-story houses.In this former outskirts of the city, on both sides of the avenue, walls are attached to walls, and courtyards are connected to courtyards.The imposing gate through which cars enter and exit shows the identity of the courtyard.Quite a few gates have no signs of agencies or departments, only a mysterious house number.This is the West Courtyard in the allusion of "the east is rich and the west is noble" in Beijing.

It is said that the prototype of the compound can be traced back to the ancient county government or state government. The front is the court, and the back is the place where officials of all sizes and servants live.In the eyes of Beijingers, the Forbidden City is the largest compound. "The most interesting thing is that this kind of living form is the most typical expression in the Forbidden City. The first three halls are the last three halls. The first three halls are for offices, and the last three halls are the living places for the emperor and everyone. It is precisely this kind of compound after liberation. It evolved from the imperial city to the county government and then to the form after liberation.” Gao Wei, deputy director of the Yanjing Folklore Professional Committee of the Chinese Folklore Society, said.

And all of this started in 1949. When the ancient Beijing needed to re-plan the urban construction due to the birth of the new China, there was a "enclosure movement" like a competition between units, and there was a lot of individualism. Stance. On September 19, 1949, Liang Sicheng sent a letter to Nie Rongzhen, criticizing the phenomenon of random construction of some units without the consent of the Urban Planning Commission, pointing out that "if this method continues, in a very short period of time, Beiping's Construction work is about to be chaotic, and mistakes that are hard to correct are about to be made."

He hopes that Nie Rongzhen "in the name of the mayor and the chairman of the city planning committee will announce to all public and private organizations and private individuals at all levels that, in addition to rebuilding and rebuilding buildings, all new buildings, especially new buildings on existing vacant land, no matter how big or small they are. For the time being, we must first seek the opinion of the city planning committee, and then start designing and drawing. This is one of the most important tasks of the city planning committee. If this cannot be done, the city planning committee will be vain and have no value at all.” .

At that time, in order to solve the office problem, various agencies successively occupied the palaces with many vacant rooms in the city. For example, the Ministry of Health occupied Prince Chun’s Mansion, the People’s Liberation Army agencies occupied Prince Qing’s Mansion, the State Council occupied Prince Li’s Mansion, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference occupied Shuncheng County. Prince Li's Mansion was occupied by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Prince Hui's Mansion was occupied by State Council agencies, and Prince Lian's Mansion was occupied by the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

In the western suburbs outside the city, a large amount of land was divided by the troops at once, forming compound compounds, such as the Navy compound, the Air Force compound, the National Defense Academy compound, etc.; There is a large area around Renmin University of China, which has formed the phenomenon of "whoever builds a building will allocate money to the central government, and whoever builds a building will occupy the land". In terms of distribution, the line from Gongzhufen on Fuxing Road to Yuquan Road is a relatively concentrated place for military compounds. "This is formed by history. When it was first liberated, the troops were all in the west." Ren Zhiqiang, president of Huayuan Real Estate, said.The housing in the military dormitory is quite spacious, and most generals live in small buildings, at least two families share one building.There is also a big school building for the first-level organs of the district, which is a set of five or six houses.Generally, the dormitory buildings where school officials live are three or four bedrooms.The size of the room is also "extraordinary". A bathtub is placed in the toilet, which only occupies a corner.

The dormitories of state and municipal agencies are concentrated in the area from Xibianmen, west of Fuchengmen, to Muxidi, Sanlihe, and Baiwanzhuang. "At that time, the Second Ring Road was just outside the city. At the peak, there were 78 ministries and commissions, and more than 50 were in the west. The Sanlihe area is a gathering area for government agencies. The houses and housing are good. It used to be the best area." Ren Zhiqiang recalled Say. Wang Jun wrote in his "City Records" about the phenomenon of "running horses and occupying land" by various agencies and units and getting out of hand: Since all the departments are very powerful, the overwhelmed urban planning committee has almost become a "land allocation committee".A military chief actually questioned Wang Dongcen in Xue Zizheng's office: "You want our land use plan, which involves military secrets. Can you tell you the specifics? The scale of our development, even we can't say it ourselves, can you estimate it? ?” Wang Dongcen was speechless, so he had no choice but to give as much land as he wanted. In 1954, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee submitted a report to the central government, pointing out that "in the city, people are crowded and blooming everywhere, while outside the city, they occupy one side and do not cooperate with each other. Now this phenomenon must stop." In 1964, Li Fuchun, Vice Premier of the State Council, submitted the "Report on Beijing Urban Construction Work" to the central government, pointing out, "Because the construction plan is issued in accordance with 'sections', and each unit builds separately, it is difficult for Beijing to plan and build streets. Construction is carried out in large areas, and a complete and good street has not been built so far. Many units always want to form their own pattern, resulting in unreasonable construction layouts and disharmonious architectural forms in some areas. Many units have surrounded large yards. Without construction, it will cause a serious waste of land.” In 1982, the "Beijing Urban Construction Master Plan" proposed that "in the future, we can no longer build 'big courtyards', and we must break the pattern of 'big and comprehensive' and 'small and comprehensive' of independent portals." By the end of the 1980s, when Beijing was re-compiling the overall city plan, planners found that there were 25,000 courtyards of various kinds in Beijing. The political and cultural trends of the new Beijing no longer rise from the hutongs.New Beijingers and their community—the compound has become the main body of Beijing's urban society. The "Beijing culture" in history is mainly represented by three cultures: court culture with emperors as the main body; scholar-official culture with bureaucrats and scholars as the main body; and citizen culture with ordinary people as the main body.Then after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the "hutong culture" and "courtyard culture" can best represent the regional cultural characteristics of Beijing. Hutong culture is actually the continuation of Beijing citizen culture, and the corresponding "elite culture", after the disappearance of palace culture and scholar-bureaucrat culture, should be carried and carried forward by "courtyard culture". The compound in Beijing City has long been a place of mystery.It wasn't until Ke Yunlu's sensational novel in 1984 and the first two "Day and Night" and "Decline and Prosperity" as the "Kyoto Trilogy" that they really revealed a corner of Beijing behind the high wall: the courtyard of Beijing.People saw the intellectuals and cultural elites entering and leaving the compound, the political competition in the living room, the strategizing in the secret room, the family salon for the children of cadres, the daily life of writers, reporters, artists, graduate students, etc., and the appearance of all beings in Beijing. The compound can be divided into two categories, one is the leading organs of the party, government and army, and the ministries and commissions of the Central Committee or their subordinate departments; the other is scientific, cultural and educational units, and art groups, such as colleges and universities, research institutes of the Academy of Sciences, theater troupes, hospitals, etc.The departmental compound is the concentrated living area for the employees of the department; a typical compound is an independent space integrating the workplace and the living area. Since these departments are highly independent and try to form their own system, the horizontal connection is relatively weak.For this kind of situation, domestic people call it "partialism" or "departmental ownership", but some people abroad also call it "tribalism", which should be said to be quite vivid. In the vast courtyard enclosed by walls, the number of residents ranges from thousands to tens of thousands.Each compound is a fully functional small society, with auditoriums, playgrounds, bathrooms, swimming pools, clubs, shops, etc., and some also have kindergartens, primary schools, hospitals, grain stores, post offices, bookstores, savings accounts, etc. Offices, affiliated middle schools, police stations, etc.The employees' "eating, drinking, sleeping, getting old, sick, and dying" are contracted by the unit, and almost all of them can be solved in the compound. The residents of the compound can maintain a normal life without leaving the compound for many years. "When I was a child, my parents took me to Wangfujing, and they said that I had entered the city." Jiang Yuncheng, born in the early 1960s, is the son of a high-ranking cadre in the headquarters compound.He recalled: "We all thought we were authentic Beijingers when we were young. It wasn't until we were very old that we realized that there was another old Beijing outside the compound." Regarding the "occlusion" of the compound and its "incompatibility" compared to other buildings in the city, the book "City Monsoon" wrote: "The guard, rejection and prevention psychology embodied by the wall cannot but be said to be The cultural relics of a closed, isolated, and self-sufficient rural society are incompatible with socialized, public urban life. In comparison, Shanghai has far fewer walls than Beijing, and they are relatively low and thin. Before the 1970s, Bamboo fences are the main form of walls, even the East China Bureau and Municipal Party Committee compound on Kangping Road, and Song Qingling’s mansion on Huaihai Road are all bamboo fences. Compared with the airtight cement wall, it is obviously more "transparent" and Communicate." The compound is not only the main living environment for the new Beijingers, but also a specific cultural space that bears the lifestyle, values, ideology and culture of the new Beijingers.If you don’t stick to the geographical distribution and various specific differences of the compound—it includes at least the “shenzhai compound” in the hutong, the dormitory area of ​​state agencies in the old city, and the typical compound with comprehensive functions outside the city—it can be said that the compound At the same time, it is a "cultural community" for new Beijingers, and what grows out of it is a "courtyard culture" that is very different from the Beijing-style culture of old Beijing in the hutongs. The importance of rank and seniority is especially evident in the residents of the compound and in the life of the compound. Yang Dongping introduced: "Different from the residents of various identities and occupations in the courtyard house, the residents in the compound are mainly employees of the unit. The way they live together in the compound is not formed naturally during the process of social mobility and migration, but is distributed according to seniority and rank. This is most obvious in the courtyards of the army. There are general buildings, school official buildings, etc., as well as bungalows for ordinary staff that are different from the buildings where cadres live.” "The overlapping of work space and private living space not only adds more interpersonal emotional factors, but also adds more work and hierarchical relationships in private living space. Colleague relationships are transformed into neighborhood relationships, but this is mainly a 'homogeneous neighborhood' ', that is, a group of people with similar qualifications, status, age, and housing conditions. The wives of staff officers and officers are confidantes of each other, just like young teachers living in single dormitories in a university are neighbors. The important content of neighbor chats is a round of big The internal personnel affairs of the hospital (unit); the neighbor’s visit is likely to be the next day’s meeting notice. Unless there are special needs, the subordinates rarely visit the superior leader’s house; in extreme cases, such as the disciplined military compound, the neighbors They are still commensurate with their positions; even if they are walking in the morning and evening, they should salute and pay tribute to the head of the road." There is a real little story that may explain more clearly what is meant by "strict hierarchy": Two children were arguing over an event, and a child whose father was the chief of staff came to coordinate: ——What level is your father? —Colonel. ——What level is your father? — Lieutenant. The chief of staff's son said decisively: "Listen to the colonel." Children who grow up in this environment are extremely sensitive to their parents' promotions and all references that can establish their ranks. "Comparing with each other includes who has the big internal reference and the level of the father. When you are young, you know that the smaller the number, the higher the level. In our class, there are children of the minister, the secretary of the minister, and the son of the driver. Although we all play together , the driver's son basically can't get in the conversation and is often teased."Nowadays, the trend of "competition with fathers" is prevalent in Beijing, perhaps it originated from here. Scholar Zhu Dakexin happily talked about the courtyard culture: "The role of Wang Shuo pushed Beijing's courtyard culture to its extreme. The characteristic of the courtyard culture is that most of the residents are cadres. They are cadres from other places. Their children are very strange. They all have certain characteristics of immigrants from other places. At the same time, they try their best to learn from the original national culture and absorb what they need, and form a new kind of culture. Courtyard culture." Jiang Qiping, an information economist, talked about the compound culture from another angle: "In the original sense, the compound culture is a kind of foreign culture in Beijing. A rebellious mentality formed during the "Cultural Revolution" period. He is nothing himself, and he wants to smash everything of value. The child's stubbornness comes from nowhere, the most typical one is you don't pretend to be me Grandson, it’s not okay to be a little bit higher than me, if you want to have something worth more than me, I will spit on you.” "What's interesting is that people in the agency are more sensitive to the promotion of their parents. They often mention a certain person, whose father has been promoted to another official, and what position has changed..." This is the most direct message sent out by the compound, about status, identity, sense of superiority, strong hierarchical relationship and tight circle consciousness. In 1994, the Beijing Municipal Government ordered that all the buildings along the street, especially the walls, be removed, and a signal of openness and freedom was released from the compound. In 1999, Jia Qinglin, secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, put forward the proposal of "removing the walls to reveal the greenery".The compound gradually becomes transparent, and the "natural green" reflects the "army green". However, when the walls of the compound were demolished in the 1990s, all the major public media cheered, thinking that the authority of the compound was being dispelled, and that “some propositions accumulated in the compound are being integrated with the lives of citizens with some reservations”, some people But there was a different voice. The writer Kitamura thinks: "You pushed down the wall. I don't think it's because of their change of concept. I think it's because of external forces. For example, if we want to do something, you have to go out of the compound to the ring road, so that You can seize a lot of opportunities, because this rule applies to such a large chessboard, not such a small place." The physical walls can be dismantled, but the partition in the bones cannot be easily broken through. This is the so-called hierarchy, and the passage between layers is very narrow. The main body of the first generation of immigrants who entered Beijing after the founding of the People’s Republic of China was revolutionary cadres, revolutionary soldiers, and intellectuals who served the new society.However, their personality characteristics were shrouded in a unified political shaping, and the characteristics of the city and region were not fully revealed.The personality image of the new Beijingers is manifested with the growth of the "second generation of immigrants", who are the "third generation" politically. Writer Luo Yonghao is a "big courtyard boy" who lives in the so-called "county party committee compound". He said in a book: "I didn't see the term 'big courtyard boy' in books until I was in my twenties. .I don’t remember that our children had the so-called “habits of the big courtyard children” and “the sense of superiority of the big courtyard children” when we children were young (it seems that the irony in the book is all the children of the military courtyard in Beijing)”; “By 80 At the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 1990s, I heard dialogues like this from time to time on the campus of my hometown: "Fuck! The boy that the third child beat yesterday is the son of Mayor Wang. This is terrible!" In the past few years, the bad changes in the relationship between the Chinese bureaucracy and ordinary people can be seen from this.” Usually, the children in the courtyard think they are representatives of the new culture, and think that the children in the Hutong are ugly, and call the children in the Hutong called Hutong Chuanzi.Because most of the parents of Hutong children are ordinary citizens, and the living conditions are not as good as those in the big courtyard, they feel that they are inferior to the big courtyard, both mentally and materially. , but also helpless the same. Before the Cultural Revolution, the children in the courtyard and the children in the Hutong even went to different schools.This is typical class segregation.After the start of the Cultural Revolution, the education revolution abolished the privileged schools, and all the children went to the nearest school, so the children in the compound and the children in the Hutong both studied in the same school, but basically everyone played with each other, and the front line was very clearly divided. The parents of the children in the compound entered Beiping City after nearly 30 years of arduous revolutionary struggle, and the revolutionary spirit and heroic spirit that had experienced the baptism of war have also been passed down.What is shown is a strong sense of justice and an inclusive temperament towards social reality.But with the determination of social identity and level, it is another kind of noble-born red family traits that are reflected in the descendants of these heroes. First of all, the children of the big courtyard must play "tickets".Jiang Yuncheng said: "We have a Mercedes-Benz car in our hospital, and we can fly to other places. Many things can't be bought locally, and there are special offerings in the compound. When I was a child, I even ate M&M chocolate beans. At that time, the people who put the internal ginseng slices were only people. The Great Hall, the Military Museum, and the CPPCC auditorium. I think the best one is the auditorium of the General Logistics Department. They are all leather seats, carved dragons and painted pillars. At that time, my father was in the cultural system of the army, and I could get some special tickets. Mixed in early, from 7 o'clock in the evening until 3 o'clock in the morning, and it was simultaneous translation." He said that he had watched the movies released after the 1980s, including "The Witness", and some movies that are not dared to be released now, but he had "encountered" certain key plots, and the projectionist would reach out to disrupt the situation .At that time, Jiang Yuncheng had a small notebook, and after watching a movie, he quickly wrote down the title of the movie and compared it with others.Which one have you seen and which one have I seen, this represents "share". In "Sunny Day" shot by Jiang Wen, Jiang Yuncheng believes that there is an inaccuracy: "It may be that the level of his courtyard is relatively low. The real big courtyard children must play 'tickets'. The army wears three-piece leather shoes and a green military uniform. , sports blue shorts. The most unacceptable thing is to wear military underwear and socks, and then wear double military rubber shoes, that is a turtle, and will be greatly despised by the children in the compound.” I can wear three-jointed leather shoes and generals, but you can only wear big rubber shoes and loafers; my family has a ticket, and you can ride a permanent 13 bicycle and a manganese steel bell, but you cannot.The sense of superiority and the desire for luxury are born bit by bit. At the beginning of 1970, Jiang Yuncheng went to a girl's house to play, and the shocking feeling has never been forgotten until now. "Her home has a TV, a telephone, and a big leather sofa like in "Lenin in October". At that time, Beijing TV Station was just established, and very few people could watch TV. This girl never went to the bathhouse, and her home had an independent bathroom. , bathtub, toilet. These are truly high-level, truly high-level." But for the children of the military compound, their greatest feeling of reality is being replaced. "In the era of the planned economy, the military had special treatment. After the reform and opening up, this sense of superiority was gradually weakened. First, people in the economic and trade system can directly obtain economic privileges and benefits, and gradually everyone can create material goods. Conditions. Even if I am a street sweeper, I might get rich overnight and buy a Mercedes-Benz, and I will also despise you with my eyes." A senior official said. Zhu Dake believes that since the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping has carried out a large-scale reduction of the army and a large-scale change of officers, and veteran cadres have retired one after another and handed over their power.The myth of knowledge and the cult of degrees are back.The University gates are reopened to all civilians. "Gone are the days when military children were the backbone of society. The advantages of identity collapsed, and military children were hit hard by social changes. Their opponents were colleges, college students, and intellectuals. This new type of group started from the compound youth The best careers, salaries, lifestyles and opportunities for social advancement are taken away from their hands." With the continuous development of the market economy, the compound, which represents the product of the planned economy, has gradually declined. However, the fact that the "children from the big courtyard" are no longer popular does not mean that there is no longer a group of children with special status and a sense of superiority in Beijing. In 2010, the July issue of "GQ" was urgently recalled the second day after its publication. In the reprinted magazine, a feature article titled "Kids Driving Supercars" was withdrawn.The article describes the life of the "rich second generation" and Beijing's unique "Super Car Club" (SCC for short). "A man can play in the world and enjoy a woman's love, but one day, he can hide in a corner of the world for a woman's happiness; he can also drive a bright green Lamborghini, and at the moment of acceleration, there will be numbness and vibration , close to sexual pleasure, and become a Chinese kid driving a super sports car. They are the second generation of wealth who have great ambitions but are currently powerless." The above is an excerpt from the topic.The reporter who wrote the article about the "Supercar Club" said that Zhang Kuan, the founder of the club, approached him and said he was likely to sue GQ.According to Zhang Kuan, the "GQ" reporter recorded the audio without the knowledge of the interviewee, and announced the content that should not have been recorded. A netizen named "Meng Qian" who claimed to be a club member criticized "GQ" in an online post, saying that the article attacked the luxurious and romantic lifestyle of the rich second generation with a puritanical attitude."How can a magazine that promotes luxury condemn a lavish lifestyle?" the post said. In fact, it is this extravagant way of being too dazzling and "dazzling" that arouses such interest from the public.Although the magazine was recalled on the second day of its release, some people still bought it and reposted the full text on the Internet. There are various voices against the "rich second generation" and "Beijing Supercar Club". According to a Beijing news report on June 30, 130 members of the "Supercar Club" own a total of more than 160 luxury sports cars.In fact, the SCC club is not entirely a legend. When the 2010 International Auto Show was launched earlier, the media broke the news that its members collectively drove to gather at the auto show. An article titled "Rights and Youth: Chinese Kids Driving Supercars" stated: "This is a group of people who live in consumption rather than production. Consumption allows them to enjoy a huge sense of power and become their weapon. Their lives are thought-provoking, from the white Aston horses to the silver Porsches and red Ferraris, the future of China is surrounded by a kind of comfort, Shrouded in the thick fog of leisure." "When asked by foreign media why they want to buy a top sports car, their answer is also very intriguing: Because my father is very rich." Words such as "state-owned financial enterprises", "young wealthy circle", "high-end villas in Beijing CBD" and so on in the article are quite eye-catching. Maybe even if you struggle for another 18 years, it will be difficult to "drink coffee" with him.There is no right or wrong, only luck and misfortune, or equality and inequality. Clearly, Beijing is a masculine city.The whole world is manly, or in other words, the whole street is pretending to be your father."Pride and Prejudice" is staged here every day, which makes people careless.Even if Long Yingtai emphasized to himself "don't be angry" beforehand, he was still forced to quarrel with others in the end. There is no way, the sense of superiority that people have lived in the center of power for a long time is something that you, an outsider, cannot understand, unless you also become one of them.But please be aware that there are circles everywhere in Beijing, with big circles enclosing small circles.As a "children of the big courtyard", Chen Kaige actually understands this well, so it is no wonder that the palace in the film is jokingly called "a plate of mosquito coils". ——Rights are just like this, galloping horses occupying land, drawing circles for politics.The layers of progression in the middle, as well as the hierarchical order, will not allow an outsider to enter and exit at will. Although the walls of the courtyard have been demolished, and the "children of the courtyard" are no longer "short-sought commodities", the emaciated camels are bigger than horses. Besides, "no one is 16 forever, but someone is always 16." The rich will never disappear in this "heart" city. They like to stay in the center, because the center represents identity and is also the concentration of various advantageous resources.Again, for this group of people, even if you struggle for another 18 years, you may not be able to sit with them and drink coffee.There is really no right or wrong, and if you think it’s unfair, then you have another choice: abandon this city that makes you feel so unequal, and walk away!