old beijingers’ “life picture book”
2024-08-31
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here you can find the leisurely life of old beijingers in the hutongs, where they grow flowers and walk birds, and chat with palm-leaf fans. people from all over the world also come here to check in and experience the authentic life of old beijing. the blocks of the ming dynasty, the buildings of the qing dynasty, the shops of the republic of china, the life of modern people... here, hundreds of years of history complement each other and coexist beautifully. it is a place for appreciation and for real living.
among the place names with the character "tiger" in their names in beijing, hufangqiao is probably the most famous.
at the northwest corner of the intersection is the former site of the jinghua printing house; at the southwest corner is the huguang guild hall and the workers' club. however, there is neither a tiger nor a bridge here now, only the place name hufangqiao remains alive. hufangqiao belongs to the southern section of beijing's central axis, which is only 7.8 kilometers long, but as the backbone of a city, this line has a rich history of more than 5,000 years and hides the cultural landscape of old beijing.
the story begins with wu peixian, the guardian of beijing’s culture.
wu peixian, the guardian of beijing culture.
wu peixian, born in beijing in 1942, is a beijing architectural landscape painter who loves beijing and paints beijing. after retiring in 2005, wu peixian wandered around the streets and alleys of beijing and the royal gardens to sketch the central axis of beijing. in july 2010, wu peixian was sketching in front of a large house near hufangqiao. halfway through the painting, an old lady with silver hair and bound feet on the side of the road was pulling a cart to go to the market. the road had steps, and the old lady had a hard time pushing it.
wu peixian put down his drawing board and pen and went over to help. the old lady looked at him and said nothing. unexpectedly, after buying vegetables, the old lady came back and gave wu peixian two bottles of drinks and a pot of hot water. later, when the painting was finished, wu peixian returned here. the mansion had been demolished and the old lady had moved away. neighbors said that the old lady was over 90 years old and could not hear well, so she was often called "deaf old lady".
when it comes to beijing and the beijing central axis, we tend to focus on their rich historical and cultural imprints, while ignoring the people and events hidden behind all this. no wonder some people say that the beijing central axis has a heavy and magnificent side a and a mundane side b. wu peixian encountered this ordinary little thing and saw the vivid life of local residents from it.
here you can find the leisurely life of old beijingers in the hutongs, where they grow flowers and walk birds, and chat with palm-leaf fans. people from all over the world also come here to check in and experience the authentic life of old beijing. the blocks of the ming dynasty, the buildings of the qing dynasty, the shops of the republic of china, the life of modern people... here, hundreds of years of history complement each other and coexist beautifully. it is a place for appreciation and for real living.
breakfast stall in front of the drum tower
the bell and drum tower painted by wu peixian.
for old beijingers, the most lively places in beijing are dongsi, xidan and the area in front of the drum tower. because of the principle of "front court and back market", the area around the bell and drum tower was a prosperous commercial district in beijing during the yuan, ming, qing and early republic of china periods. the street between di'anmen and the bell and drum tower (now di'anmen outer street) is the back gate street.
the drum tower and bell tower are located at the north end of beijing's central axis. as the timekeeping center of the yuan, ming and qing dynasties, the beijing bell and drum tower is unique among the bell and drum towers in china for its long history, huge bells and drums, and front-to-back vertical architectural regulations. with the development of the times, the use value of the "evening drum and morning bell" of the bell and drum tower has been weakened, but the cultural atmosphere it exudes as an important historical building is increasingly favored by people.
in the summer mornings, flocks of pigeons fly across the sky, and pigeon whistles ring in the ears; at noon, neighbors walk leisurely, fanning themselves with cattail leaves; in the evening, the afterglow shines on the west wall, and children play shuttlecock in groups of three or five. for mr. zhang, who has lived under the beijing drum tower since he was a child, these beautiful things in the eyes of outsiders are all daily life for him.
standing on the cultural square between the bell tower and the drum tower, grandpa zhang recalled the past of this place. "the ticket office of the drum tower used to sell fried pancakes for breakfast, as well as soy milk, with an extra 3 cents for sugar." grandpa zhang said that this was an amusement park, where people used to play spinning tops and roll hoops, but now they play roller skating and square dancing.
fan laiyou, 65 years old this year, has three generations of his family living at the foot of the bell and drum tower. he said that when he was a child, the bell and drum tower was like a children's palace, where students read books, played chess, and performed one-act plays they wrote and performed. after school, he went to the teahouse outside the north gate of the drum tower, spent 2 cents to drink a bowl of tea, and 5 cents to listen to a storytelling session, where the old people told stories about the construction of beijing and the goddess who cast the bell.
more than 10 years ago, wu peixian painted the bell and drum tower from a bird's-eye view. there were no tall buildings near the bell and drum tower at that time, but there was a large mound of earth about 10 meters high in the construction site of the beijing time museum, which had just started construction, across the road on the southeast side of the drum tower. wu painted on it. "i wandered around for three or four days and found the construction mound. at that time, the construction site was surrounded by a wall and could not be entered casually. i am most grateful to the gatekeeper."
because he wanted a specific light and shadow effect, wu peixian went to the mound on time at 10 a.m. every day, and the gatekeeper would make it convenient for him. when there were many people, the master would "let out some wind" and knock twice with his lunch box to say "dinner is ready." later, after finishing the painting, wu peixian always felt that he owed his master a favor. one day, he rode his motorcycle back to treat his master to a simple meal and found that the mound had disappeared. wu peixian stood there, amused himself, not knowing who to look for, but just thinking that the people on the central axis were quite interesting.
if you walk into the street shops near the bell and drum tower, you will be greeted by the life of the city. according to the ancient capital's "front court and back market" planning, the bell and drum tower area has never lacked a bustling crowd and has always been a gathering place for beijing merchants. today, 200 meters west of the drum tower, there is the time-honored hunan restaurant, the northernmost on the axis of the city - ma kai restaurant, with a sign that reads "one yuan special price shaobing" and is very eye-catching. the pungent aroma of sesame permeates the air, and the familiar old neighbors in the long queue say good morning to each other.
as one of the earliest hunan restaurants in beijing, it is a business card of the gulou area on the central axis. it developed from a cold drink shop in 1953, but it has been away from here for 15 years due to the construction of the subway line. in 2017, xicheng district vacated the land of di'anmenwai street and rebuilt the ma kai restaurant on the old site, fulfilling ma kai's long-cherished wish of "returning home". the image of the hunan horse head wall in the restaurant, the resurrected lost dishes such as the boat-shaped meat, left the neighbors with nostalgia deep in their memories.
across an alley from the restaurant, there is a two-story retro building with gray tiles and wooden lattice window grilles. it is called di'anmen department store. it opened in the 1950s and gradually became a well-known department store in beijing, operating 25 categories and 22,000 kinds of goods. at that time, when beijing children bought new clothes or new shoes, they would always look up and say, "i bought this at di'anmen department store!"
mrs. yu, who has lived in yandaixie street since she was born, always stops in front of the unopened dibai every day when she takes a walk. she said: "yandaixie street, dibai, huoshenmiao, qianhai, these places in front of my home are what i have been thinking about since i was a child. dibai was originally a square gray building, but it became shorter after the renovation. i always hope that one day when it reopens, i can go in and take a look."
in zhonglouwan hutong below the bell and drum tower in beijing, citizens are drinking tea in their own yards.
the wanning bridge is a single-hole stone arch bridge on the main road of di'anmenwai street. it was formerly called the houmen bridge. it spans the yuhe river from north to south and is adjacent to the front sea of shichahai in the west. it was built in the yuan dynasty and was once the northernmost gate of the grand canal in the yuan dynasty. it was named after the meaning of "eternal peace and eternal solidity". it is 738 years old and still bears the heavy task of serving as a main urban road.
next to the waterway under the wanning bridge, there are six lifelike stone water-controlling beasts. the stone beast on the west side of the bridge is especially crouching by the river. its dragon horns, claws, and scales are clearly visible. its dragon head is stretched out, tilted to stare at the river, and its claws are holding two balls of water, as if it is ready to prevent floods from entering. "a dragon has nine sons, and this water-controlling beast is one of them."
wu peixian painted wanning bridge three times. the first time was more than a decade ago, when wanning bridge had just been restored to its original state. before that, it was occupied by a construction team, and several construction machinery vehicles were stored under the bridge piers, completely blocking the bridge. in 2000, beijing renovated wanning bridge, dredged the river, and the water beasts under the bridge and on the river bank were preserved in place.
in 2006, wu peixian painted the wanning bridge after its renovation. “for a period of time, there was no water under the wanning bridge. after the dredging and cleaning, the wanning bridge changed a lot, so i had to make a sketch of it.” old beijingers living around the wanning bridge like to stroll on the bridge and have a special affection for it.
when the water was just connected, wu peixian was sketching and painting. behind him stood a crowd of onlookers. among them was a man named chen tiehua, a colleague who worked as a fitter in the machine tool factory. he recognized him and greeted him enthusiastically in fluent beijing dialect: "hey, lao wu, why are you painting a bridge here?" chen tiehua lived next to wanning bridge and had a special affection for the bridge. he was very happy to see that the painter was an acquaintance.
it was almost noon when chen tiehua brought over some hot buns and pies for lao wu to eat. in his mind, he could not paint, but it was a great thing to leave a painting for the wanning bridge, a cultural relic.
besides the bridge, di'anmenwai street also has bustling businesses and hutong culture. the leisurely and carefree leisure culture is particularly fascinating. in his essay "houmen street" published in the semi-monthly "the analects" in 1936, zhu guangqian wrote: "when it's time to light up, especially in summer, houmen street tries its best to show off modern civilization on its ancient trunk. in front of the barbershops and airline lottery management offices, rows of electric lights with hundreds of candles are hung, and the photos of fashionable girls and peking opera stars displayed in the glass windows of the photo studios are becoming more and more dazzling."
writer liu xinwu also described the rich business formats at that time in his novel "bell and drum tower". in old beijing, there is a saying that "duyichu's shaomai, huixianju's fried liver, mujiazhai's fried dumplings, and houmenqiao's enema", and citizens can find everything they need in di'anmen.
the changes in the human life and customs in the hutong culture of di'anmen are also very interesting. walking towards the east river channel of the bridge, there is a hutong. it was called "maweiba xiejie" in the qing dynasty, and was changed to "houmenqiao heyan hutong" around 1949, and later changed to "dongbuyaqiao hutong". walking around dongbuyaqiao hutong today, there is no nameplate at the entrance of the hutong, but there is one at the end of the hutong, and there are only three or four door signs in the middle of the hutong.
wanningqiaoheyan hutong is a residential area, with houses on both sides connected to each other, and the doors of the houses facing the river, steaming with the warm atmosphere of residential houses and life. further down the bridge, at the north entrance of guaibang hutong, there is an unnamed wooden bridge, which creaks and trembles when stepped on, leading to maoer hutong. lao wu once painted an old door couplet in a hutong. when the painting was exhibited, beijing tv host a long stood in front of the painting, thinking for a long time, and was reluctant to leave. later, after a chat, it turned out that the old house door in the painting was a long's grandmother's house.
a-long said that he grew up in his grandmother's house and learned to write and read through these door couplets. hutong door couplets are the family rules and precepts of old beijing. lao wu also has a special liking for door couplets. an old beijinger once made a vivid metaphor, calling door couplets "chinese studies in the hutongs", and he thinks this description is appropriate. on the east side of di'anmenwai street, there is also a poetic xinghuatian hutong. it is said that there was a garden here in the early years, with more than 10 apricot trees planted in it. every spring, the garden is full of apricot flowers.
to the south of the alley is the di'anmen xinhua bookstore, the former site of the "weibao bookstore" during the republic of china period. many old beijingers used to indulge in reading here when they were young. aixinjueluo pu ren, who lived in suoyi hutong, was a frequent visitor to this bookstore. pu ren was the brother of the last emperor puyi and the son of prince chun zaifeng. in 1947, with the support of his father, he used the prince chun mansion to open beijing jingye primary school and served as the principal. later, he donated the school to the country and continued to serve the school as a teacher.
mr. pu ren was a bookworm. when he went out on his bike to run errands or buy groceries, he would stop by the xinhua bookstore in di'anmen before going home. when they couldn't find him, his family would always say, "he must be in the xinhua bookstore, there's no doubt about it!"
beijing grandpa's "sports picture book"
cross the wanning bridge and pass the fire god temple, and you will arrive at shichahai in beijing. there are a thousand hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people, and this also applies to shichahai. for those who like to get drunk, this is a gathering place for bars; for foreign guests who love to travel, it is a place to check in the old beijing style; for those who prefer wild swimming, it is a natural swimming pool where they have swam since they were young.
in ma weidu's words, ice skating in shichahai is the most human scene in old beijing. this scene is the common people skating around, with their own ice sleds and self-made ice skates. they can play there even if they have nothing but cotton shoes with plastic soles. blogger "uncle fu" has a deep impression of shichahai from his childhood ice skating. uncle fu lives in dongsishitiao, two or three kilometers away from shichahai. when he was a child, speed skating was very popular. people basically did not wear protective gear, and their knees were often bruised like purple eggplants. "every time i skated past other kids, my dad would buy me milk similar to shanghai zero copy. i still remember the milky aroma."
why is shichahai ice rink so popular? in the eyes of old beijingers, the ice rink is next to shichahai sports school, and you can meet many retired athletes when skating. they are professional skaters with long practice time, which brings a particularly good atmosphere. there are also "ice friends" who play speed skating and tricks. they can skate forward to backward, backward to forward, kick "drunken eight immortals" on the ice, and perform "flying swallows". in short, the masters are among the people, and they can do whatever they want.
beijing is one of the cities that loves sports the most. it has hosted the olympic games and the asian games, and the venues built for the events have become fitness check-in spots for citizens. but on the central axis of beijing, the most popular sports landmark is the temple of heaven, and the most popular person is the grandpa of the temple of heaven.
in the eyes of tourists, the temple of heaven is a scenic spot with the highest standard of sacrificial culture. but in the eyes of the elderly around, this is a place where they have been exercising since childhood. before breakfast and after dinner, the temple of heaven gathers the most annual pass users. some elderly people over 60 years old can directly gather with their brothers and sisters by showing their senior citizen cards. no matter what the weather is like that day, they will have a competition, and the opponent they want to compete with the most is the old neighbor.
in this field, the most competitive event is often the horizontal bar. for these old men who are determined to inherit the olympic spirit, doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar is the most basic movement. but in the park fitness contempt chain, the horizontal bar is often at the bottom. in the words of beijing grandpa and aunt, "he only knows how to do the simple ones, and he is a complete tea (describes a person as weak)." if you want to stand out in the sports world full of masters, you must have unique secret skills, or at least have some specialties that ordinary people cannot master, such as "hanging upside down" and "splits".
in wu peixian's view, parks are one of the places where beijing uncles exercise, but they are not limited to this. wu peixian once painted a painting called "summer exercise in the dog days", which is related to fitness. the fitness locations are connected to the landmarks of beijing's central axis and its surrounding areas. the protagonist in the painting is himself, a young man pushing a bicycle, starting from ruyi hutong, jogging through tiananmen square, then going forward to jianguomen, and finally arriving at the machine tool factory - wu peixian's workplace. wu peixian recalled that the reason for fitness was a severe cold when he was young. he felt uncomfortable all over at that time. wu peixian thought about it and came up with two words - lack of exercise.
"the conditions were limited at the time, and there was no special place to exercise, so i thought it would be better to push the bicycle to work. when i got tired, i could ride the bicycle. it was a good way to advance and retreat." wu peixian set out at 5 a.m. and arrived at the machine tool factory at 7:30. after storing the bicycle, he took a shower, changed his clothes, and ran to the workshop at exactly 7:30. in this way, after a few years, wu peixian was no longer ill.
pigeon whistles, swifts and ancient trees
beijing's central axis is not only famous for its cultural history and architectural aesthetics, but it also has another side that is less known:it has an unparalleled natural ecology.nature is the origin of all things in the world and the greatest and most special architect.countless species of plants and animals thrive here - pigeons, swifts and ancient trees.
every july, the newly born swifts on the zhengyang gate tower and the arrow tower will bid farewell to beijing and fly to southern africa together with the adult swifts. at the end of march of the following year, these swifts will return to beijing from their wintering grounds after a migration of more than 10,000 kilometers, build nests and breed in their new homes. monitoring data shows that their migration route partially overlaps with the ancient silk road, so the beijing swifts are also known as the ecological ambassadors of the "belt and road".
in addition to swifts, the crisp sound of pigeon whistles echoing over the courtyards has become the authentic sound of beijing in the hearts of beijingers. shi yongtao lives on jiugulou street in xicheng district. he has loved pigeons since he was a child and has lived here for 48 years. "my grandfather likes flowers, birds, fish and insects, so i grew up in this atmosphere." pigeon whistles are a culture that has evolved from the business of raising pigeons. pigeon whistles are strictly selected for materials and uniform in size, and there are also particular requirements for the season in which pigeons are tied. "usually in winter, because the wind direction and weather in winter allow me to let it wear this pigeon whistle, and it is not easy to fall off."
pigeon breeder shi yongtao image: beijing youth daily
wang shixiang, a cultural relic connoisseur, loved raising pigeons all his life, and had a special fondness for pigeon whistles. he once wrote a poem: "pigeons are birds of peace, and whistles are the sound of peace; i wish pigeons and whistles would be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people." li jianping, honorary president of the beijing history research association, also believes that "peace" is the kindness of beijingers and their beautiful pursuit of a peaceful life, and also represents the unique temperament of beijingers who pay attention to etiquette.
china has always had a philosophical thought of respecting nature. the traditional concept of "harmony between man and nature" believes that humans and nature should be integrated. the ancients believed that architecture is not a single artificial structure, but should be integrated with the surrounding environment and the objects it serves, forming an organic whole with nature. the royal building complex on the central axis of beijing was influenced by this concept, forming many natural elements that match the architecture.
take the temple of heaven as an example. it has a total area of 2.73 million square meters, but only five building complexes. the remaining large area is reserved for plants such as cypress trees, which is an ideal habitat for wild animals, especially birds. as of 2023, the temple of heaven park has observed and recorded as many as 142 bird species, including resident birds, migratory birds and migratory birds.
the temple of heaven was once the place in china where it was easiest to see long-eared owls. the long-eared owl is one of the most widely distributed and numerous owl species in the world. as a winter migratory bird, they like to stay in groups on coniferous trees such as pine and cypress to overwinter. the large tracts of cypress trees in the forbidden city provide them with a good habitat. at the peak period, there are nearly a hundred long-eared owls staying here.
in addition to the temple of heaven, many ancient towers and buildings on the central axis, such as the forbidden city, yongdingmen, and xiannongtan, have attracted a large number of birds. these imperial temples and city wall courtyards have criss-crossing beams, purlins, and rafters. this complex structure and tall structure are excellent places to attract birds.
the representative bird is the beijing swift, a unique bird named after the city of beijing. the beijing swift is the beijing subspecies of the common swift. because its four toes face forward, it is suitable for climbing. for thousands of years, it has always chosen to build nests and reproduce in tall wooden ancient buildings on the central axis, such as zhengyangmen, temple of heaven, summer palace and other ancient buildings. the early 20th century was the peak of the number of beijing swifts, with more than 50,000.
in addition, nanhaizi park is one of the largest wetlands in the south of beijing, with an extreme wetland ecosystem. from the royal hunting grounds in the yuan dynasty to the beginning of the breeding of elk in china in modern times, more than 200 species of wild birds have been recorded in nanhaizi, including more than 20 species of national key protected birds.
with the development of the city, some ancient buildings have been demolished, and the remaining ancient buildings have been equipped with bird-proof nets. the number of birds on the central axis is no longer as high as it used to be. however, with the increasing awareness of protection, the protection of cultural relics and ancient buildings has gradually left a large amount of urban green space in the city center. various units represented by the beijing central axis heritage protection center have begun to protect the birds that inhabit the ancient buildings on the central axis, and more and more birds are returning to their favorite central axis hometown.
