Bicai Hutong

Bicai Hutong

Not far north from Xidan shopping mall in Beijing, you will see an east-west street about 40 meters wide. This street extends westward from Xidan North Street to Taipingqiao street. Before it was expanded, it was only a small alley more than 4 meters wide, the picai alley. Before bicai Hutong, it had another name, Pichai Hutong. On May 16, 1905, Zang Youchen, a native of Tianjin, opened a school in this area. Only then did he officially change Pichai Hutong into picai Hutong.

The common people follow suit

It is impossible to find out who first lived in Pichai Hutong. After Xu Da, the general of Ming Dynasty, moved the inner city of Yuandadu to the south, the population of this area increased suddenly.

It is said that a family surnamed Zhang, who lives on firewood, also moved here. Zhang Jia people go out to collect firewood every day, and then split it into firewood to sell. The couple, plus three children, are not very rich, so their life is reasonable. It is said that Zhang Da, the eldest son, had a good economic mind. When he grew up, he opened a firewood chopping factory and managed it well. Slowly, Zhang became rich, built several big houses and became a big family.

Seeing that Zhang Jia could get rich by chopping firewood, people in this area soon started chopping firewood. Then more and more people moved in, and the firewood market became more and more prosperous.

Later, Zhangjia's firewood cutting factory suffered a fire and declined, but this did not affect the firewood cutting business in this area. Not far from the south of Pichai Hutong, there is a Hutong called Damucang Hutong, which is said to be a place for timber business. By the late Hongwu Period of the Ming Dynasty, the capital had been transformed, and this area was classified as fucaifang. By the Qing Dynasty, it was classified as xianghongqi, which was renamed Pichai Hutong.

From the Ming Dynasty to the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Pichai Hutong was a place where poor Pichai people lived together, and there were few official families with high status. However, because Cixi's mother's family lives in Beijing's Xidan pailou North Pichai (picai) Hutong, experts speculate that Empress Dowager Cixi was born in Pichai Hutong. There is also a legend about the origin of Pichai Hutong. It is said that a long time ago, there was a courtyard at the west end of this alley. Two officials who were killed by treacherous officials hid their property here and sent someone to take care of it. When later generations grew up, they would divide the property equally. Therefore, they named it Pichai Hutong. This statement does not seem credible.

Birthplace of Cixi

Cixi was born in an official family of three generations in Beijing.

Cixi's great grandfather was Jilang. The word AI hall. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, he served as the Secretary of the cabinet. In 1801, he was promoted to liupin Zhongshu. Because of his outstanding performance, he was ordered to enter the military aircraft office in 1804 as military aircraft Zhangjing. Zhang Jing, a military aircraft, is an important official position to contact the central government. Ji Lang a holds this post, which shows that he is a very capable person. Later, he was transferred from Wupin to wailang (deputy bureau level), who was a member of the Treasury of the Ministry of accounts. This was an important position in the management of the Treasury. Jilang a died in 1814 when he was a member of the Ministry of household affairs.

Cixi's grandfather was Jing Rui. In 1813, he was promoted to the head of the Ministry of punishment. In the first year of Daoguang (1821), he was promoted from Wupin to wailang (deputy bureau level). Daoguang 11 years (1831) and promoted to the Ministry of justice of the fifth grade doctor (bureau level). He was jailed for a time, but was released soon. Daoguang retired in 1850. He died between 1856 and 1861 at the age of 80.

Cixi's father was named Huizheng. Huizheng was born in 1805. He was originally a Manchurian with a blue flag, but later changed to a yellow flag. He was born as a supervisor. Daoguang eight years (1828) for the pen style. In 1834, it was promoted to the second-class calligraphy style. Bi tie style is the title of Manchu Shu Guan. It is a low-level official of the Ministry and other Yamen. It does some copying and drafting work, which is equivalent to later documents. In 1839, it was promoted to eight grade calligraphy. Later, he was promoted to be the head of the official Department of the sixth grade (slightly higher than the department level), the member of the official Department of the fifth grade (vice bureau level), and the doctor of the official Department of the fifth grade (bureau level). In 1849, he was promoted to Guisui Taoism in Shanxi Province, and served as a Taoist member of zhengsipin (slightly higher than zhengju level). Taoists are senior executives at or above the provincial level. Taoyuan is an informal official name. Official documents are directly named by the name of the region, so the custom becomes custom, which is called "so and so Dao". In addition to being promoted by prefects, Taoists were also promoted by doctors, censors and editors of jingcha. Huizheng was promoted from a first-class doctor in jingcha to Guisui road in Shanxi. In the second year of Xianfeng (1852), he was transferred to Taiguang road in Huining, Anhui Province. In March 2003, he was removed from office because he escaped the pursuit of the Taiping army. He died on June 3, 1853 in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. He was 49 years old.

To sum up, Cixi's great grandfather Jilang a was appointed as wailang (deputy bureau level), her grandfather Jingrui was appointed as the doctor of the punishment Department (bureau level), and her father Huizheng was appointed as taiguangdao (slightly higher than bureau level) in huiningchi, Anhui Province. The official positions they hold are equivalent to bureau level cadres, and they are also middle and high-level cadres. The first three generations of Cixi were senior officials of the Qing Dynasty, and their family life was very good. Although Jing Rui was once in prison, he was soon released and returned to his original post, which did not affect their family life. Huizheng was dismissed more than a year after Cixi entered the palace. Therefore, it did not have much impact on the life of the Cixi family.

Although Huizheng was an official in Beijing, Shanxi, Anhui and other places, Cixi's family lived in Beijing for a long time, that is, Cixi's native place was Beijing.

Cixi's ancestral home is clearly recorded in official history. The draft of the history of the Qing Dynasty records: "empress xiaoqinxian (Cixi), of yehenala's family, is the Huizheng daughter of Guangtai road in Huining, Anhui Province. "Yudie" records: "Nala, a noble man of LAN, is the daughter of Huizheng, a Taoist. "The biography of empress concubines of the Qing Dynasty (Part 2) records:" emperor Wenzong (emperor Xianfeng), empress xiaoqinxian (Cixi), yehenala, was born in Manchuria with yellow flag. (the real record, written by Empress Dowager Cixi's mother in December of the 11th year of Xianfeng, carries it into Manchuria with yellow flag). Father Huizheng, Anhui Huining pool too wide military preparation road. "It is also clearly recorded in this book that Cixi's mother was the Fucha family, and was granted the title of Mrs. Yipin. There are four brothers and sisters in Cixi. Cixi is the elder sister, followed by the younger sister, the elder brother Zhaoxiang and the second brother Guixiang. These official historical records clearly show that Cixi is a Manchu, yehenala, whose family has lived in Beijing for a long time.

In addition, there is the following evidence.

First, we found the "list" of Cixi's younger sister. Since emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, among the eight banners of Manchu, Mongolian and Han Dynasties, xiunv was selected every three years. The girls in the draft are from 14 to 16 years old. Those who were selected either became concubines of the emperor, or were given to the royal family as Fu Jin. "Yangjizhai Conglu" records: "women should be selected to enter Shenwu gate and wait outside shunzhen gate. At that time, the eunuchs were introduced into each class, with five people in each class, standing up but not kneeling. If you want to keep the famous brand, you should keep the famous brand. Review regularly. If you look at it again and don't leave it, it's called putting down the brand. "This" five people in each class "is written on a list, which is called" row list ". The so-called "Pai Dan" is the bottom list of the natural conditions according to which the emperor selected the beautiful girls.

But scholars have found that in the fifth year of Xianfeng (1855), the draft girl of Cixi's younger sister was ranked. Cixi's younger sister married Wang Yichen of Chun county, and their son was Emperor Guangxu. This "paidan" clearly records that Cixi's younger sister belongs to Manchuria inlaid blue flag, surnamed yehenala, and her father's name is Huizheng. Huizheng's highest official position is to be a member of the four grades. According to this "paidan", it can be concluded that Cixi's mother's family lived in Beijing Xidan pailou picai Hutong five years ago. Therefore, Beijing should be the birthplace of Cixi.

Second, the father of Cixi was identified as an official in Beijing at that time. Cixi was born in 1835. At this time, Cixi's father Huizheng was in Beijing. According to the records, it was written in 1828. In 1834, it was promoted to the second-class calligraphy style. In 1839, it was promoted to eight grade calligraphy. During this period, Huizheng did not leave Beijing. His home must be in Beijing. For this reason, Cixi can only be born in Beijing.

Thirdly, it is confirmed that Cixi's mother also lived in Beijing at that time. According to the records, Cixi's grandfather Huixian was the vice governor of Guihua city (now Hohhot City) in Shanxi Province at that time. Guihua city is far away from Beijing, and the transportation is inconvenient. It is impossible for the Fucha family, the mother of Cixi, to go to the bitter and cold place outside the Great Wall to produce. Therefore, she can only produce in a comfortable home in Beijing. Therefore, it can be judged that Cixi was born in Beijing.

So where was Cixi born in Beijing? One is Pichai Hutong, the other is Fangjiayuan.

Zou Ailian, a scholar, searched the archives of the Qing Dynasty and found that Cixi's mother's family had moved three residences in Beijing.

The first residence. In the fifth year of Xianfeng (1855), it was recorded that Cixi's mother's family "lived in the West Fourth pailou pitai Hutong";

The second residence. In 1856, Emperor Xianfeng awarded Huizheng a house in the north of two hutongs in Xinjiekou, Xizhimen;

The third residence. In December 1866, in the name of emperor Tongzhi, Cixi awarded Fangjiayuan to his younger brother Zhaoxiang.

Obviously, the last two residences can't be the birthplace of Cixi. Cixi's sister talent show

Chinese PinYin : Pi Cai Hu Tong