Tongzi River

Tongzi River

Tongzi River, the moat of the Forbidden City, is 3.5 kilometers long, 52 meters wide and 4.1 meters deep.

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Drainage area

Taking shenwumen and Wumen as the north-south axis, Donghuamen and xihuamen as the east-west axis, tongzihe is divided into four parts: Northwest, northeast, southwest and Southeast. There are culverts in front of Donghuamen, xihuamen and shenwumen respectively to connect the four parts. It's 10 meters deep. At last, Jinshui River intersects and flows into Changpu River.

The outer river flows into the Forbidden City and forms the inner river. The water source of neitongzi River comes from the gate under the wall of the Northwest Jiaolou city near the west of shenwumen. It passes through the city wall through a long tunnel from north to South and turns to the open ditch in the Forbidden City. Apart from defense, Tongzi river is also used for fire prevention and water supply for the Forbidden City.

Historical evolution

When the city of Beijing was rebuilt in the Yongle period of Ming Dynasty, a moat was dug outside the Forbidden City. In the Ming Dynasty, waitongzi river only surrounded the East, North and west of the Forbidden City, and was called Donghuamen Tongzi River, Xuanwumen North Tongzi River and xihuamen Tongzi River respectively.

As the first line of defense of the Forbidden City, it plays the role of defending the four walls, so that the enemy can not cross the river to attack the city. That is, people often say "jinchengtangchi, shengougaolei" means. As a moat, it should be surrounded on all sides, not without a river to the south.

In the 25th year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1760 AD), the Ministry of industry ordered the river water of the Forbidden City on the right side of the Meridian Gate to flow into the Xique gate from the underground ditch under the right slab bridge outside the Xique gate, from the underground ditch under the slate Road in front of the Meridian Gate to the East, and through the underground ditch under the slate road of the dongque gate to the Taimiao (today's Laodong people's Culture Palace). This 70 Zhang 9-foot-9-inch underground ditch is named Wumen dark tube river. So far, the moat of the Forbidden City has become what it is today.

Governance status

Tourists littered, and the Tongzi river outside the Forbidden City turned into a "garbage River". According to Article 22 of the regulations of Beijing Municipality on the administration of city appearance, the management units of rivers and lakes shall be responsible for the management of rivers and lakes. According to the previous division of responsibilities, the river sections of Donghuamen and north of xihuamen should be managed by the Palace Museum, the section from Donghuamen to Wumen should be managed by the Cultural Palace of the working people, and the section from xihuamen to Wumen should be managed by Zhongshan Park.

On February 28, 2013, more than 40 sanitation workers came to the section of the river near the Cultural Palace of the working people. Liu Jialong, person in charge of the environmental sanitation group, said that this river section has the most garbage. Although the Cultural Palace of the working people has cleaned up before, there are no professional tools to go down the river, and there are not enough people to clean up the garbage completely. As of 17:00 on the 28th, sanitation workers had fished out more than 4 tons of garbage, including more than 10000 leftover corncobs

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Desilting works

It is estimated that the thickness of the silt in the south section of Tongzi is 15cm. When it was cleaned up and repaired on the largest scale after liberation in 1998, the thickness of the silt was as high as 50cm. Since then, due to the lack of water resources, there has been no large-scale dredging of the river.

In September 2014, the "mud washing" project was launched in Tongzi river of the Forbidden City. In order to protect cultural relics, manual excavation will be used for dredging. This is the first dredging of Tongzi River since 1998.

On September 3, 2014, all 7600 cubic meters of silt will be cleared before the "11th Five Year Plan" and injected from the North Sea. At that time, the "Royal River" that once defended the imperial Forbidden Garden will be clear and see the bottom, reappearing the beautiful scenery of the blue water around the city.

The mud that has been fished out for 16 years on the bank is exposed, with the most food garbage, and the most common ones are beverage bottles, food bags, instant noodle boxes and corn cobs. It's all littered by tourists.

In the river, workers lined up with shovel, and along the River Road, they opened a shallow ditch on the mud, which was in the drainage stage, and the ditch was designed to let the remaining water flow to the low-lying place as quickly as possible and then drain the water with the pump. After the water is drained, it will be dried in the sun for a few days, and then it will be completely dug by hand, packed with special prevention bags and transported away at night. "Because of the special geographical location of Tongzi River, there will be no large-scale machinery for this dredging. The first phase of desilting project involves the drainage area from Donghuamen to xihuamen of Tongzi River, with a total length of about 1 km.

By October 1, 2014, 7600 cubic meters of silt will be cleared and the water from the North Sea will be re introduced. At that time, the south section of Tongzi will reappear the beautiful scenery of green water around the city. For the remaining 2.5 km of dredging, Wang Huizhi said that it would start depending on the situation.

Social disputes

Ten thousand corncobs fished out from the Tongzi river of the Forbidden City is not a torture of tourists' moral concepts.

More than 40 workers of Beijing Environmental Sanitation Group have concentrated on cleaning up the garbage in Tongzi river. By 17:00 on February 28, the sanitation workers had fished out more than 4 tons of garbage, including more than 10000 leftover corncobs. Tourists littered, and the Tongzi river outside the Forbidden City turned into a "garbage River". What's more, the frozen garbage is not easy to salvage. Tourist attractions are set up to meet the needs of tourists, such as sightseeing, recreation, fitness, knowledge and so on. Here, visitors can see the great rivers and mountains and ancient buildings of the motherland, at the same time, they can relax their body and mind, and learn more knowledge that they can't learn from their work. However, while tourists are sightseeing, they throw their garbage everywhere, which brings great trouble to the cleaners, especially the chewing gum. In the Tongzi river of the Forbidden City, sanitation workers fished out more than 10000 tourists to eat the remaining corncobs thrown into the river. In fact, the behavior of littering has existed for a long time. Some people have discussed whether it is the low quality of tourists or the management system of scenic spots. Some people think that the quality of tourists is not high, so that the trash can in the scenic spot has become a decoration. Because of everyone's laziness, they don't want to walk more. They find the trash can and throw it into it. Some people think that the deterrent power of the penalty rules is not enough. If you pay half a month's salary for throwing garbage once, you won't litter. Tourists think that garbage collection facilities are not enough, and they can't find a place when they want to throw garbage. No matter what the reason is, littering everywhere is wrong, which is related to people's moral quality. Littering is a torture to the quality of tourists. Every holiday, we will see the media reports, or experience the garbage flying in the scenic spot. These garbage will be a heart blocking thing for people who travel with a good mood. With the Chinese people moving towards a well-off society, people have more and more money. Famous brands and products have become the choice of most Chinese people. However, in the scenic area, many people will expose their bad habits and litter, which shows that they have not improved their civilization while they are rich. It's uncivilized to carve your name on the important protective buildings of the scenic spot, which will cause certain damage to the scenic spot. Therefore, I hope you can enjoy the beautiful scenery and keep a clean environment. Littering highlights the weakness of the scenic spot management system. Of course, the phenomenon of littering can not be pushed to tourists, and the management department of the scenic spot should also reflect and consider why tourists have such behavior. First of all, the scenic spot should formulate a strict punishment system, so that litters can get rid of their bad habits through fines; second, the scenic spot should provide convenient garbage tools for tourists, so that tourists can put the garbage into the designated location anytime and anywhere; third, strengthen the publicity of environmental protection, so that everyone can participate in the protection of the clean environment of the scenic spot. Only in this way can we improve our understanding and make the scenic spot no longer full of rubbish.

Address: Donghuamen

Longitude: 116.40134

Latitude: 39.91513

Chinese PinYin : Tong Zi He