Shijia Hutong

Shijia Hutong

Located in the west of Qianmen Street in Beijing, Shijia hutong is one of the twenty "best" in Xuannan culture. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, it, together with Xiheyan and Qianshi Hutong, was the most concentrated ethnic Financial District in Beijing. Shijia hutong is like a genre painting in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. There are traditional Chinese courtyard houses, as well as Japanese and European style spires. If you are interested in looking at the courtyard one by one, you can also see all kinds of old shops, door faces and door carvings.

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Historical evolution

"Shijia Hutong" appeared in the collection of wutanyoufangxiang Hutong in the capital published in the Jiajing period of the Dai Dynasty. It is said that a big businessman surnamed Shi lived here. Later, although the Shi family did not live here, the place name of the Shi Family Hutong was still used today.

From the middle of Qing Dynasty, it gradually developed into a commercial street dominated by money and hotels. Famous shops include: Tongde, Tongyi, tongheyu, Changxing, Chunyuan, Yixing, Yu Daheng, Guangrui, Zhibian, Huawei, Quantong, Hebei, Sanyi, Hengtong, Beijing Hotel, etc.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, Shijia Hutong, Xiheyan and Qianshi Hutong were the most concentrated financial districts in Beijing. There were many private banks, Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants, Shandong and Chaozhou merchants in the Hutong, among which Shanxi merchants were the leading ones.

Qianshi alley is the narrowest one in Beijing, and it is also a dead end. Although there are more than 20 banks in it, it seems cramped after all. The area along the West River is large, but the distribution of financial institutions is scattered.

In contrast, Shijia hutong is a flagship. At that time, the larger banks were Qiansheng bank on the 10th, Yuxing Zhongyin bank on the 11th, Yisheng bank on the 12th, Fusheng bank on the 15th, Qiming bank on the 17th, sanjuyuan bank on the 21st, Jiji bank on the 22nd, Fengsheng bank on the 24th, Yu Taiheng bank on the 26th, Guangrui bank on the 28th.

It is said that the word "iron rice bowl" in Beijing has a long history, which refers to people who work in the capital bank. After liberation, Yiying private banks in Shijia Hutong were all co operated. The original banks became the dormitories of the people's Bank of China. Now many people living there are the fifth and sixth generations of the banking system. Shijia hutong is on the west side of Qianmen Street in Beijing. There is a narrow lane next to a clothing store. After passing through the lane, you can go straight to Shijia Hutong. This Hutong only looks a little wider than the surrounding Hutong. I don't know that it can be called the financial street or CBD of old Beijing after more than half a century.

Characteristics of Hutong

Important people

It is said that in the early years, scholars gathered here. The former residences of famous scholars Ji Xiaolan, Wang Yuyang and Liang Shizheng, as well as the homes of many Liyuan tycoons and famous businessmen, were scattered around. They came and went, leaving many historical footprints in Shijia Hutong. Zhang Boling, the first president of Nankai University, recalled that every time he went to Beijing for business, he always stayed in an ordinary hotel in Shijia Hutong outside the front gate, with a room charge of one yuan a day. Because there are so many bedbugs in the inn, he always takes a box of bedbug medicine with him every time. There is only one hotel in Shijia Hutong called "Zhengyang Hotel". At the beginning, it was very respectable, and the most extraordinary people could stay there. There are a lot of "chicken feather shops" in zhushikoupu Chenshi, two miles south. There is a big Kang without bedding on the door, just a Kang of chicken feather. On a cold day, the people who stay in the hotel can only get into the pile of chicken feather with their clothes. If there are new people coming, the hotel staff will use a cold iron bar to pestle the people on the side. That person will instinctively hide in, so there will be one more person's place . At that time, hotels that dared to charge one yuan for ocean lodging were at least three stars or less than four stars.

Main buildings

No. 17, Hutong Road North, is called "the socialist courtyard". There is an open space at the entrance. All the socialist education movements, residents' meetings, voters and other activities have been held there for more than half a century, so it gets its name. There is an old picture of a rare edition. In February 1953, the electoral law of the people's Republic of China was promulgated. In December of the same year, the residents of Shijia Hutong participated in the first nationwide general election in Chinese history in the "socialist compound". In 1958, the residents of the whole Hutong once had a "big pot meal" there. Men, women, old and young all queued up to receive food. They were here with their friends to throw jujube Wotou, but they were so hungry that they vomited sour water in three difficult years.

No. 22, south of Shijia Hutong Road, was originally a small western style building, where the old integrated bank was. During the "Cultural Revolution", two families in the courtyard behind the building were copied and killed by the "Red Guards". Because the building is high, it stands out in the Hutong. It is facing Tiananmen Square. Every year, when Tiananmen Square fireworks on November 1 and May 1, if there is a north wind, there are always pieces of parachutes with fireworks flying over the Hutong. At that time, people upstairs will always hold a long pole waiting for an opportunity to move, and whenever one of them is intercepted, cheers of admiration will break out downstairs. After the 1976 earthquake, the ornate pointed roof of the small building was cut off for safety, so it lost the beauty of the building and became a bald tailed quail.

Hutong culture

Related Legends

There are no eye-catching buildings in the west of Shijia Hutong, but there are some romantic memories. In the Three Kingdoms, there is er Qiao, who lives in Shi's Hutong. They are two beautiful girls. "Rice" is naturally beautiful. She lives in a "chuantangmen" in the south of the road. When you enter the courtyard, you can walk directly from Shijia Hutong to the adjacent Zhangfan Hutong. Many senior male students like to pass through the hall when they have nothing to do, in order to get a glimpse of rice girl. When the boys get together, they will coax when they see "rice" coming. In that era of imprisonment, it is a kind of beautiful praise. Later, the beautiful girl became a dancer of the Haizheng Arts Troupe. In the early 1970s, she became the first TV advertising model to go on the screen. Nowadays, beautiful stars emerge one after another, but they are always the same.

Historical story

Mr. Xiao Fuxing wrote in the Silver Street in the south of the city... Only Qianshi and Shijia hutongs can really be called Yinjie. What is worth cherishing is that today, in these two hutongs, the style and features of Yinjie hundreds of years ago are more or less clearly preserved, and the vicissitudes of history are swept away with the passing of time. Mr. Xiao grew up living in this neighborhood. He loved to walk in Shijia Hutong when he was a child. Because in the five nearby hutongs, there are too many people in Dashilan, and the rest are not as spacious as it is, and there are beautiful buildings on both sides of the road. Before liberation, there were eight nearby lanes from daqijia Hutong to Ganjing Hutong, which were not as wide as it was. The key point was that except it was asphalt, the rest were dirt roads, and it was muddy when it rained.

This article has such special treatment in China, because it gathered more than 20 banks and banks in the period of the Republic of China. Up to now, there are still 11 banks with names and surnames. Just like the buildings built by banks, Shijia Hutong, which was rich in money, had no white-collar workers in or out of the Hutong.

Address: Xicheng District, Beijing

Longitude: 116.39600372314

Latitude: 39.894100189209

Chinese PinYin : Shi Jia Hu Tong