Deshengmen Archery Tower

Located in the west of Beiyuan of Beijing, Deshengmen archery tower is one of the nine gates in the inner city of Beijing. It was built in 1437, the second year of the Ming Dynasty.

The archery tower of Desheng Gate, together with the urn City, constitutes a military fortress to protect the gate. Zhenwu temple in Wengcheng was restored in 1992. Now Jianlou has held an exhibition of historical coins for many years.

Deshengmen Archery Tower

Located in the west of Beiyuan of Beijing, Deshengmen archery tower is one of the nine gates in the inner city of Beijing. It was built in 1437, the second year of the Ming Dynasty. Since then, the city gate and archery tower have been repaired in all dynasties.

The Ming army occupied Dadu city of Yuan Dynasty, moved the north wall of the former city to the south, built a new north wall in Wuli, and set up Desheng Gate and anding gate. In the fourth year of Zhengtong of Ming Dynasty, Deshengmen tower, Wengcheng, Jianlou and zhalou were built, which was called "Deshengmen" with the meaning of "winning by virtue".

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The arrow tower of Deshengmen, together with the urn City, constituted a military fortress to protect Beijing City in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was built in 1436, the first year of Ming Dynasty. Since then, the city gate and archery tower have been repaired in all dynasties. In 1951, the state funded the renovation. In 1980, another comprehensive renovation was carried out. In 1982, the cultural security office was established and opened to the outside world. Zhenwu temple in Wengcheng was rebuilt in 1992. Now Zhenwu Temple exhibition hall has been holding exhibitions of Chinese coins for many years.

Deshengmen arrow tower is the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units approved by the State Council, and is a major tourist attraction in Beijing.

History and culture

Most of the city walls have been demolished, but three gatehouses have been preserved: Zhengyang gate, Dongbian gate and Desheng Gate. I know something about Deshengmen.

There is an old saying in Beijing: first there is Deshengmen, then there is Beijing city. I don't know if this is true, but it tells the whole story of Deshengmen. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, General Xu Da led the army to conquer the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (that is, Beijing). Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty fled from Jiande gate, the north gate of the capital, and the Yuan Dynasty perished. Xu Da changed Jiande gate into Desheng Gate, also known as Desheng Gate, probably to commemorate the victory of Ming army. This is the first year of Hongwu (1368). In 1420, when the city of Beijing was built, the city wall of the metropolis was moved two kilometers south. In addition, the city gate and urn were built, also called Desheng Gate. Therefore, Deshengmen was named 52 years earlier than Beijing.

There are only nine gates in Beijing, each with its own purpose. In the feudal dynasty, the emperor specially drank the spring water from Yuquan mountain. The water truck carrying water for the emperor came in and out from Xizhimen, and the coal truck carrying coal for the government came in and out of Fuchengmen. Zhengyang gate is the chariot for the emperor to worship heaven and earth. There are grain carts at Chaoyang Gate, firewood carts at Dongzhi gate, wine carts at Chongwen gate, criminal carts at Xuanwu Gate and war carts at anding gate. If you send troops to fight and win, you have to enter the door of victory.

It is said that in the Qing Dynasty, soldiers even sang "song of victory" when they entered the Desheng Gate. Listen to "old Beijing", this song is the predecessor of octagonal drum (single string).

According to historical records, in August 1449, the Wasi army attacked Beijing. Yu Qian, Minister of the Ministry of war, led the army out of Andingmen to meet the enemy. He killed Suo maona, the younger brother of He Xian, who was known as "marshal Tiejing", and beat the Wasi army to pieces. Yu Qian won and returned triumphantly. This is a great victory for Yu Qian in defending Beijing, which is very famous in history. Later, in 1644, Emperor Zhu you sent Li Jiantai, the right servant of the civil service department, out of Andingmen to fight against Li Zicheng's uprising army in Shanxi. As soon as the army arrived in Zhuozhou, it met the troops of Chuang Wang. The soldiers broke up without fighting and fled fearlessly. Li Zicheng's army took advantage of the victory to capture Beijing. Zhu Youjian saw that the situation was over, so he had to hang himself on the coal hill. It can be seen that he was called Deshengmen, but in fact he won and lost.

There are nine gates in the inner city of Beijing, but only the archery tower of Zhengyangmen has a gate opening. The archery tower of other gates, including Deshengmen, does not have a gate opening under the archery tower.

In the Qing Dynasty, Deshengmen was guarded by heavy troops, with two members of Zhangjing, four members of Xiaoqi school, and 200 horse troops under the jurisdiction of zhenghuang banner.

Deshengmen has a history of 500 years. They were rebuilt in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty and the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. They were also repaired in the early years of the Republic of China. Because of lack of financial resources, they only repaired half of the city platform and then stopped work. In the 13th year of the Republic of China, the Beiyang government simply demolished the city building, sold the timber, and used the money to pay the government officials.

Reasons for retention

How does Deshengmen arrow tower stay?

With the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the development of gunpowder weapons, the defense of the city wall has not been able to protect the city. The city wall and the gate building are considered as the "decoration" of the city. The Wengcheng and gate building of Deshengmen were demolished in 1915 when the railway around the city was built. In 1921, because the beams of Deshengmen tower were damaged, the government of the Republic of China in Peking demolished it. In 1955, for the sake of improving traffic, the city platform and coupons gate of Deshengmen were demolished. A big gap was opened in the city wall, and the arrow tower of Deshengmen was still standing. From de Nei street to de Wai Street, we had to pass around the two sides of the arrow tower of Deshengmen.

In 1965, the Beijing subway was started. The PLA railway corps excavated the large trench of the subway tunnel from Wukesong, Wanshou Road and the Military Museum, and built the subway tunnel and station with open cut and landfill method. In 1969, the subway phase II excavated the inner city wall and moat of Beijing to form a ring line, and all the gates and walls were demolished. On the outside of the wall from Xinjiekou to Deshengmen, there used to be a freight yard for stacking and distributing construction materials. There was a railway from Xizhimen, where white ash, sand, coal and so on were transported by train. When unloading here, it was extremely dirty. Since the beginning of the subway project, it has changed here. The city wall has been demolished, the railway has been cut off, the freight yard has been moved, and the large trench of the subway tunnel has been excavated. The width of the trench is more than ten meters. The two sides of the trench are supported by wooden boards, and the pumps pump water for 24 hours. According to the old man of the 57th regiment of the 12th division of the PLA railway corps, when he cleaned up the foundation of the Deshengmen tower, he felt that the ancient buildings of the Ming Dynasty were hard. According to the plan, the Deshengmen archery tower was also being demolished. A head of the railway corps decided to postpone the demolition of the Deshengmen archery tower when he saw that it was a heavy workload to demolish the Deshengmen archery tower and the task of repairing the subway was urgent and heavy. Moreover, the Deshengmen archery tower was not on the main line of the subway tunnel construction Jianlou building, so Deshengmen Jianlou escaped a disaster and was not demolished.

When the civil engineering of the subway was almost completed in 1978, the excavated trench of the subway tunnel had been buried and the North Second Ring Road had been paved on the ground. Some people proposed to demolish the arrow tower of Deshengmen, but some experts objected.

On February 14, 1979, Zheng Xiaoxie, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference, wrote to Chen Yun, vice president of the people's Republic of China, to avoid demolishing the Deshengmen archery Tower: it is said that Beijing is about to demolish a Ming Dynasty building, the Deshengmen archery tower. Therefore, it is suggested that the demolition of ancient buildings should be stopped as soon as possible. There are five reasons: 1. Except Qianmen archery tower, Deshengmen archery tower is the only Ming Dynasty building left along the new Ring Road (the original site of the city wall). If it is not demolished and repaired, it will add scenery to the new ring road and the north city. 2. The arrow tower of Deshengmen is a borrowed view of Shichahai in the south, and a key scenic spot echoing the drum tower and bell tower in the East. From the landscape effect of the whole Beijing City, it's very different to keep it and tear it down. 3. Scenic relics are also "resources", which are very necessary for the development of tourism. Therefore, they should not be demolished easily. 4. There are two kinds of destruction of scenic spots: one is demolition or alteration. Second, it will not be dismantled. Our urban planning, cultural relics protection and landscaping work urgently need organic cooperation to protect the scenic spots. 5. For example, leaders, experts and professors of relevant units can be invited to have a discussion on the demolition and retention of the Jianlou in Deshengmen and listen to their opinions. (Note: the content of this proposal letter is abridged.)

At that time, the "proposal" was reflected in the Central Committee, and vice premier Gu Mu was responsible for handling the matter. Gu Mu said: no! As a museum of weapons. In this way, Deshengmen archery tower is preserved as a historical relic. During this period, people's understanding of the ancient city building has changed, and Deshengmen archery tower is regarded as a part of Beijing's history and culture. In August 1979, Deshengmen arrow tower was announced as the second batch of municipal cultural relics protection units in Beijing.

Features of scenic spots

Located in the west of Beiyuan of Beijing, Deshengmen archery tower is one of the nine gates in the inner city of Beijing. The archery tower of Deshengmen, together with the urn City, constitutes a military fortress to protect the gate. It was built in 1437, the second year of the Ming Dynasty. Since then, the city gate and archery tower have been repaired in all dynasties.

The arrow tower is in the front of the tower and built on the brick platform, which is the defensive building of the tower. The platform is 12.5 meters high, the walls are divided, and the East-West width is about 39.5 meters. Jianlou is located in the south facing north, with grey tube tile green cut edge and double eaves resting on the top of the mountain. Its top view plane is convex. The front building and the back building are integrated into one. Three lintel doors open to the south. The north side building is 7 rooms wide, 34 meters wide from east to west, 12 meters wide from north to south. The south side veranda is 5 rooms wide, 25 meters wide from east to west, 7.6 meters wide from north to south, 19.6 meters deep and 19.3 meters high. There are 4 floors above and below, and 82 arrow windows, including 48 on the north side and 17 on the East and west sides, which are used as shooting holes when guarding the city.

Deshengmen arrow tower is a key cultural relic in Beijing and a major tourist attraction in Beijing.

Historical evolution

The ancient coin exhibition hall is located under the arrow tower of Deshengmen, which is 500 years old. It is adjacent to the jade belt like Second Ring Road in the South and the beautiful moat in the north

Chinese PinYin : De Sheng Men Jian Lou