Yongdingmen

Yongdingmen

Yongding gate is the main gate of the outer city wall of Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is located on the central axis of Beijing, between Zuo'an gate and You'an gate. It is the largest gate in the outer city of Beijing and the main thoroughfare from the south to the capital.

Yongdingmen was built in 1553, which means "forever stable". The shape of the tower is similar to that of the inner city, with double eaves and three drops of water in Xieshan. The top of the tower is covered with grey tiles, with a surface width of five rooms and a width of 24 meters, a depth of three rooms and a depth of 10.50 meters, and a height of 26 meters.

The wall of Yongdingmen urn city was demolished in 1950. In 1957, in the name of impeding traffic and dangerous buildings, Yongdingmen tower and arrow tower were demolished. In 2004, Yongdingmen tower was rebuilt in Beijing, of which Wengcheng and Jianlou have not yet been built, becoming the first rebuilt gate in Beijing.

Historical evolution

Yongdingmen was built in 1553, which means "eternal stability". The two-story building is five rooms (24 meters) wide and two rooms (10.5 meters) deep, with green glass cut edge and gray tube tile double eaves. Under the tower is the Chengtai, which was built in 1544. It is 42 meters wide from east to west and 36 meters deep from north to south.

In 1767, Yongdingmen was rebuilt. The platform was raised to 26 meters, and the urn was rebuilt. A single story archery tower (with two archery windows) was added to the front of the urn. The arrow tower is very small, with only three rooms (12.8 meters) in width and one room (6.7 meters) in depth. The urn is square, 42 meters wide from east to west, 36 meters deep from north to south, with rounded corners on both ends of the outside. The archery tower has two archery holes, seven in the South and three in the East and West. Under the platform of Jianlou City, there is a single hole gate.

In the 1950s, in the face of the contradiction between urban construction and ancient city protection, the saying that the ancient city of Beijing was "completely serving the will of feudal rulers" (quoted from November 1953, the key points of the draft plan for the reconstruction and expansion of Beijing) prevailed. Therefore, since 1950, the wall of Yongdingmen urn city has been demolished one after another. In 1957, in the name of obstructing traffic and already dangerous buildings, the city tower and arrow tower were demolished.

Stone plaque of Ming Dynasty

In 1644, after the establishment of the capital of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty plaques inscribed in Chinese on the gates of Beijing were removed and replaced with those inscribed in Manchu and Chinese. After the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Qiqian, the head of the Ministry of internal affairs in the early Republic of China, asked Shao Zhang, a famous scholar in Hangzhou, to re inscribe the names of the gates of Beijing in Chinese and make them inlaid with stone tablets. It was written in 1931 in Yandu congkao, which states that "the sum of every school today is written by Shaojun." With the demolition of the gates of Beijing, most of the plaques inscribed by Mr. Shao Zhang have been lost, only one is still embedded above the entrance of the archery tower of Zhengyang gate. And the original plaque of Ming Dynasty gate is rare.

In 2003, the original stone plaque of Yongdingmen in Ming Dynasty was found under an ancient cypress tree at the gate of Beijing Ancient Architecture Museum of xiannongtan. It was reported in Beijing Youth Daily on August 22, 2003. The stone plaque is 2 meters long, 0.78 meters high and 0.28 meters thick. The three characters of "Yongdingmen" in regular script are vigorous and well preserved. It is the original of Yongdingmen built in 1553. The three characters "Yongdingmen" embedded on the stone plaque above the restored Yongdingmen gate are modeled on this stone plaque.

City gate scale

Yongding gate is located in Beijing. The shape of the tower is just like the inner city. It has double eaves, Xieshan and three drops of water. It has gray tube tiles and green glazed tiles on the top. It is five rooms wide and 24 meters wide, three rooms deep and 10.50 meters deep, and 34.04 meters high. The urn is square, with two outer corners of circular arc shape, 42 meters wide from east to west, 36 meters long from north to south, and 6 meters wide at the top of the wall. There is a big gap between the regulation of Jianlou and Chenglou, which is not well coordinated. There is a single eaves Xieshan style grey tile roof. It is three rooms wide, 12.8 meters wide, one room deep, 6.70 meters high and 8 meters high. Lianchengtai is 15.85 meters high. There are two arrow windows in the south, East and West, seven holes in the South and three holes in the East and West. The North guilou gate is a wooden square gate. According to relevant historical records, Yongdingmen was built step by step, spanning the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Construction history

reconstruction

Reconstruction in 2004. Beijing people all know that the old Beijing city is divided into inner city and outer city. The original "inner nine and outer seven" has 16 gates. However, since the demolition of some city gates in the period of the Republic of China and the demolition of most city gates in order to improve road traffic in the early days of liberation, the original nine city gates in the inner city of Beijing are only Zhengyangmen tower, Jianlou and Deshengmen Jianlou, and the original seven city gates in the outer city of Beijing are not left.

The Beijing city built in the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty has a square plane outline with only nine gates.

On the second day of August in the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368), Xu Da, a general sent by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, captured the capital of the Yuan Dynasty and renamed it "Beiping mansion". In order to shorten the line of defense and prevent the remnant forces of the Yuan Dynasty from fighting back, Xu Da ordered the city wall in the north of Dadu to retreat 5 Li to the South and rebuild it in the front line of today's Deshengmen and Andingmen.

Specifications after reconstruction: Chengtai is 31.4 meters long from east to west, 16.96 meters wide from north to south, 8 meters high, and the total height of Chenglou (ridge) is 26.04 meters. It is a triple eaves Xieshan roof.

Initial construction

In the first year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (1403), Zhu Di, the emperor of Yongle who claimed the title of emperor in Nanjing, ordered that Peiping, when he was king of Yan, be upgraded to "Beijing". This is the beginning of Beijing's name. In the fourth year of Yongle, Zhu Di ordered the construction of the Imperial Palace, the renovation of the city wall and the preparation of moving the capital. In the 17th year of Yongle, in order to expand the space in front of the palace, the southern city wall, which was originally on the front line of Chang'an Street, was moved 2 li South and rebuilt on the front line of Zhengyangmen.

On the new year's day of 1421, Zhu Di officially moved his capital to Beijing. At this time, Beijing was square in plane outline, with only nine gates. The central axis of the city starts from Zhengyang gate in the south, runs through the Imperial Palace and reaches the bell tower in the north.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the country was strong and prosperous. Emperor Yongle took an offensive against the Mongolian tribes and led the army to the North five times. Later, the strength of the Ming Dynasty declined, and the Mongol army came to the city for many times. During the Jiajing period, some officials proposed to build an outer city with a circumference of about 80 Li outside Beijing for security. Due to lack of funds, Yan Song proposed to change the design.

expand

The construction of the outer city began in 1553, the 32nd year of Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty. Because the southern suburb (outside Zhengyang gate) was relatively prosperous at that time, and there were royal altars, the temple of heaven and the altar of Xiannong, the outer city was first built from the south line. But soon after the project started, it was difficult to continue because of lack of funds. This also reflects the fatuity and incompetence of the rulers, so that they could not raise money properly as soon as possible. In desperation, Emperor Jiajing sent Yan Song, the head of the cabinet, to find a way.

Yan Song went to the construction site for a stroll, and really came up with a "clever plan" which was not brilliant but could be dealt with, that is, only to build the south line wall, and the other three sides would be discussed when he had money in the future. The length of the southern line of the city wall has also been reduced from the original plan of 20 Li to 13 Li. Its East and West ends bend northward to meet the two turrets in the southeast and southwest of the inner city. But Jiajing did not expect that the so-called "say it again in the future" was never mentioned until the death of Ming Dynasty.

In the 43rd year of Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, the outer city of Beijing was built. The main gate was named "Yongdingmen", implying "eternal stability".

In 1564, the outer city of Beijing was built, with a total length of 28 Li and seven gates. Because the reason for the construction of the outer city is to strengthen the security of Beijing, the naming of the city gate has the color of pursuing "stability" and "tranquility", such as "zuo'anmen", "you'anmen" and "guangningmen" (Ming Ning was renamed "Guanganmen" for avoiding Daoguang emperor in Qing Dynasty). Yongdingmen, the main gate of the outer city, means "eternal stability".

After the completion of the outer city, the central axis of Beijing extends from Zhengyangmen to Yongdingmen, which is 16 Li long from the bell tower in the north.

Since only the south part of the outer city was built, the plane outline of Beijing has formed a "convex" shape since then. And the name of "outer city" is not worthy of the name. It is not outside the inner city, but in the south of the inner city, so the outer city of Beijing is also called "South City". In the Qing Dynasty, this pattern remained unchanged, but the city gates and walls were repaired many times. The second ring road and the South Second Ring Road in Beijing were built along this "convex" contour line.

The present situation of Chengmen

After the reform and opening up, Beijing was built into a modern city. In order to rebuild the Yongdingmen tower at the southernmost end of the central axis, the state demolished the dilapidated low houses on both sides of Yongdingmen Nanwei Road, exposing the altar walls on both sides. Yongdingmen tower has now been rebuilt, showing once again the complete central axis of the old city of Beijing. After the transformation, trees and grass are planted on a large area of open space to build a large area of green space. After dredging, the moat is rippling with clear water. The newly renovated Yongdingmen tower and the moat water complement each other and become a new scene of Nancheng.

Main attractions

Yongdingmen tower was demolished in 1957, and the new Yongdingmen tower was rebuilt in 2004. The stone plaque embedded above the gate hole of the rebuilt Yongdingmen tower has three characters of "Yongdingmen" in regular script, vigorous and vigorous, which is imitative of lighting

Chinese PinYin : Yong Ding Men