The previous episode said that the southern wall of the Yuan Dynasty was moved from the front line of Chang 'an Street to the front line of the front three gates in the Ming Dynasty. The southern city wall is in front of the imperial city, so the three gates in the south are called the "First Three Gates".

To the west of the first three gates is Xuanwumen, and before moving south, it was Shunchengmen in the Yuan Dynasty. In the 17th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1419), the name Shunchengmen was still used after the city wall moved southward. Why didn't Zhu Di rename the first three doors? That was because he had a big thing on his mind and couldn't care about changing the city gate. What's the big deal? This year, Zheng He is coming back from his fifth voyage to the West. Zhu Di sent Zheng He to sea to track down Emperor Jianwen who had fled to the immortal mountain on the sea. The immortal mountain in the East China Sea is very close to us, and the immortals in the mountains are probably in contact with the court, of course through the officials in Baiyun Temple. This Western Celestial Mountain on the Sea was something that the Chinese used to despise. Emperor Jianwen might have gone there. Zheng He failed to find out any news of Emperor Jianwen during his previous voyages to the Western Ocean. This time, he would float at sea for more days and go to a farther place to see. According to records, during this fifth voyage to the Western Ocean, Zheng He sailed all the way to Lasa on the east coast of the African continent, which is now the Port of Aden in Yemen. After this voyage, Zheng He produced the famous "Zheng He Navigation Chart", which became the world's first nautical chart. When Portugal heard Marco Polo talk about Zheng He's nautical chart, they thought of developing an eastbound route from Portugal to connect with Zheng He's sailing route, and then reaching the gold-covered palace described by Marco Polo. From the time Prince Enrique went to sea in 1418, Dias crossed the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498 (the 11th year of Hongzhi of Ming Dynasty), Da Gama finally sailed to Aden and connected with the Zheng He Route. Zhu Di was waiting anxiously for news from Zheng He in Beijing, and of course was not in the mood to care whether the first three doors should change their names. Zheng He lived up to Zhu Di's expectations and came back to tell Zhu Di that he had "visited all over the western sea celestial mountains and never saw a hair on Zhu Yunwen." Zhu Di was relieved when he knew that his nephew was not in Xianshan. He issued an edict commending Zheng He as a spiritual reward and also approved a lump of silver to Zheng He as a material reward. More than 20 years later, Zhu Qizhen succeeded him as Emperor Yingzong. In the first year of Zhengtong (1436) when he ascended the throne, he rebuilt the first three gates and changed the name of Shuncheng Gate to Xuanwumen Gate. Xuanwu means "promoting martial arts", which means "if the wolf comes, there will be a shotgun to welcome him."

The Jianlou and Wengcheng of Xuanwumen were demolished during the Republic of China. The tower was demolished in 1965 when the Ring subway was built, but they are no longer there. You see, this makes it clear that Beijing's loop subway was built along the inner city wall, so the stations are all named after the inner city gate. The loop line is now Line 2. There was a vegetable market outside Xuanwumen at that time. The intersection of the market was called Caishikou, which is roughly equivalent to the current Xinfadi Wholesale Market. On weekdays, the second-way dealers distribute melons, fruits and vegetables here, and then enter the city from Xuanwumen on carts or carrying loads into various alleys to sell them. During the autumn duel, prison carts were pushed out from Xuanwumen. The executioner and supervisor pulled up a stool and sat down in front of any vegetable shop, stopped the prison cart on the street, and beheaded the prisoner when the "Xuanwu Noon Cannon" sounded against the sound of Deshengmen cannons. Three o'clock in ancient times is actually about twelve o'clock today. Therefore, Xuanwumen is a prisoner cart.

To the east of the first three gates is Chongwen Gate. During the Yuan Dynasty, this gate was called Wenming Gate, and people called it Hadmen. This "ha" was pronounced for the third time. After the city wall was moved south in the 19th year of Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, it was renamed Chongwenmen in the 4th year of Zhengtong. Chongwen Gate and Xuanwu Gate are in front of the imperial city, meaning left Wen and right Wu, and culture governs martial arts. In ancient times, emperors all pursued the pursuit of governing the country with literature and martial arts. After entering Chongwen Gate and heading north, you can walk to the Confucian Temple. Isn't it very civilized? Just to walk a long way. This concept of "civil governance and martial arts" in Chinese culture later spread to the West. I saw Westerners 'understanding of civil governance and martial arts in the Old Palace in Florence, Italy. That palace was the palace of Cosimo I, who became Duke of Florence in 1537 and used it as a palace. 1537 is equivalent to the 16th year of Jiajing of Zhu Houqian, the Ming Dynasty Zong after Zhu Qi Town in the Ming Dynasty in China. Wenming Gate has been renamed Chongwen Gate for nearly a hundred years, and the name of Chongwen Xuanwu has long been spread all over the world. This Cosimo I built not two doors in front of his palace in Vecchio, but two statues. The one on the right is the very famous Michelangelo's "David", which represents spiritual power; the one on the left is the also very famous Bandinelli's "Hercules and Karcus". Hercules is the Hercules in Greek mythology, representing the power of Confucius. You see, there are also articles and martial arts at the entrance here, but the left and right sides are full of twists, which shows that their understanding of Chinese culture is still not thorough.

At that time, Chongwen Gate was mainly a gate for transporting wine, which was the wine from the wine pool and meat forest. A tax office was set up in the gate to collect wine taxes and then use it to buy makeup for the empresses and concubines in the palace. There is an old saying that "alcohol and tobacco are not separated." Since Chongwenmen has alcohol, it must also have cigarettes. That is "Hadmen Cigarettes". The earliest Hadamen should be called "Hadamen", because there was a Hadamen Palace in Chongwen Gate in the Yuan Dynasty. No one knows which prince this King Hada is, let alone the location of the royal palace. Hardman cigarettes are produced by British American Tobacco and are embezzled. The British have a cigarette factory in Qingdao, where they make Hadman cigarettes. In New China, people felt that Hadman cigarettes had traces of colonialism and quickly stopped production. Two years ago, Qingdao Cigarette Factory sold the cigarettes again. No one talked about colonialism anymore. Maybe they were very proud.

Some of the first three doors are really preserved, or have not been demolished. That is the Zhengyang Gate in the middle, commonly known as the Front Gate. Zhengyang Gate means that "the sun at noon is above this gate." The ancients said it in classical Chinese, and it is called "The Holy Lord is in the sun, and the sun reaches the middle of heaven, and all countries pay homage." This gate is Lizheng Gate in the Yuan Dynasty. It was also called Lizheng Gate after it was moved south in the 19th year of Yongle. It was also renamed together with the two south gates of the east and west in the first year of Zhengtong.

The streets on Qiansanmen are not called "Qiansanmen Street", but are called Chachamen West Street and Chachamen East Street facing the city gate. Of course, Qianmen will be called Qianmen West Street and Qianmen East Street. There is a stop at Qianmen on the Loop Line subway. When you leave the subway station and look north, you will see the Qianmen Tower.

Looking south, it is the Qianmen Arrow Tower.

Qianmen Tower is the only tower remaining in Beijing. Look to the front.

It has been 580 years since it was built in the fourth year of Zhengdong (1439). During this period, it was destroyed several times and then rebuilt. What we see now should be the reconstruction in the 33rd year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1907). The city tower is a two-story building on the top of a mountain with double eaves and a double-arch structure, and is designed in the Ming Dynasty. The surface is seven rooms wide and three rooms deep. The first floor is surrounded by eaves corridors, and the second floor is a circle of flat-seat railings with eaves braces at the four corners. The roof is made of gray tiles with green glaze trimming, and the ends of the main ridge are not kisses, but dragon tails. There are no immortals riding chickens at the front of each ridge, but there are nine ridge beasts, of very high specifications. There is a wooden "Zhengyang Gate" plaque above and under the eaves.

Turn around and look at the arrow tower.

This arrow tower is the same in shape as the Deshengmen arrow tower seen in front, and it is the largest one. If you look carefully, there is another small difference. The first is the arrow window with curved window eaves, which was added in 1915. The other one is a large verandah platform behind the building.

Walking to the front and looking, this archery tower has a gate. This is the only arrow tower with a ticket gate in the inner city gate, because the emperor walked here to enter and exit the city in a ceremonial manner. In 1949, the People's Liberation Army also held its entrance ceremony here.

Looking up again, the stone plaque of "Zhengyang Gate" is still there. Compared with the "Pingzemen" stone carving, this door plaque is still quite different. It is not even signed, so it is definitely not original from the Ming Dynasty. If you look closer, the last stroke of the word "door" is not checked. Changing Chinese characters was not done by Ming people. It could only be done by the Qing Dynasty emperors. In the Qing Dynasty, people began to change Chinese characters from Qianlong, especially on steles and plaques. Later, emperors of various generations also developed this kind of trick.

There is a sign bearing national key protected cultural relics next to the coupon door. In 1988, the third batch. In this batch, Beijing also includes the Yuanmingyuan ruins, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Confucian Temple, the Sheji Altar, the Liao Tower of Tianning Temple, the Yinshan Tallinn, the Fahai Temple and Niujie Mosque, the Liulihe Yandu Ruins, and a Chongli residence in Dongsiliutiao. The lion next to the ticket gate does not seem to be an indigenous person here.

Although Zhengyang Gate retains the largest tower and arrow tower among the nine inner city gates, many attachments have still been demolished. The most important thing was the demolition of the Wengcheng in 1915. In addition to the Guandi Temple, there was also a Guanyin Temple in the Wengcheng, which was also different from other Wengcheng gates. The horse roads in the Wengcheng must have been demolished together. The gates and suspension bridges on the east and west sides of the Wengcheng must have been demolished, and the moat has been filled.

After the Jianlou ticket gate came out, there was a large stone bridge on the old moat. This bridge is very special. The middle span is the main road, and there is another span on each side as if it is an auxiliary road. In fact, the middle span is the royal road with white marble handrails on both sides; the auxiliary roads on both sides are ordinary stone bridges.

Beyond the stone bridge is an archway. This was the most popular archway in the capital at that time, with six pillars and five floors. There are archways outside the nine inner city gates in Beijing. Only the Zhengyang Gate archway has six pillars and five floors. Those are all four-pillars and three floors. Look at the front building rebuilt in previous years.

There are six towering pillars, with two lions sitting face to face on the pillars of the Pilu hat. The inscription "Zhengyang Bridge" is written on the forehead fang plaque, which is the name of the bridge on the moat behind it.

In the past, it was said that the front door was "four doors, three bridges and five archways". The fourth gate is the tower and the gate of the archway, plus one gate on the east and west sides; the third bridge refers to the main road and auxiliary road of Zhengyang Bridge; the fifth archway refers to the archway above. This "four doors, three bridges and five archways" is unique to Qianmen and the only one in the capital.

Not only did British American Tobacco not only sell "Hadmen" cigarettes in China, it also made Qianmen a cigarette brand, which was the "Daqianmen" cigarette. Daqianmen Cigarettes are produced in Shanghai and bear pictures of Qianmen Arrow Tower printed on them. Unlike Hadman Cigarettes, which once stopped production, Daqianmen has been producing it all the time. Of course, it was taken over by New China's Shanghai Cigarette Factory. In the planned economy era, cigarette production was also planned. In Beijing, cheap brands such as "Badaling" and "Xiangshan" are commonly used, while "Pegasus" is produced in Shanghai. Only during the Chinese New Year and the holidays will good cigarettes be supplied to households with a shopping permit. Class A cigarettes are Zhonghua and are not supplied; the good cigarettes supplied by the certificate are Class B cigarettes, Daqianmen and Mudan.

Zhengyang Gate refers to the city gate tower and arrow tower in the picture above. The commonly referred to as "Qianmen" refers to the large commercial area outside Zhengyang Gate, that is, Qianmen Street under Wupailou and the large and small alleys on both sides. This prosperous commercial avenue extends to Zhushikou in the south. This street used to be called Zhengyangmen Street, but after 1965, it was changed to Qianmen Street. Beijing's commercial districts used to have default hierarchies. Wangfujing Department Store was high-end, Xidan Shopping Mall was mid-range, and Qianmen was a large small shop that ordinary people visited.

Qianmen area still has traces of the past Lifang system. The east side of the road is Dongfang, and the west side of the road is Xifang. There are many time-honored Beijing brands in Qianmen, and the Dabei Photo Studio below the five archways is one of them. Dabei Photo Studio should be a century-old shop. It occupies the first position on the east side of Qianmen Street, which is No. 2 Qianmen Street.

What was the shop at No. 1 Qianmen Street opposite Dabei Photo Studio? I don't remember. After the renovation, the street was occupied by Starbucks. There is a half-century-old American store on Qianmen West Street. The first branch in China is KFC. The earliest restaurant opened by foreigners in Beijing after the reform and opening up was Maxim's Restaurant in Chongwenmen in 1983, and Qianmen KFC was the second restaurant in 1987.

Some place names still remain in the former commercial downtown around Qianmen, which is the names of those hutongs, such as Grain Store Street. Look below. This is the current Grain Store Street.

Although this Grain Store Street is dilapidated now, there are still buildings like this below! It shows that it was also a street with unparalleled brilliance back then.

The most famous thing on Liangdian Street is the time-honored brand below, No. 3 Liangdian Street.

This is a very old shop. The door plaque was written by Yan Song, a bad person in the Ming Dynasty. You know how old the shop is, right? The ninth year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1530) has been 490 years. Although Yan Song is a bad person, his handwriting is quite good. This plaque is said to be original and has been constantly renovated. It is not easy to pass down. This plaque is a masterpiece of Yan Song's list. Anyone studying calligraphy must come and see it. After reading it, they can buy a jar of Liubiju pickles and eat it when they go home to practice calligraphy. Liu Bi of Liu Biju said that the best of the six materials and equipment used to make pickles must be used.

Needless to say, Dazhalan is known to all the people across the country, and there is no need to look at it. It is a mess. One of the alleys dedicated to eating is Xianyukou, where I have also eaten. Sit in the store and eat and look at the street.

The store owner stood at the door and tried his best to invite all the living beings walking through the street to come in for dinner.

Finally, several old ladies came in and each bought three red and three white. These were two ancient Beijing mooncakes, pronounced "Zila red, Zila white".

In order to welcome the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Qianmen Street has been renovated since 2003. After the renovation, the only thing left in place was Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant basically unchanged. There are only one time-honored brand that came back after the renovation, or that is still on Qianmen Street. Lao Zhengxing, who moved from Shanghai to Beijing after the liberation, was also here. His chicken soup buns were very delicious, but now they are gone. The stewed and burned fire in doorframe Hutong that everyone in Beijing knows is no longer there. When it comes to braising, fried liver will definitely be mentioned. Xianyukou Tianxingju's fried liver is still there, but the level of his steamed buns has dropped too much.

The most famous shopping mall on Qianmen Street used to be the Quanyechang below.

The earliest Quanyechang was built in 1905, and the current building was rebuilt in 1923 after the fire. It is designed by foreigners and in a neo-Baroque style. Quanye's industry refers to industry. This was the earliest industrial product exhibition hall. Before liberation, it became a self-employed shopping mall selling everything; then it became a state-owned shopping mall and became a Xinxin clothing store in the 1970s. This building is now a cultural relic protection unit in Beijing City.

From Quanyechang to the west, the old house was demolished and a new building was built. Go in and take a look. This is a brand new office building.

Although it is a new building, it is still the same.

There are various shops downstairs, and writers in the office building can visit them after work.

There are also various restaurants and wineries where writers can go to buy food. However, if I work overtime until late at night, I'm afraid there will be no food anywhere, so I can only go to KFC on the street to eat chicken. The word "Fang" on the wall in front means a bit of "Li Fang" in the past?

This building used to be called "Beijing Square", but now there is only one square in Beijing? If you open a store in Beijing Square with the word "Fu" in front of you, your business must be right.

In short, Qianmen area used to be very developed in commerce and entertainment, but it is still very developed now.

The inner city of Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties is these nine gates. It's not enough to have city gates alone, but also city walls. Let's talk about it next time.