Suzhou street branch

Suzhou street

Tongleyuan maimai street former site

Xiangshan Maimai Street Site

Hu Liping

At the end of 20021,the "Shiguang Shopping Street" based on the historical "Yuanmingyuan Shopping Street" was opened.

The so-called "shopping street", also known as "court market", is a commercial street modeled after the folk street view in the royal gardens of the Qing Dynasty. There are seven commercial streets in the "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" area in history, which are distributed in Changchun Garden, Yuanmingyuan Garden, Jingyi Garden and Summer Palace. So where are the specific locations of these trading streets? What kind of prosperity is there? What remains can we find now?

trace the history (of)

The architectural pattern of Maishang Street is different from that of Suzhou Street.

In fact, the so-called "shopping street" is not a commercial street in the strict sense, but a special secular downtown built in the royal gardens of the Qing Dynasty, and it is also a place where emperors and concubines in the harem feel the folk life and go shopping and have fun. Shops, shops, tea shops and inns on the street are mostly built in the style of folk well city, which can be described as everything, making people really feel like they are in the bustling well city.

Usually, commercial streets built in the north with traditional market structure before the 16th year of Qianlong (175 1) are called "buying and selling streets". After Emperor Qianlong's southern tour, the commercial street modeled after the pattern of Suzhou in the south of the Yangtze River was called Suzhou Street, also known as "Business Street".

Why does the Imperial Garden have a business street? There are two main ways to say this: first, every time the emperor travels, the people should avoid it, the shops are closed, and the street view is not seen. By setting up a shopping street in the Royal Garden, the emperor can experience some interesting life in the downtown area. Second, concubines and princesses who have lived in the Forbidden Park for a long time are almost isolated from the world. With the trading street, they can have the opportunity to feel the fun of ordinary people visiting temple fairs and markets.

Suzhou Street, a market modeled after the Suzhou market in the south of the Yangtze River, was built in the Royal Garden in Beijing. According to research, the prototype of Suzhou Street is Shantang Street in the northwest of Suzhou Ancient City. Suzhou Street in the area of "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" was built in the 16th year of Qianlong, after Li Hong entered the south of the Yangtze River.

The opening hours of the trading street are not fixed. Every time it is "open", it is mostly when Empress Dowager Cixi is stationed. When the market opened, two eunuchs walked along the street with a big gong, knocking at the door and shouting "Open the Market". When the shopkeepers heard the gong, they immediately "opened the door to welcome guests" and made a lot of noise. When the market closed, eunuchs carried big gongs and walked along the street, banging gongs and shouting "Closing the market". "Businessmen" heard the sound of gongs and drums and closed the market one after another.

During the Jiaqing period, due to the continuous financial shortage of the government, Emperor Jiaqing ordered to stop the commercial activities of the commercial street in the "Three Mountains and Five Gardens". In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), when the British and French allied forces burned down the imperial gardens in the western suburbs such as Yuanmingyuan, most of these commercial streets were destroyed and then gradually disappeared.

Changchun garden

The shopping street is modeled after the shops in Jiangnan, and the general direction of Suzhou Street can still be found.

The earliest shopping street in the imperial gardens of Qing Dynasty in Beijing was Changchun Garden Shopping Street, which is located in the south of Haidian Sports Center today. According to the range marked in the restoration map of Changchun Garden in Qing Dynasty, I found the location of Nangong Gate of Changchun Garden in that year, except for high-rise buildings, there was no trace.

Changchun Garden is the first garden built after the Qing court entered the customs. In the 23rd year of Kangxi (1684), Emperor Kangxi returned from his southern tour and loved the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, in the former site of Ming Shenzong's grandfather Tsinghua campus in the northwest of Haidian Town in the western suburbs (not today's Tsinghua campus in Tsinghua University), it took six years to build the waterscape in the south of the Yangtze River, which is known as "the first garden in Beijing".

According to the Qing Dynasty's Textual Research on Sun's Old News, at the northern end of Huayuan West Road in Changchun, "Houhe Bridge in the west of Jifengxuan has a gate with a wall in the north, and Xiaoximen has 84 pagodas from the west to the northeast corner", including Yawanzhai. Judging from the architectural form and name, this is a typical street shop in Beijing. "History of Changchun Garden" said: "Changchun Garden was built in 1684 after Emperor Kangxi returned from his southern tour. There are Fangfangzhai, Shangmao Street, Wuyi Zhai, Vegetable Garden, Guandi Temple, Niangniang Temple, Ningchuntang, Ruizhu Garden and other attractions. " Because Changchun Garden has disappeared for a long time, it is impossible to verify the building scale of this trading street, or even to determine the approximate location.

From here, walk not far east along the North Fourth Ring Road, and you will reach Haidian Bridge. Go south and you will see the road sign of Suzhou Street. Check the map of the late Qing Dynasty that you carry with you, and you can roughly see the direction of Suzhou Street outside Nangong Gate of Changchun Garden.

According to the History of Changchun Garden, "West Road (Manjuji) is in the north, with a long winding road. The Changchun Garden in the north is Wanshou Street, which is called Suzhou Street." "Examination of Three Mountains and Five Gardens" records: "The West Gate of Manjuji Temple is Wanshou Street, commonly known as Suzhou Street, with two rows and four rows, all imitating Wuzhong (Suzhou). The old lady likes Suzhou scenery and built it like it. "

Therefore, this Suzhou Street was built in the 26th year of Qianlong (176 1), which was built by Emperor Qianlong to celebrate the seventieth birthday of the Queen Mother of Chongqing. It is the largest, initially three miles long, and by the end of Qianlong, it has expanded to more than ten miles long. In terms of architectural style, it is modeled after the style of shops in Jiangnan, so it is called "Suzhou Street". "There are restaurants, pavilions, platforms, watchtowers, flower stands, temples and rural adobe houses in the market. Pine and cypress are planted on the mountain, and a 900-foot lime-soil wall is added. The door is closed on the west side of Manjuki. " Wei, a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou) in Zhejiang Province in the Qing Dynasty, once visited this place and wrote a poem "Suzhou Street": "Louqinglou is red, and the water and mountains are like Gusu. It's beautiful that the villain is close to the market, and it turns into a hidden painting of the world. "

At the end of Jiaqing, during the Manjuji Temple Fair, the emperor allowed villagers to set up a free market in Suzhou Street, which gradually became a public market from a forbidden area, but some buildings were still preserved. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, this Suzhou street was destroyed together with the royal gardens such as Yuanmingyuan, and then a country avenue was formed along the general direction of the street. From Haidian Town in the north to Manjuji in the south, it is more than ten miles long.

I walked all the way south along Suzhou Street, only to see the high-rise buildings in the east of the street and some shops in the west of Zhongguancun. Soon I came to suzhoujie station on the subway 10 line, which was named after being located in the middle of Suzhou Street. Follow the direction indicated by the road sign, continue to go south, pass the west gate of Renmin University and Wanquan Qiao Zhuang, and then you will reach Suzhou Bridge not far from the south. This place was originally called Sanyi Temple, because the bridge was built here when the Third Ring Road was built, and it is located on the old road of Suzhou Street, so it is called Suzhou Bridge, and the subway 16 line has Suzhou Bridge Station here.

From there, walk south along the auxiliary road of the West Third Ring Road for more than 30 minutes, and you will reach the west side of Manjuki. According to historical records, this is the southern end of Suzhou Street. Stop-and-go along the way, except for the "Suzhou Street" road sign at the intersection, the scenery of Suzhou Street has gone.

Old Summer Palace

There is no trace of these two trade streets, only some anecdotes are circulating.

There used to be two commercial streets in Yuanmingyuan, which are recorded in history books.

Enter the park from the southeast gate of Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, go south, cross a stone bridge, and you will reach the peony viewing area. On its north side is the Hanjing Hall of Changchun Garden, one of the three major gardens in Yuanmingyuan. According to the map drawn by Yuanmingyuan in the Qing Dynasty, I went to the location of the business street on the east side of Hanjingtang during the Qianlong period.

According to "The Vicissitudes of Yuanmingyuan", the buildings including Jing Tang were basically completed in the 12th year of Qianlong (1747). Its street view is based on the market in Beijing. Because Li Hong's first southern tour was in the 16th year of Qianlong (175 1), we didn't have an intuitive understanding of the street scene of Gusu in the south of the Yangtze River, so the trading street built at that time didn't have many elements of Gusu street.

This shopping street is a long row of paved houses facing the water, which runs from east to west and is about 120 meters long. There are dozens of shops, mostly small restaurants, which can be described as a "snack street". It is said that there were 28 restaurants at that time, including 40 shops with seats of 10 on the east side of Jingtang, each with its own flavor.

I searched here for more than ten minutes, but I didn't see the remains of the market, so I asked an old man for help. I didn't expect the old man to know something about this business street. It turns out that he is a native of Zhengbaiqi in the northeast of Yuanmingyuan. He said that Hanjingtang Commercial Street is located on the west side of this river bank and is built near the water. It is said that Emperor Qianlong likes to visit this shopping street best, because there are many folk snacks that are not available in Imperial Restaurant. Shopkeepers and waiters in restaurants on the street are all loud and articulate characters temporarily selected from restaurants in Beijing before opening the street. Whenever Gan Longsheng's family passes by here, you can hear the "clerk" loudly announcing the name of the dish and the owner scratching his abacus, showing a prosperous business scene. During the Daoguang period, this trade street was gradually abandoned. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, the British and French allied forces burned the Yuanmingyuan, and now there is no trace.

After bidding farewell to the old man, I walked west along the tree-lined road, bypassed the south side of Fuhai, and then turned north, and came to the former site of the Yuanmingyuan Xanadu. There used to be a shopping street here, which was the earliest Soviet-style commercial street built in the "Three Mountains and Five Gardens". Because it is close to the same paradise, it is called the shopping street of the same paradise.

Some scholars have verified that the shopping street of Tongleyuan appeared in the Forty Scenes of Yuanmingyuan in the 9th year of Qianlong (1744) at the latest. Some scholars have also verified that this Suzhou street was built twenty-six years after Qianlong's southern tour. "The Secret of Southern Tour" records that Suzhou Street "is a commercial city street in the east of Yuanmingyuan, which imitates Suzhou and Hangzhou. Every year, on New Year's Eve and half a month, this garden is named Le Tong. The east of Fuhai is definitely like the scenes of Guanqian Street in Suzhou, Sanshan Street in Jinling and Hangzhou Street, with many rows. " "A Brief Study of the History of Yuanmingyuan" said: "(Qianlong) In the spring and February of the twenty-sixth year, Emperor Fengdi visited the Queen Mother's West and was fortunate in Wutai Mountain. March to Zhengding military parade, hunt in Pingyang Lake and return to Beijing. ..... and set up a trade street in the same paradise. "

The main body of this Suzhou street runs north and south, with a river in the middle. There is a double bridge on the river, which is called Shuangqiao. The long street is divided into Shuangqiao South Street and North Street, which extend to the south of Yangguan City to form the basically symmetrical East-West Second Street, and together form the market structure. Among them, the total length of the streets in the north-south direction exceeds 130m, and the streets in the east-west direction are very short, but the streets and lanes are straight avenues.

This street only opens three times a year, namely New Year's Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. As soon as the market opened, the doors of the shops were open, and the shelves and windows were filled with all kinds of goods, all kinds of which were dazzling. Eunuchs dressed as shopkeepers, tourists, buddies, residents, couriers, salesmen, vendors, storytellers, acrobatic artists, drunkards and literati chatting over tea are like street scenes in Shi Jing.

It is said that in the golden autumn of one year, on August 12, Qianlong gave a recent minister an opportunity to "listen to Jas Pouch Lee" in this commercial street and watch the drama Birthday for A Nishang. Hearing this, the ministers understood that this was not an invitation to the theatre, but a birthday present, because August 13th was Qianlong's birthday, which was also called "birthday". On August 12, ministers came to the theater early and presented their birthday gifts one by one. Luck is a great pleasure.

Unfortunately 1860, when the British and French allied forces looted and burned Yuanmingyuan, this Suzhou street was also destroyed.

Searching here, I didn't see the remains of the market, but I saw a street sign that said, "Business Street is in the same paradise". Walking in, I briefly introduced Tong Yuan Commercial Street in Chinese and English, and attached a landscape map of Tong Yuan Commercial Street in Qing Dynasty. According to the road sign, I came to the old site of the Acropolis at the northern end of this trading street, but only the base address. There is also a street sign here, which clearly indicates the location of Trading Street. So I asked a gardener the specific location of Tong Yuan Commercial Street, and he said it was in front of me, and the north-south road was a little west.

Jingyiyuan

The base address of the commercial street shop with the smallest building can be clearly found.

Jingyi Garden, now Xiangshan Park, was turned into a palace in Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi rebuilt the original palace into Xiangshan Palace. After emperor Qianlong ascended the throne, he expanded it and built more than 80 large and small garden landscapes, named "Jingyi Garden".

Looking for Jingyiyuan Business Street, I am fortunate to have a friend who works in Xiangshan Park. We entered the park from the East Palace Gate, then left, along the mountain road through Cuijing Lake and Cuiwei Pavilion, and came to Xiangshan Temple.

A friend said that Jingyiyuan Shopping Street is located between the two archways in front of Miaoshan Mountain, and it is the smallest shopping street among the "three mountains and five gardens" in the western suburbs, with a length of less than 100 meters. There are more than ten shops in the street, such as Mountain Temple, God of Wealth Temple, Longwang Temple, Fushouzhai, Xinyuanzhai, Wanxing, Jianguzhai, Tianfu, Guangyuan and Wanshun. Because it is located at the foot of the mountain, it is more interesting in the mountain village, so it is quite popular with Emperor Qianlong. When staying in Jingyi Garden, let him "open the street" and then take his concubines "shopping" for fun.

It is said that one day, Emperor Qianlong came to the shopping street with his beloved Gulen and Princess Xiao (the tenth princess). Ganlong went into a teahouse to drink tea and see the scenery. The princess went into an antique shop, took a fancy to a pair of agate bracelets and bought them for twelve taels of silver. Soon, Qianlong met the princess and saw the bracelet she was wearing. He asked what it was and how much it cost. The princess told the truth. Gan Long knows a lot about jewelry and jade articles. After seeing the bracelet, he decided that it was a fake, so he found an antique shop. When the "manned" saw the arrival of the holy family, he hurriedly knelt on the ground and said that this pair of bracelets was not agate, but a pair of ordinary jade bracelets bought outside the imperial garden for five pence three days ago. He brought them in to make some money in the trading street, but the princess bought them. Emperor Qianlong was angry and hated when he heard this. He snapped, "It's really hateful to cheat customers by shoddy goods!" As a result, the "shopkeeper" who pretended to be a eunuch was kicked out of Jingyi Garden after playing forty boards again.

Unfortunately, Jingyi Garden was devastated by the British and French allied forces during the Xianfeng period, most of the buildings were destroyed, and the business street was not spared.

While speaking, I came to a stone erected by the roadside, engraved with the words "Xiangshan Temple Trading Street", followed by a text introduction, followed by a restoration map of Trading Street, indicating the name of each shop and the location of Mountain Temple and Longwang Temple.

A friend said that this is a map of the Trade Street copied from the original historical features after the reconstruction of Xiangshan Temple a few years ago, from which we can see the specific location and name of the shops in those years.

From here on, there is a tall archway with the words "the crown of the capital" written on it. A friend pointed to a platform around the archway and said, these are the base addresses of shops on the street, and we can see the size of each shop.

Through the archway, the base addresses of many shops are clearly visible. The words "Ruins of Youth Building" are engraved on the stone next to one of the base sites. The other two stones are engraved with "Mountain Temple" and "Longwang Temple" respectively. Needless to say, it is because of the location of the two temples.

Some friends said that there is another street outside the East Palace of Xiangshan Park called "Buy Street", which is about one mile long and evolved from the "Buy Street" in Jingyi Park. Formed in the Republic of China, it is one of the two major cultural streets in Xiangshan.

The Summer Palace

Reconstruction of Suzhou Street in Houxihe River.

You can find the former site of Suzhou Street in Wanzihe.

The Summer Palace, formerly known as Qingyi Garden, was built in the 15th year of Qing Qianlong (1750), and Xianfeng was burnt down by the British and French allied forces in the 10th year. In the 14th year of Guangxu (1888), it was rebuilt and renamed the Summer Palace. In the 26th year of Guangxu (1900), it was destroyed by Eight-Nation Alliance. 1902, the main buildings were restored and built a lot.

There are two Suzhou streets in Qingyi Garden. One is located on both sides of Houhe River in Wanshou Mountain, and its full name is Wanshou Commercial Street, also known as Wanshou Commercial Street, and Houxi Suzhou Street, commonly known as Suzhou Street. One is located on the north side of Shifang at the west foot of Wanshou Mountain, called Sisuo Trading Street or Wanzihe Suzhou Street, also called Little Suzhou Street.

Entering the park from the North Palace Gate of the Summer Palace is a three-hole stone bridge with dozens of meters. Standing on the stone and looking around, Suzhou Street has a panoramic view.

This shopping street is centered on the three-hole stone bridge facing the North Palace Gate and spans the east and west. It is a court commercial shop built in the form of "two rivers and one street" in Suzhou water town. It's about 270 meters long. On both sides of the winding lake, more than 70 pavements are lined up, taking the river as the street and the shore as the city, with unique scenery.

This street was built during the Qianlong period and has existed for nearly a hundred years. In the tenth year of Xianfeng, all the pavement buildings were burned down by the British and French allied forces, leaving only the crumbling city walls. During Guangxu period, the imperial garden was restored twice, but it was not restored due to lack of financial resources. Until 1983, with the purpose of restoring the landscape of Qingyi Garden, it took four years to rebuild and basically restored the architectural pattern of Qing Dynasty. 1990 opened to the public in September.

Entering Suzhou Street from the ticket office, I walked clockwise along the winding lakeshore in the southwest. The first shop is called Lanxinlou. From there to the west, it is Hengsheng, Jijinlou, Yiguzhai, Dengyunzhai, Xixiangpu, Porcelain Store and Tuyunhao in turn.

Go to the westernmost section, cross a suspension bridge and come to the north of the river. The first shop is called Hengtai. From there to the east, there are car-watching shop, Fuding shop, Sichuan restaurant, Baiwei restaurant and Yuanjilou in turn.

After passing under the stone bridge, we came to the northeast side of the river. The first shop is called Play Guzhai. From there to the east, there are Miaohuazhai, Weaving Workshop, Ruyun, Tobacco Bag Shop, Leather Goods Village and so on. Turn to the northeast corner and go east. There are kite shops, old needle shops, Sanyihou and Risheng. After crossing a suspension bridge, you come to the southeast side of the river, where there are music shops, Tongshunhe, pigment shops, Cai Zhai shops, sugar shops, Caizhilou and other shops.

I walked around the streets of Suzhou. What attracts me most are antique plaques and couplets, which are quite artistic. And chatted with several "shopkeepers" and learned a lot of anecdotes about this commercial street.

After leaving Suzhou Street in Houxihe, I explored Suzhou Street in Wanzihe, west of Wanshou Mountain.

Half an hour later, I came to the north of Shifang, which is adjacent to Wanzi River and Xisuo in the west. During the Qianlong period, a commercial street was built in the form of Jiangnan Water Street, also known as Little Suzhou Street. Although its scale is not comparable to that of Houxihe Commercial Street in Beigongmen, it is unique with the beautiful scenery of Xishan and Xidi as the background.

There used to be more than 20 shops in this street. It is said that Emperor Qianlong visited Kunming Lake by dragon boat and then went shopping here. Unfortunately, this commercial street was burned down by the British and French allied forces at 1860. When Cixi rebuilt the Imperial Garden, due to lack of financial resources, only a few buildings were built, but this commercial street was not rebuilt.

Looking around, although the scene of the old market has disappeared, if you look closely, you will find that there are still shops on the east side, such as those built on the site of the old base, and there are also buildings such as Wusheng Temple, Yanqing Appreciation Building, Xiaoyoutian, Xiemen Hall, Tangchuantang, Suyunyan and Grand Pier nearby.

Photo courtesy/family level