Why are there two main doors?

Why are there two Zhengyangmen? Why are there two gates at Zhengyangmen?

In fact, it can't be said that there are two positive gates. Zhengyangmen is a whole, including Zhengyangmen, Arrow Tower and an urn. It is a whole composed of three buildings of Zhengyangmen. In fact, there are three buildings in front of this place, so many people think it is the main entrance of San.

Actually, the back is just right. This first building is the real Zhengyang Gate.

The two existing doors of Qianmen Tower are called Zhengyang Gate.

Generally speaking, it is customary to call Zhengyangmen the front door and Di 'anmen the back door.

Old Beijingers all say that the gate of Beijing is "the imperial city with nine interiors, seven exteriors and four emperors". What does this mean? In the past, Beijing was divided into four parts: imperial city, Miyagi, inner city and outer city, and the city gate was the symbol to distinguish the urban areas.

Miyagi is a palace commonly known among the people, where feudal emperors lived and handled government affairs. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Miyagi in old Beijing was now the Palace Museum, and the Wumen Gate and the Shenwumen Gate were its north and south official gates. Miyagi is surrounded by Tongzi River in the east-west direction, but there are two side doors on the wall, namely Donghuamen and Xihuamen.

Now let's talk about "nine inside, seven outside and four imperial cities" The four gates of the Imperial City refer to Tiananmen Gate, Di 'anmen Gate, Dong 'anmen Gate and Xi 'anmen Gate; There are nine gates in the inner city, which are Chaoyangmen, Dongzhimen, Andingmen, Deshengmen, Fuchengmen, Xuanwu Gate, Zhengyangmen (front gate) and Chongwenmen in turn. Controlling these nine doors means controlling Beijing. Therefore, the prefect of Jiumen, the highest military attache in charge of Jiumen, became a sensitive figure in the court. The location of the outer city includes the zone between the subway and the South Second Ring Road today. The seven gates of the outer city refer to Dongbianmen, Guangqumen, Zuo 'anmen, Yongdingmen, You 'anmen, Guang 'anmen and Xibianmen. In the 15th year of the Republic of China (AD 1926), the Beiyang government opened a Peace Gate between Xuanwu Gate and Zhengyangmen. Later, in order to make the eastern and western suburbs a straight road, the eastern wall of Dongdan archway and the wall below Xidan archway were cut, and Fuxing Gate and Jianguomen were opened.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing was isolated from the north of the city on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty. 17 (A.D. 14 19), Yongle, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, transformed the south wall of the original capital to the south for two miles. In the 43rd year of Jiajing, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1564), Luocheng in the southern suburbs was built, forming today's inner and outer city walls. Therefore, in the past, some city gates called by the population of old Beijing also used the old or common names of the Yuan Dynasty. For example, Chaoyang Gate is called Qihua Gate, Xizhimen is called Heyimen, Fucheng Gate is called Pingze Gate, Chongwen Gate is called Hadamen or Haidai Gate, Zhengyang Gate is called Qianmen, and so on.

After the comprehensive construction of Beijing city and the construction of Beijing subway in 1960s and 1970s, most of the city gates have disappeared. Unfortunately, only four of the twenty city gates are left, namely Tiananmen, Zhengyangmen, Dongbianmen and Deshengmen.

Zhengyangmen, commonly known as Qianmen, was built in the 17th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (A.D. 14 19). Zhengyangmen, located at the southern end of Tiananmen Square, was the southern gate of the inner city of Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it was a typical city defense building for emperors to enter and leave.

Zhengyangmen was originally named Li Zhengmen.

When the Yuan Dynasty built Dadoucheng, the south city wall was the main entrance. The founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, moved the southern wall of the Yuan Dynasty to the south, and moved the main entrance Li to the present Zhengyangmen, but still used the old name. It is said that there were no towers at the original gate. It was not until the first year of the Ming Dynasty (1436) that the gate of Beijing was built, and Li Zhengmen was renamed as "Zhengyangmen". In the fourth year of orthodoxy, watchtowers and urns were added, so when it comes to "Zhengyangmen", it should include Zhengyangmen and watchtowers.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Arrow Tower was destroyed by fire many times and then rebuilt. 1900, Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. Zhengyangmen Gate Tower and Arrow Tower were bombarded with heavy artillery by the invading army and then burned down, leaving only bare city walls and city gate holes. After a year, when Cixi and Guangxu, exiled in the northwest, were "buried", they could only temporarily tie five card houses on the city gate to decorate the facade.

The Qing court decided to repair the front door. Because the engineering drawings were destroyed by the war, they can only be built according to the style of Chongwenmen Tower and Xuanwu Gate Arrow Tower. So, what people see now is Zhengyang Gate and Arrow Tower.

Noun interpretation

Zhengyangmen

Zhengyangmen, commonly known as Qianmen, Qianmenlouzi and Daqianmen, formerly known as Li Zhengmen, was the south gate of the inner city of Beijing in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Located at the southernmost tip of Tiananmen Square on the north-south central axis of Beijing, south of Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Founded in the 17th year of Yongle, the Ming emperor (14 19), it is one of the "Nine Classics" in old Beijing. It is a complete ancient defense building system, which integrates Zhengyangmen Gate Tower, Arrow Tower and Wengcheng. According to local records, the towers and watchtowers at that time were grand in scale and tall in shape; Wengcheng is a representative work of old Beijing city wall architecture, with only towers and arrow towers left, and it is the only well-preserved city gate in Beijing. There is a Beijing folk custom exhibition hall on the rostrum. 1988 65438+ 10/0/3, the State Council was announced as the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Arrow Tower is located in the northwest of Chongwen District, at the northern end of Qianmen Street. It is one of the important buildings at the southern end of Tiananmen Square, the central axis of Beijing. June1988 65438+1October 3 1 was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council. 20 18 In July, Beijing identified four heritage sites, such as Arrow Tower and so on18, and strived to basically meet the requirements of applying for heritage in 2030 and ensure the goal of applying for heritage in 2035.