Shichahai Hutong Travel Notes

Shichahai Hutong has completely inherited the essence and core part of Beijing’s old hutong culture. Everything here has the underlying atmosphere of life, allowing you to be in a beautiful world. Various food and cultural landscapes will make you I can’t wait to leave, so let me share with you my travel notes on Shichahai Hutong.

Because I heard that the trees at the China Children’s Center had been sprayed with pesticides the day before, I made an impromptu plan to take my son to Prince Kung’s Mansion to play.

Going all the way east, passing through Huguosi Street, the east entrance of the alley is the former residence of Mei Lanfang. The former residence of Master Mei is worth visiting. Through the visit, you can gain a new understanding of the master's life and works.

A few years ago, I accompanied my daughter to class in the evening and went out to walk around the alley alone. I accidentally discovered No. 13 Middle School. This time I planned to look for it again to see if I could find it.

Relying on my memory, I found its west door. There is no necessary connection between the Thirteenth Middle School and the Thirteenth Middle School. The former is an ordinary model high school located in the official residence of Taobele Mansion in the Qing Dynasty.

The latter is junior high school. I believe everyone knows that Thirteen is a junior high school that many parents, including me and my children, want to go to because its teachers are super capable and can turn second-rate students into first-rate students. Therefore, the school spirit is very good and the teachers are strong. Teaching is strict.

Speaking of Thirteen, I have to introduce its background.

The school site of No. 13 Middle School is part of Taobele Mansion. It is located at No. 27 Liuyin Street, Xicheng District, Beijing. It is adjacent to Prince Gong’s Mansion in the east and Prince Qing’s Mansion in the west. It is a prominent imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty. .

Taobele Mansion was originally the residence of King Yun_, the fifteenth son of Kangxi. In the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Zai Tao, the seventh son of Prince Chunxian Yi_, adopted him. King Yi_ of Zhongjun became his heir, inherited the title of Beile, and moved to Prince Yu's Mansion. It was called Beile Mansion and was called Tao Beile Mansion.

In 1925, Dr. O'Toole, an American Catholic priest, was entrusted by the Holy See to rent the site of the former Qing Tao Belle Mansion for a long time to build a public teaching university, which later became Fu Jen Catholic University.

In June 1926, in order to cultivate its own good foundation, Fu Jen Catholic University decided to stop offering preparatory courses and transform it into a secondary school affiliated with the 3-3 system. The high school department and the university department were located at No. 27, Liuyin Street, Taobele Mansion.

The name of the school is determined to be the boys’ section of the private middle school affiliated with Fu Jen Catholic University in Beiping. In 1927, it was renamed Fu Jen Catholic University, taking the meaning of "to make friends with literature and to help benevolence with friends" in "The Analects of Confucius".

After the main building of Fu Jen Catholic University was built in the back horse circle and the open space in front of the garden, the Taobele Mansion was converted into the former Boys' School Building of the High School Affiliated to Fu Jen Catholic University. In 1952, the Fu Jen Catholic High School was renamed Beijing No. 13 Middle School.

An alley running east-west to the south of No. 13 Middle School is Dingfu Street. No. 1 Dingfu Street is Fu Jen Catholic University, now the School of Continuing Education of Beijing Normal University. It is a rare palace-style university. .

In 2013, I was lucky enough to visit it when I accompanied my daughter to take the exam to become a reporter for the "Little Master Newspaper". There are corridors, pavilions, flower halls, rockeries, etc. inside. The entire ancient building complex is noble, elegant, solemn and pure. The rich historical and cultural heritage makes people awe and linger over it.

Going through this alley to the east is General Marshal Street - Liuyin Street. The street plaque of "Liuyin Street" was inscribed by General Xu Xiangqian.

There is an alley in the middle of the street called Daxiangfeng Hutong. I saw an endless stream of human-powered tricycles coming out of the alley, and I became interested in visiting the alley.

In order to avoid the three-wheeled convoy, I entered the relatively quiet Xiaoxiangfeng Hutong and found Jianyuan in the middle of the alley, No. 5. Jianyuan is the villa of Prince Gong. It faces the south and faces the Shichahai Sea in the north. It has a quiet environment. It was probably built by Prince Gong to avoid the hustle and bustle and the endless stream of visitors.

There is a screen wall outside the south-facing gate. No one has repaired it now. The door is full of cars and it looks a bit dilapidated.

After leaving Xiaoxiangfeng Hutong, you will find Daxiangfeng Hutong. Walking north, you will see a large courtyard at the entrance of the alley. On the door are signs of "Ethnic Literature" and "China Ethnic Minority Writers Association". There are glass bookcases on both sides of the door. There are many literary books inside. It turns out that this is the former residence of the famous contemporary writer Ding Ling. It is located at No. 3 Dafengxiang Hutong, with Shichahai to the north and Jianyuan Garden to the west.

Blowing the wind from Shichahai, looking at how peaceful the former residence a block away is, I imagined how I could write the work "The Sun Shines on the Sanggan River" while living in such a house. What?

We walked almost a full circle around Shichahai and found many unique bars along the way. Few people enter these bars during the day, but after 2 p.m., security personnel will set up roadblocks. Motor vehicles are not allowed to pass.

On the north side of Shichahai Road is the former residence of Soong Ching Ling, and a book bar called "Rabbit Erye", which has various rabbit shapes made by designers, which has a bookish and humanistic atmosphere.

After crossing the Yinding Bridge, we came to Houhai Bar Street. The flow of people here has increased significantly. There are rows of large and small bars with similar decorations. Advertisements for singers (day shift and night shift) are posted outside most of the glass walls. , looking in through the open door, there are percussion instruments at the front of the hall, that should be where the band is.

Since it was two or three o'clock in the afternoon, most bars had no customers. They were probably just people drinking drinks. There were bartenders on the street outside from time to time soliciting customers, claiming that even if they came in to have a rest, they were welcome. .

There is a pedestrian street inside. According to the introduction, there will be a lotus exhibition in June or July, but there is nothing now.

Walking in the pedestrian street, the restaurants and other shops nearby were all sealed, and none of them were open.

Among them, there is also Quanjude. The luxurious decoration of the past can still be seen, but under the seal, it is completely dilapidated. Is the catering retail industry here also affected by the Internet?