Walking through the Summer Palace and Qingyi, enjoying the fifteenth part of the Royal Garden: Longevity Mountain Back Lake

To the south of Longevity Mountain is the mighty Kunming Lake, and to the north of Longevity Mountain there is also a piece of water, usually called "Houhu". In the past, there were only a few sporadic ponds and streams here, but when Qingyi Garden was built, they were connected and converged into a river. So the official name of this Houhu Lake is "Houxi River", because it is indeed a river expanded from the creek behind Wanshou Mountain. The most important landscape of Houhu Lake is Suzhou Street.

Susi Street, the market along the bank of Jiasi River. Along the banks of the stream, boats travel like leaves, and passengers travel like crabs. There was a lot of noise yesterday in Mingpor's dark shop, and the windows are closed. Today, there is no place to eat food, no place to sleep in pavilions.

This song "Recalling Qin'e" is based on my feelings after visiting Suzhou Street in the Summer Palace recently. It may not be completely in tune with the ancients, but it has such a meaning. Among them, "Jia" reads drums, and merchants sit in Jia.

Emperor Kangxi, the holy ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, had a grandson named Hongli, who was born in the 50th year of Kangxi (AD 1711). He took over the imperial seal at the age of 24 in the 13th year of Yongzheng (AD 1735) and ascended the throne, known as Emperor Qianlong. In the 16th year of Qianlong (AD 1751), he sent an imperial edict to tour the south. Just after the new year, before the lanterns were released on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the deity of Hongli, the empress and concubines, and several groups of ministers and soldiers went down to the south of the Yangtze River in dragon boats. Along the way, Brother Hongli led his family to Jiangning, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places, and checked the amount of taxes and money and the appearance of officials in various places. After returning to Beijing, Lao Gan often recalled Jiangnan with admiration, and Xuan came to many palace painters to draw pictures of the scenery of various places in Jiangnan, and stuffed them under the bed for later use. Among these patterns are lakes and mountains in Hangzhou, shops in Suzhou, and garden pavilions in Yangzhou.

One day, brother Hongli read a poem from Tang Dynasty and read, "See you when you come to Gusu, and everyone sleeps in the river. The ancient palace has little idle land, and there are many water lanes and small bridges." He bent down from under the bed and dug out the pattern of the Suzhou street shop, and then called the construction office to order it to build a shopping street in the Old Summer Palace. This street is a cross street with a river, a bridge and shops. The shopping street in Yuanmingyuan no longer exists. Although a Shiguang Street has been built in recent years, it is far from the past.

In the 15th year of Qianlong, the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowager Chongqing, Emperor Qianlong built Qingyi Garden for this purpose. A shopping street was also built by Lao Gan in the back lake of Qingyi Garden, called Wanshou Trading Street, which is also called Suzhou Street now. Although Qingyi Garden was built in the 15th year of Qianlong, this Wanshou shopping street should have been built after Qianlong's first trip to the south of the Yangtze River.

In addition to building a shopping street in the garden, in order to celebrate the 70th birthday of his mother, the Empress Dowager Chongqing, Lao Gan ordered a shopping street to be built between Wanshou Temple in the western suburbs and Changchun Garden, which was named "Suzhou Street". It is the largest royal trading street. The street is still there now, but there are no shops in the past, and even the remnants of the foundation are gone.

There is also a small royal trading street in Beijing, which was also built by Lao Gan. In front of the Xiangshan Temple in Xiangshan Park, it was a replica of a temple fair. These royal trading streets in Beijing were burned down by the British and French allied forces in the 10th year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, and destroyed again by the Eight-Power Allied Forces in the 26th year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1900 A.D.). Afterwards, except for the Suzhou Street from Wanshou Temple to Changchun Garden, which changed its appearance and gradually developed, other shopping streets were deserted and not rebuilt.

In the twelfth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the Summer Palace was restored; in the twenty-eighth year, it was repaired again after the destruction by the Eight-Power Allied Forces. Xiaoguang wanted Empress Dowager Cixi to live in the Summer Palace after returning to power, and not to mess with politics in the palace. Emperor Guangxu's ambition was not fulfilled, and he was imprisoned physically and mentally, which is another story. In the two reconstructions of the Summer Palace, the buildings in the back mountain and back lake were not rebuilt, and the shopping street in the back lake was of course deserted there. Before the 1980s, all that could be seen were the relics of the foundations of houses on the trading street, often covered by weeds.

In the 1980s, the Summer Palace underwent a large-scale dredging of the water system. His Excellency Wenchang's public swimming pool was banned, and the silt in Kunming Lake was also dug up and discarded in the outer suburbs. This time, the dredging project also dug the back lake deeply, and a number of white bones covered with clear clothes came out of the water. According to the research of the villagers of Dayouzhuang behind the Summer Palace, it is said that they were several famous little fresh meats in the late Qing Dynasty. fish belly.

This time the dredging also did a thing of raking grass and beating rabbits, that is, clearing out the ruins of Suzhou Street in Houhu, exposing the foundations and walls of the shops in Shengshi. In the late 1980s, the Beijing Bureau of Landscape Architecture received a grant to overhaul the Summer Palace, and planned to restore Houhu Suzhou Street. There is no picture of Suzhou Street built during the Qianlong period, but a picture book of Suzhou Street was left behind when the Summer Palace was planned to be rebuilt during the Guangxu period. The Summer Palace officially entrusted Tsinghua University to develop a set of designs with reference to Guangxu's picture books, traditional production and modern technology, and put them into construction. Before November 1990, the restoration project was completed and Suzhou Street was opened to the outside world. The Summer Palace Management Office set up a monument in the North Palace Gate as a memorial.

After passing the stele, there is a stack of stone rockery, passing through it is a three-hole stone bridge, standing on the Sui River on the bridge in the early morning, and there are shops on Suzhou Street by the river.

If you come out of the Garden of Harmony and walk along the back hill, you will come to a city gate.

There is an inscription of Laogan on the platform of the city, and "Yinhui" is engraved on the stone outside the pass facing east. This Yinhui Chengguan is much smaller than the Ziqidonglai Chengguan seen earlier, but it is also very beautiful. As the old saying goes, suffering from a deficit is called "Yin eats more food", and that Yin is the third of the twelve earthly branches. The "Yin" here can be easily understood by adding three points of water, which is to stage brilliance. "Yishuang" is engraved on the west-facing Guannei forehead stone. Yi (Nian also) do collection solutions. In the poem "Yi Shuang" by Bai Yuchan in the Song Dynasty, there is a sentence "I don't know this coolness again, but it has been taken away by all the masters".

Under the wooden bridge in the picture is a ravine for flood discharge. Standing on this wooden bridge in the afternoon, you can also have a glimpse of Suzhou Street.

Because you have to buy tickets separately to enter Suzhou Street, many people stand on this bridge to peek at the scenery on the street.

When it first opened, there was a lot of business to do in the shops on the street. Tourists can buy new and old goods at royal prices. Although the purchases and sales are not booming every day, it is the old store that often changes new clothes. After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the supply chain of the Summer Palace collapsed, the purchase channels were shrunk, and the shops were closed.

Before, there were entrances and exits at both ends of the Sankong Stone Bridge to enter and exit Suzhou Street; currently, there is only one at the southwest corner. From here, I went down the steps and walked up the river along the street, looking to the other side, there are row upon row of Jiasi along the river.

As soon as you turn around, you will see the first store in Qiaotou, called Lanxin Building, which should be a pastry shop specializing in Soviet-style pastries. According to the archives of the Palace of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, there used to be Lanxin Hall on this Wanshou Trading Street, and the current building should be an imitation of that hall.

When I came, the moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival was no longer round, but the signboard of Mid-Autumn Pastry can still be seen in front of this store.

The archway of Yiguzhai, Jiebier's calligraphy and painting shop, should be refueled. This "Yiguzhai" brand name can also be seen in the archives of the Qing Palace Internal Affairs Office.

Across the river are tea houses, bookstores and pharmacies.

There is a high platform here, and there is a big house on the platform.

Go up the stone steps between the two Yuanbaofeng trees above, and there is Huifang Hall on the mountain, and there is a house of Jinsu Mountain.

Emperor Qianlong once drank corn soup on this mountain, and showed a hand-painted picture. Laogan also wrote a poem for Huifangtang, "Who is Huifang, who is Huisifang, and the colors and shapes are self-prosperous. From the bottom of the chastity, the fortune of the Yuan Dynasty is one, and when it comes back, it becomes the Sanyang of Taizhao. Su Ying thinks of my business. Jiang Yanxuan's narration of the order, the origin of a large fake article." There is also a poem inscribed on that Jinsu mountain: "I look down on the green river, and there are green lotuses gushing out. The shadow of Jinsu Rulai, the ancient Zen of Chunshan Mountain. You can thank the hoof-whip if you have a clear contract with Ni Guan. The cocoon paper is free to post, and I think about Zhao. Song Nian". Jinsu Tathagata is the name of the Buddha in the past. According to Indian legend, the predecessor of Master Jingming is Jinsu Tathagata. That is to say, this Jinsu Mountain should be a Buddhist temple, and the past Buddha in China is the Lantern Buddha.

After the reconstruction and opening of Suzhou Street, there is no corn soup here, which is tea. After the epidemic, it was changed to "not open". Don't look at the two ingot maple trees that are very lush, but it is difficult for them to be stained red by frost, because there is too little sunlight in this location.

There is also a big house on the high hill across the river from Huifangtang.

During the reign of Qianlong, it was called Jiayinxuan, where the emperor's bridesmaids rested and could supervise the shopping and sales of palace people from a high position.

Because the pavilion is on the high rock, Lao Gan wrote a poem saying, "Yunyan has the way to enter the forest, and the high pavilion is close to the clear and open. Today's poem is already done, and the evening chapter will be read and you can return to the cloud." "Guo" is not the traditional form of "Guo". Huo is a father with a group of sons, and Huo is a group of non-fathers and sons.

There are two small temples next to Jiayinxuan, the temple is called Miaojue Temple, and the temple is called Huashen Temple. The temple existed during the Qianlong period, but the temple was only seen during the Cixi period, and it was only for scenery. The temple enshrines the Buddha of Sincerity and Rescue, which is suspected to be the Buddha of Bukong in the north, one of the five wise Tathagatas of Tantric Buddhism, representing the wisdom of success.

The temple is dedicated to the flower god. The flower god in the West is Chloris in Greek mythology and Flora in Roman mythology. Who is the God of Flowers in China? During the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, there was Liu An, the king of Huainan, who was the grandson of Liu Bang and one of the leaders of the opposition of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che. Although Liu An died because of his failure to resist Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he was very talented. He invented Chinese tofu and edited and published the "Huainanzi" series. According to the 20th part of "Huainanzi·Tianwen Xun": "The female barbarian drums and songs are used to protect the harmony of the sky, and to grow a hundred grains, animals, plants and trees." Later generations gradually praised the female barbarians as the god of flowers. Although female barbarians are women, they often appear in the image of an old man with a white beard. Sometimes the flower god in folk temples is an old man with a white beard sitting on a shrine. The flower god temple in the Summer Palace is not open now, so I don't know what image the flower god enshrined in it is worshiped.

Further west of Jiayinxuan, there is a city gate. This city gate is about the same size as the Yinhui Chengguan seen earlier, facing north from south, and is a building in the Qingyi Garden period. The word "Tongyun" is engraved on the forehead stone in the south of the city platform, so this city gate is called Tongyun Chengguan. Writing "Tongyun" by the side of a mountain stream is very fairy-like. Lao Gan's inscription on Tongyun here must have reminded him of Lu Lun's "The pine shade is full of ravines and the cranes are idle, and the shadows of the pool lead to the clouds and dark dragons".

After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, Jiayinxuan, like Huifangtang, made it "not open". There is nothing to see above the temple gates.

After passing Huifangtang Jinsu Mountain Pass, a wine shop appeared.

There is no wine to sell in the wine shop, so I can only stand under the guise of wine and beat my breast secretly.

As far as the eyes can see, there are rotten pillars, broken doors and rotten windows.

Going west along the south bank, you will find a suspension bridge, which is the west end of Suzhou Street. When the suspension bridge is raised, the cruise ship can enter Suzhou Street and let the passengers go ashore for shopping. The suspension bridge is lowered, and street people on the shore can cross the river again. The name "Hui Lanxuan" on the archway has not been recorded in the Qing palace archives.

I strolled across the small bridge, turned around and walked eastward along the north bank, and walked past the closed shops in the light of the rising sun.

Of course, you have to go through one of the bridge openings of the three-hole stone bridge, and there are still groups of shops on the east side.

At the end of the walk is a single-hole high-arch stone bridge.

As usual, there are willow shades at the bridgehead.

Standing on the waterside and watching from a distance: "The shadow in the water, the image in the mirror, lingers slowly. The heart is not settled, and the troubles and sufferings are entangled. Walking through the barbaric and savage miasma, going deep into the realm of Wei Na, and understanding the Zen of the Patriarch. The banquet surpasses three occasions , Let me be cool and unrestrained for the next year." This is "Water Tune Getou" by Li Guang in the Song Dynasty.

Turn around and look at the famous three-hole stone bridge.

Corner porch by the ditch.

The corner building by the still water is Yunhanzhai, which sold office supplies such as the Four Treasures of the Study during the Qianlong period.

There is also a suspension bridge in the dark at the east end of Suzhou Street.

There is a beautiful old-fashioned hanging flower gate on the south bank of the east section.

There should be a courtyard inside this gate, but there is no such thing as a false gate.

There is a memorial archway next to the hanging flower gate, which is called Jienan Bookstore.

The ancient bookstores were regarded as publishing houses, and they had their own printing houses. This Jienan Bookstore does not seem to exist in the past. After the contemporary reconstruction of Suzhou Street, some of them still use the old name, and there are also new shops.

Wanshou Trading Street was built in the 16th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, and burned down by the British and French allied forces in the 10th year of Xianfeng. It has existed for a hundred years and has been repaired during this period. Later, Aunt Cixi and Xiaoguang both repaired the Summer Palace slightly. When the Summer Palace was rebuilt twice during the Guangxu period, only the buildings on the front mountain were built, and the buildings on the back mountain were all abandoned. Therefore, after the British and French allied forces set fire to Suzhou Street in 1860, there were only ruins left, until it was rebuilt in 1990. Although it has been repaired in recent years, it has been quite a while, and I saw the marks of the pig-killing knife of the sun and the moon again. It seems that this knife not only kills pigs, but also kills houses!

Although Suzhou Street in the Summer Palace cannot be restored to its original appearance during the Qianlong period after reconstruction, it still retains the street market architectural style of the Qing Dynasty. The current buildings are a combination of north and south, and the structure of the houses is all in the northern style. The roofs are all in the style of Beijing dwellings, and the archway to the sky is also in the northern style. The facade is southern style, fully open, with wooden partition doors. The exterior decoration is in the style of royal gardens, with red lacquer facades and royal Soviet-style paintings. This architectural style is in step with the overall style of the Summer Palace. Although it imitates the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River, it shows the royal style of the Qing Dynasty. Suzhou Street in the Summer Palace is the only ancient royal trading street that can still be seen.

When the Qinghuang Tower went down to Suzhou and Hangzhou, the mountains and rivers in the west of Beijing were now brilliant. The high-rise splendid hall was built in the front, and the street market shop was built in the back. When the emperor arrives, the market is busy. The barbarians passed by and were burned. The horn of revival will be played again, and the structure will be played again.

There are not many tourists in the back lake of the Summer Palace and it is very quiet. When I go to Houhu Lake, I usually take the Harmonious Interest Garden, pass by the gate of the Harmonious Interest Garden, and go north to the easternmost end of Houhu Lake. This is a pond in the past. When Lao Gan built Qingyi Garden, he connected it with several other ponds with river channels. There is a house on the north bank of the pond.

Go up and have a look.

There is a five-foot-high platform at the bottom of the house, and there are eight-character pedals in front, with a half-circle gray brick parapet, and the wall is carved with the word "Wanzi". The house is five rooms wide and one room deep, with sill walls and sill windows in the second and a little rooms, surrounded by eaves and corridors. On the top is the top of the mountain with beams and gray tiles and single eaves rolling shed.

This is not the reconstruction of the buildings in the Qingyi Garden period, but the newly built halls in the Guangxu period, which is the style of the royal garden halls in the late Qing Dynasty. It should be the traditional style of the Lei family. You can see that its plinth is still a classic royal scorpion plinth.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a plaque hanging under the eaves, "Tian Yuan Zhai", which was inscribed by Cixi.

This should be written by Aunt Ci in her late period, or written by someone else. Look at the "horizontal hook" in the lower part of the word "Zhai", there is only horizontal fold, no hook, this is the royal way of writing in Qing Dynasty. If you remember the "Da Ya Zhai" paper plaque in the Summer Palace Museum I mentioned earlier, that "Zhai" is a complete horizontal folding hook, which was inscribed by Yi concubine.

The old couplets on the pillars in the Ming Dynasty are gone, and they may have been refreshed. It turns out that there is a pair of couplets hanging: three thousand worlds in Jiangquezhu Palace, five hundred years in Spring City and Xia Kingdom. Jiangyu and Zhugong come from the poem "knocking teeth and reciting Huangting in the morning, Jiangquezhu Palace gathers all spirits" by Zhang Yu in the Song Dynasty. Both crimson and Zhu are red; Yu and Gong are both palaces. Three thousand worlds is the Buddhist cosmology, which says that with Mount Sumeru as the center, there are one thousand small thousand worlds outside, one thousand small thousand worlds are called middle thousand worlds, and one thousand middle thousand worlds are called great thousand worlds. The Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds is a Buddha country. Spring City Xiaguo comes from "Chuncheng Xiaguo, where you can eat and drink and keep your family safe" in "Yi Da Hu". It means Zhenxi Genwu, not Kunming and Xia Dynasty. Five hundred years describes the long time and the change of dynasties, and it is published in "Mencius": "From Yao and Shun to Tang, more than five hundred years old;...From Tang to King Wen, more than five hundred years old,...by As for Confucius, King Wen was more than five hundred years old."

In ancient times, Beijingers loved to go to temple fairs, and the large-scale temple fairs in Beijing were all held in large temples in the mountains in the west. When everyone went out of the city and walked to the Summer Palace, Beidayouzhuang, they were hungry and thirsty, so they had to rest. The villagers of Dayouzhuang set up pots and set up a shed to sing social operas in the empty field at the entrance of the village, and the people rushing to the temple fair would stop to eat and drink their food, and it was very lively for a while. According to this, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered people to build a viewing room on this high place, in order to see folk music. This section of the courtyard wall is from the Qingyi Garden, and it is not very high. Aunt Ci is very good at watching people's happiness here. The revolutionary activities in the last years of Guangxu were surging, and Wu Yue carried out a suicide bombing at Qianmen Railway Station to kill several important ministers. Empress Dowager Cixi was frightened, so she raised the wall of the North Courtyard of the Summer Palace by three feet, and now she can no longer see Dayouzhuang from the wangyuanzhai. You have to stand on the top of the hill next to the house to barely see the threshing ground in front of Dayouzhuang.

Empress Dowager Cixi not only built a new Wangyuanzhai, but also built a stone pier on the other side of the pond in front of the house, called the Wangyuanzhai Wharf, where she could come here by boat.

I call the pond in front of Wangyuanzhai the Lotus Pond of Wangyuanzhai. There are not lotus here every year. There is a climbing corridor under the West Corridor of Siyuanzhai that connects the three huts below.

The hut is three rooms wide and one room deep, with an eaves porch in front and a hard mountain top with beams and gray tiles and single eaves. This is a hut, but because there is a veranda connected to the overlooking room, it must have been built to provide supporting facilities for Aunt Ci. It is said that the plaque of "Jiamu Shuting" was once hung under the eaves, which refers to Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Jiamu Shuting, Fangcao such as accumulation", describing the greening of Chang'an Weiyang Palace rebuilt by Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu.

Not far to the west of this house, there is another small house.

This house is simpler, it doesn't even have a front eaves, and there are only three value rooms. Now it is still a value house. I approached the door and heard the staff of the Summer Palace whispering. There is a small path under the west wall of the value room leading to the courtyard wall, and there is indeed a door on the courtyard wall.

Therefore, the gate overlooks the distant Zhai, so it is called "the gate of overlooking the distance". There is an empty space by the road outside the overlooking gate, called Baima Square. Needless to say, this gate was opened during the Guangxu period for the convenience of Aunt Ci to go to the faraway temple. If Aunt Ci sees something interesting in the temple fair outside the garden, she can ask the eunuch to disguise herself as a servant to buy it and play with it; maybe she will buy a plate of fried enema that is not available in the palace.

Go west after passing Wangyuanzhai, walk along both sides of Houhu Lake, and you will see a stone bridge.

There was a wooden bridge here during the Guangxu period, and the form of the wooden bridge will be discussed later. What I see now is a concrete bridge, which I call the Sightseeing Bridge. This is newly built in New China, replacing the decayed Qing Dynasty wooden bridge. Don't underestimate this cement bridge. It is a classic style that existed in China 1,400 years ago. It is called a single-arch open-shouldered stone bridge. There is only one arch across the river, and there are two small arches on the spandrels on both sides of this arch, which are the so-called open shoulders. The Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei is such a single-arch open-shouldered stone bridge, which is much larger in scale than this bridge, but has the same shape. Tourists who have never been to Zhaozhou Bridge can preview this style here.

After crossing the small stone bridge, continue walking along the south bank of Houhu Lake. In front is another pond, which is now the famous lotus pond in Houhu.

There is a water pavilion on the south bank of the lotus pond in the back lake, and under the water pavilion is a stone pier.

Behind the waterside pavilion is a yard, and the caves on both sides can be drilled to the south of the yard.

The main entrance of this courtyard is on the Royal Road on the northern slope of the back mountain.

A very formal three-room house with a door open in the open, with red pillars and green squares, and a hard mountain top with beams and gray tiles and a single-eave rolling shed. A bucket-style door plaque is hung on the lintel.

"Danning Gate", this is Danning Hall, the building of Qingyi Garden. Danning Hall is a very special courtyard. It is not wrong to face south from the north. The traditional Chinese-style courtyards on the hills should gradually rise, but Danning Hall is gradually lowering. There is a second courtyard in Danning hall, the front yard is one floor higher than the back yard. This is because Tanning Hall was built in the shadow of Longevity Mountain, and it descends to the water's edge along the mountain, isn't it just lower?

"Danning" is taken from "Huainanzi Zhushu Xun" "There is no virtue without indifference, and no distance without tranquility". In the 60th year of Kangxi, he went to Yongwang's mansion secretly and met ten-year-old Hongli for the first time. When Emperor Kangxi saw that Hongli's grandson looked like an emperor, he brought him back from Yongwang's mansion to raise him and educate him, and gave him Danning residence in Changchun garden. This is a bookstore of Emperor Kangxi. If you want to study well, you must be indifferent and quiet. In order to commemorate his ancestor, Lao Gan built this Danning hall in a secluded place among the mountains and rivers in Qingyi Garden, which is still used for reading. He also wrote a poem for Dan Ningtang, saying: "The virtue of the calm water, the body of the tranquil mountain. The mountains and rivers are complex, and the book hall is suitable for this. The metaphor is because of the name of the hall, and the good words are the history of Shu. The great use is not poor. know where." From this poem, it can be seen that the word "Dan Ning" of Lao Gan is not taken from "Huainanzi", but what Zhuge Liang Jiezi of Shu later said, "There is no ambition without tranquility, and no distance without tranquility". Of course, what Zhuge Liang said about Dan Ning was citing Huainanzi.

The main room of Tan Ningtang when entering the courtyard is called Yunhuixuan, and the main room when entering the courtyard is Suian room. Entering the main entrance of Danning Hall, Yunhuixuan has five main rooms; looking back at Yunhuixuan in the second courtyard, it is a two-story building. This is very similar to the Zhuxin Building in the Garden of Harmonious Interest. It looks like a two-story building inside the garden, but it looks like a one-story building outside the garden. On the east and west sides of the second entrance courtyard of Danning Hall are two-story buildings, and on the north is a climbing corridor that connects five main rooms with Sui'an rooms. Go out of the corridor and then out of the mansion in front of Sui Anshi. The open-air pavilion behind is the waterside pavilion you saw just now by the water. Although Tan Ning Hall is called a bookstore, Lao Gan doesn't necessarily come here to study. When he came, he could take the Houshan Royal Road via the dry road; if he passed the waterway, he would take a boat to the Tanghou Shuixie Wharf, which is called "Danningtang Wharf".

Danning Hall was burned down by the British and French allied forces in the tenth year of Xianfeng, and it was not rebuilt in the Guangxu period. What you see now is rebuilt in the 1990s. It was opened for a while, but it is not open for you to see now. A few years ago, there lived a black-backed idiot in the courtyard. If you looked in the courtyard through the crack of the door, it would yell inside. You can only stand on tiptoes and stretch your neck on the high place opposite the lotus pond in Houhu Lake to look at the back of Tanningtang.

I am most afraid of the reconstruction of the Summer Palace or the maintenance of old houses. After the repairs are completed, they will never be allowed to see again. It’s better to let us see the bottom of the wall. The only thing that can be seen now is Qiwangxuan, and the middle reaches of the painting, Gaichun Garden, etc. are not allowed to be seen after repairs.

I could only go back to the waterside pavilion beside the lotus pond in a resentful way, and look inside the three spacious waterside pavilions.

Lift the beams on the roof, and the group cranes flatten the chess ceiling. There are red pillars and green squares, and there are lintels between the pillars. Under the eaves, there is a pillow plaque of "Smoke and Fog in the Stream".

Laogan not only built the Danning Hall in Qingyi Garden, but also had a "dream and quiet" courtyard in the Old Summer Palace, which is one of the forty sceneries of the Old Summer Palace. Lao Gan once wrote a poem on the tranquility of the Old Summer Palace, "The green mountains are originally tranquil, and the green water is so peaceful. The environment is happy when you know each other, and you can meet each other when Wuhou is witty. For Lun Yu under the ages, the stream is full of mist and mist." Lanwu is the fog in the mountains, and the stream smoke is of course the fog on the stream. Shi Jianwu in the Tang Dynasty had "Linshui Pavilion": "I only blame the Su Pavilion for its sticky black color, and the stream smoke dyed the berry moss for me. If you want to know the spring breeze from the source, look at the peach blossoms chasing the water." Take a look at the Danningtang waterside pavilion beside the peach blossom water when the spring breeze blows.

Suddenly, I found the colorful paintings on Fangliang very interesting, so I stepped forward to take a look.

The painting on the horizontal beam below is more in line with the regulations, which is the Su-style painting on the green background and gold thread spinner. Most of the Xuanzi paintings are flowers and plants, peonies and lotus are very common, and the budding magnolia is very special. Look at the backing boards on the crossbeams. This is a very rare Soviet-style sea wall painting in the Summer Palace. The entire backing board is divided into two sections with curly grass, which are called two clips. There are various mascots drawn in the card, including dowry, vase, coral, canopy, Jinjue, Ruyi, and even a smoking landmine. Painted sea wall is very rare, and it is even rarer to use red sea wall here. As I mentioned before, green or blue plaster is used for places where there is no sunlight such as backing boards, and this red is against the norm. In the previous episode of the promenade, I mentioned the painted sea wall in the main hall of Pudu Temple, which is the blue sea wall. On the purlin above the backing plate is the official Soviet-style painting with gold lines on a blue background. Inside its baggage is the sea water and the sky with auspicious clouds. There are three fairy mountains on the sea, and four bats and two "shou" are flying in the sky. Why is the painting here so special? Is there any textual research when rebuilding Danning Hall?

On the west side of Danning Hall, there is a small wooden bridge over the water.

I call this bridge "Danning Bridge", a small red bridge with wooden piles, wooden beams, wooden planks, and wooden railings. This must have been rebuilt in New China. There was no such railing in the Qing Dynasty. The Sianyuan Bridge mentioned above should have been such a small wooden bridge at the earliest.

Continue westward along the south bank of Houhu Lake to Suzhou Street, which we have seen before. Now it is not possible to enter Suzhou Street along the shore of the lake. You have to take the Houshanyu Road, pass through Yinhui Chengguan, and get to the Sankong Bridge. Suzhou Street continues to the west, and it is impossible to go to the south bank of Houhu Lake. After walking the west section of Houhuyu Road, you will see a fake city gate.

It is not a city gate, but a culvert on the flood discharge ditch. This flood discharge ditch goes northward to the south bank of Houhu Lake, and is called Taohuagou. It must be colorful when spring peaches are in bloom.

There is a platform where the peach blossom water in Taohuagou flows into the back lake.

The platform is covered with green bricks. Is this the remains of a certain building? It's on a spillway, blocking the waterway, and there's only a tiny culvert under the platform. If there is a mountain torrent, the culvert must not be spacious enough, and the water must overflow to the platform. Then there should be no buildings on this platform, Too Danger, it is too overhanging, and it will be ruined when the flood comes. But even in such an overhanging place, Lao Gan still built a pavilion. It is said that this is a square pavilion with four corners, called Chengbi Pavilion. Looking at the size of the platform, Chengbi Pavilion is quite large, and now there is no trace of the pavilion at all.

This Peach Blossom Ditch is called West Peach Blossom Ditch. If so, there should be an East Peach Blossom Ditch, right? East Taohuagou is the flood discharge ditch under Yinhui Chengguan. There is a Dragon King Pavilion on the mountainside above the ditch, which corresponds to the Chengbi Pavilion in West Taohuagou.

The section of the back lake under the Chengbi Pavilion is also a pond with a slightly wider water surface. To the east of this pond is the river channel in the west section of Suzhou Street, and to the west is another section of narrow stream.

Follow a small path on the west side of the platform, you can walk to a ruin on a high place. There are ladders down to the water's edge near the ruins.

Go down and have a look.

This is a figure-of-eight climbing ladder like Lancuijian on Nanhu Island. There is a stone pier in front of the climbing ladder. There is also an arch gate in the middle of the ladder, and the cave in the arch gate leads to the upper platform. "Yun Qi Ji Cui" is engraved on the forehead stone of the arch gate.

On both sides is a pair of couplets: Luojing is interesting because of its seclusion, and Yunfeng is unique and outstanding. The radish path is a small path with vines hanging on it. Meng Haoran in the Tang Dynasty said, "When the sun sets over the Xiling Mountains, the valleys are already dark. The pine and moon make the night cool, and the wind and springs are full of music. Come here, the solitary harp waits for the radiance." The cloud peak is moist, and the cloud is warm and moist. Liu Cang in the Tang Dynasty had a saying that "the moss seals the stone chamber, the clouds are moist, and the dew drops, the pine branches and the cranes make sounds".

Go back to the stage and take a closer look at the remains of the old buildings. Above the ladder is the largest building, see the remnants of its base.

This is a palace with three rooms wide and one room deep, facing south from north, with eaves corridors on the front and sides, and a building at the back. It should be the main house of this building.

In the southeast corner of the courtyard is also a building with three rooms wide and one room deep, facing south from the north, with corridors.

In the southwest corner is a four-column square building with corridors.

There is a courtyard wall around it, and there is no formal gate on the wall. There is a stone hole on the north wall as the door.

Outside the door is Houshan Royal Road.

The ruins are very dilapidated, the gold bricks on the pavement inside the house are gone, and the remaining plinths cannot be reused. It seems that during the Guangxu period, all the usable bricks and stones here were transported away to rebuild other buildings, so this is how it is.

This piece of ruins is Qiwangxuan in Qingyi Garden. As mentioned earlier, the first phase of Qingyi Garden was built between the fifteenth and twenty years of Qianlong, and most of the buildings were built in these years. Some people say that this Qiwangxuan is the first phase of Qingyi Garden, which was completed in the eighteenth year of Qianlong; others say that it belongs to the second phase, which was started in the eighteenth year of Qianlong and completed in the twenty-fourth year. According to the pattern, the three rooms near the water are Hanxiang Pavilion, the three rooms in the southeast corner are Qiwang Pavilion, and the square building in the southwest corner should be Cui Lai Pavilion. There were still several small pavilions in the courtyard of Qiwangxuan back then, and these buildings were connected by corridors.

Qizhe Wenxiang is also brocade or brocade. Lao Gan once wrote a poem for Qiwangxuan, saying, "The tender sun in the blue field is misty, and the open pavilion looks forward to the spring with the mausoleum. Why bother to red and green, Duanzhi paints it later." It can be seen from this that the Qiwang Pavilion back then was a three-room open pavilion. Laogan also has a small poem "Cui Lai Pavilion", which says: "On the right side of the mountain, there is a graceful Cui Lai Pavilion. There are several couplets in the sky, and there are window lattices on all sides. The green trees are still waiting, and the breeze is not heard. Although the clouds are silent, the ears and eyes are silent. , but early agreement sound form". That is to say, the Cui Lai Pavilion has corridors leading to other palace rooms.

Standing at the top of the Qiwangxuan eight-character climbing ladder and looking north, you can see that there are also ruins on the other side of the back lake, which is the time of watching clouds during the Qingyi Garden period. When sailing along the Houxi River, between Qiwangxuan and Kanyunqishi, it is a narrow river channel connecting several ponds, which means traveling to a place where water is poor. Of course, Lao Gan would think of Wang Wei's saying "Walk to the poor water, sit and watch the clouds rise", and immediately got off the boat and ordered to build three houses on the north bank, saying that he would come here to watch the clouds when the houses rise. Sure enough, he "come here to try it out, and there will be a lot of interest", and then he said "accompanying the tail to the west, and the three couplets are built here. Who knows that the place where the breasts are listening to the sound of the sinus is exactly when watching the rock clouds rise. ".

Continue westward along the south bank of Houhu Lake, and you will see a large stone bridge.

This bridge is similar to the Sianyuan Bridge at the east end of Houhu Lake. It is also a single-arch open-shouldered stone bridge. But this bridge is a real stone bridge, not a cement imitation stone bridge. Moreover, there are quite satisfactory white stone Zen stick railings on the bridge. You can see another bridge side by side to the west of it. Go over and have a look.

The bridge to the west is called Banbi Bridge, which is an old bridge from the Qingyi Garden period. Does it look familiar to you? Yes, it is a single-hole high arched stone bridge like the Xidi Yudai Bridge and Xiuyi Bridge. It is not as high or as long as it is. This bridge is the entrance to the west end of Houhu Lake, and the high arch is convenient for the emperor's dragon boat to walk. Lao Gan was sitting on the boat, and a boat maid shook Nalan Ryo from under the bridge into the creek of Houhu Lake.

Compared with Yudai Bridge and Xiuyi Bridge, this half-wall bridge is not only small in scale, but also has no plaque or connection. But it has one thing that those bridges don't have, that is the stone carving of "Dragon Watching the Water" on the Longmen Stone of the bridge arch.

It is generally believed that this "dragon looking at the water" is not the real dragon king, but one of the nine sons of the dragon. This king has a big belly and can hold a lot of water, so he is revered as a water-avoiding beast. Moreover, he can suppress the river demon and place it on the bridge in its image. When the river demon drives the flood, it will die down and the bridge will not be washed away. The faucet on the ancient building is also the same guy, that is, the chi (want to eat) heads on the platform of the three main halls of the Forbidden City pour water. Not only is there a Jiaolong watching the water on the half-walled bridge, but also on several other stone bridges in the Qingyi Garden period in Houhu Lake. The three bridge arches of the Three-Arch Bridge have dragons looking at the water on the Longmen stone, and even the small stone arch bridge in the east section of Suzhou Street.

What does the half wall of the half bridge refer to? The literal solution is half a wall. Gengxin in the Northern and Southern Dynasties had "half mural paintings of wandering immortals, and a bed of books for hermits". Lao Gan certainly did not mean this. Lao Gan had an explanation for places like Banbiqiao: "Banbi is called by water, and half of the wall is named by mountains. Both meanings can be used, whichever is true will determine the evaluation. Where there are mountains, they are also surrounded by greenery, and there are waters. Also around the clear." You see, Lao Gan feels that the bridge can be called "Banbi" if it is named after Wanshou Mountain, and it can be called "Banbi" if it is named after Xihe. "Bi" and "Bi" are in power, regardless of their equals, throwing pens on the ground, sighing in vain, and walking away with their hands behind their backs. This is the reason why there is no plaque on the bridge, so you can call it a half-bill bridge, or a half-bill bridge. It is currently officially called a half-walled bridge.

The single-hole open-shouldered stone arch bridge on the east side of the Banbi Bridge is a new Chinese building, and I call it the Banbi New Bridge. The bridge was built so that cars entering from the North Ruyi Gate can cross the river and continue driving. I also repaired the road for the car at the foot of the mountain. It is said that it can be driven to Qinghuaxuan, and I think it can be driven to Shifang at most.

Most of these scenic spots in the back lake of the Summer Palace were built in the second phase of the Qingyi Garden period, which is the building after 20 years of Qianlong. Ten years after Xianfeng was burned by the British and French allied forces, the buildings in Houhu were basically destroyed. The reconstruction of the Summer Palace began in the 12th year of Guangxu, and was basically completed in the 20th year. Due to limited financial resources, most of the buildings in the Houhu Lake during the Qingyi Garden period were not restored. Only the Huifang Hall on the south bank of Suzhou Street and the Miaojue Temple on the north bank were restored, and the Wangyuanzhai on the east end and the Flower God on the north bank of Suzhou Street were newly built. temple. The green brick city towers of Yinhui and Tongyun city gates were not completely destroyed, and the towers were rebuilt. The three-hole bridge on Suzhou Street and the half-wall bridge at the west end are the remains of Qingyi Garden and the restoration of the Summer Palace.

The lights of the four seasons of the Summer Palace also shine in Houhu every year. When spring comes, there will be all kinds of mountain flowers blooming along the river, which can be seen from the half-walled bridge at the mouth of the stream.

The setting sun shines on the old stones and ancient trees by the river, shining brightly.

In summer, walk by the lake and enjoy the refreshing shade of the water. Send off the idlers on the boat, and listen to the sound of the waves.

Looking west, the setting sun melts gold, and the evening clouds merge, where is the person?

end of summer. In mid-autumn, the golden osmanthus blooms, and the dark leaves of the lotus pond decline. Tonight, moon and night, it's Heartbroken Fast again.

The lotus leaves are withered, the maple leaves are beautiful, and autumn colors are here again. The autumn leaves are yellow, the autumn wind is slow, and the boundless autumn light is by the water. Mr. Lao She once said that you must live in Beiping in autumn, and you must not miss the autumn scenery at the back lake of the Summer Palace if you live in Peiping. You have enjoyed the autumn in the Garden of Harmony, and you should go north along the path to walk the autumn road of Houhu.

Looking at the lotus pond in Yuanzhai, the water is covered with autumn leaves. That's really: half a pot of autumn water recommends yellow flowers, who is desolate and desolate?

Although the barren platform is barren, red lining beauty makeup.

Whose family dyes the brushwork for autumn paintings, a picture of Linxi's cool autumn.

The autumn water and the setting sun play gold, and the autumn trees and stones are separated by flat forests. Several villages sounded anvils.

The weeping branches reflect the sun, the water in the pool is green, and a bunch of red leaves are as bright as flowers.

Go up to the bridge overlooking the distance, and look at the Mid-Autumn Festival Road in the mountains: the high mountains are tall and towering, and the smoke is purple, and the trees are rustling towards the sunset. Only the old man in the village loves the autumn scenery, so he brought the concubine up to the side of the slope.

Going west along the stream, you will reach the lotus pond of Danning Hall. In the autumn of Lintang, the water is deep and the waves are cold, and the lotus leaves are silent and dead. Under a bleak autumn wind, remnants of lotus and willows bloom towards the sun.

The locust tree leaves are sparse, the willow leaves are yellow, and the dew is like jade embellishing the empty corridors, but the empty corridors are heartbreaking.

The autumn sun is warm, the golden light is shining, and the trees are in the water.

In front is Suzhou Street.

See yesterday's green mountains and green waters, gradually red leaves and yellow flowers today.

Standing on the suspension bridge to enjoy autumn.

West End Bridge.

It is also bright in autumn.

Standing at the mouth of Taohuagou under the Chengbi Pavilion, watching the boats come and go. Today, when you swim in Beichi, you can see the light boats, the waves are shimmering and the golden light is soft. So autumn comes and autumn goes again, and people's heads turn white.

Qiwangxuan on the rocky shore. People in the Song Dynasty have "Qi Luo Xiang": Frost flies in thousands of miles, trees fall in thousands of forests, cold beauty does not arouse spring jealousy. The maple is cold in Wujiang, and the lonely guest sings sad sentences again. The ship is sailing, and the isolated village in the flowing water is like a circle of flowers, returning to the setting sun. Very desolate ditch, a piece of desolation, carrying love instead of carrying sorrow.

When watching the clouds rise on the other side: clear water, red leaves and piles of rocks, colorful branches want to fly in the setting sun.

Bees chasing chrysanthemums, butterflies love flowers, which woman does not love it.

Although the Summer Palace is known as the Summer Palace, Lao Gan never stopped visiting in winter. It should be that the Empress Dowager of Chongqing occasionally stayed in the garden for a few days. When the Empress Dowager lived in the garden, Lao Gan would inevitably come to pay her respects. He saw the beautiful scenery in winter in the garden, so he said: "After a short rest, the clear ripples retreat to say hello, and the rustling winter scenery is beautiful. The mountain is warm and the sun is light and warm, and the spring is cold with the sound of ice. The sundial on the threshold is long and bright. , Entering Zhouchuan is not frozen, and the wave is wide. All exchanges are for wishing, and we are happy again and again."

When it snows in winter, you must come to Houhu. Look at that: the north wind blows the ground and the white grass breaks, and the imperial capital should snow in the twelfth lunar month. Suddenly, like a spring breeze overnight, thousands of trees and pear trees bloom.

Watch the sunrise in the snow at Yuanzhai. The old garden is ripe with new snow, and there are magnificent pictures everywhere. The color of the sky covers the way back, and the jade pot is built on the empty mountain.

Look under the bridge, the turbulence flows. When the wind and waves are still, you can also feel the safety of the pool, and you should watch from the ice when you step on it.

The lotus pond in Danningtang is the most pleasant place to watch the snow.

The flowing water of the broken pond washes the fat, and Ji Xuesuo recites poems. Where can I find Shih Tzu? Weeping willows are rustling on the temples. There are red corridors with silver roofs, plum gardens with pink fragrance, and thousands of tiles and jade. A song of happy days, wealth and honor are like a king.

Suzhou Street is one of the winter ice rinks in the Summer Palace, and it is also an ice paradise for children.

The distant mountains are cold, the cold weather is sunny, and the water in the pool is congealed. Merchants drive away customers behind closed doors, children play games on the ice, white rivers are black and snowy, and winter is nothing special.

Most poets in ancient times lived in the south of the Yangtze River, and it was rare to see such a northern scenery. They all want to sing a song when they see the snow. Brother Banqiao said, "When you get up in the morning and open the door, the mountains are covered with snow, the snow is clear and the clouds are light, the sun is cold.

The back lake of the Summer Palace is a place I often go to. It has both the wild scenery and the atmosphere of pavilions. It is refreshing to walk down. This is the most poetic place in the Summer Palace. That's really:

Be a guest with the gulls, stay in the green field and sing clogs. The two rows of willows hanging down the shade were planted by the immortal on that day. A pavilion is lonely, and the smoke brings melancholy. He Ranran, showing cool clouds, lying on the rainbow thousands of feet.

(According to the old post "You Qingyi Summer Palace, Suzhou Empty Street" revised)

(to be continued)