How did you choose the location of the Forbidden City? Which mountain left the footprints of Yao?

Ding Duge Photography: Photo courtesy of Liu Yukui: New Vision of North Night

Look for (someone whose whereabouts are unknown)

On February 8, 65438, in 2020, the Forbidden City celebrated its 600th birthday. How did you choose the location of the Forbidden City? This has to mention Dingdu Peak-a small mountain peak located in the jurisdiction of Tanzhesi Town, Mentougou District.

Before climbing Dingdu Peak, I saw Dingdu Pavilion, the attic of Dingdu Peak, in three places: one is Shijingshan Road on the west extension of Chang 'an Street; 2. Laoshan Country Park; The third is the well tea shed on Heichen Road. Looking at the Ding Du Pavilion from these places, the target is very small, like a miniature pagoda.

The reason why Ding Du Pavilion is famous as a landmark building is not how magical the attic itself is. What is really amazing is Dingdu Peak, the peak under the attic, which is where the imperial city is located. In the area of Tanzhe Temple in the west of Beijing, there is a story that "the prince climbed Dingdu Peak and Liu Bowen built Beijing overnight". The antique attic is just a sign.

On the stone wall below the Ding Du Pavilion, I saw the introduction of the Ding Du Pavilion in the form of bamboo slips, indicating that this attic is an antique building. 1/kloc-0 laid the foundation stone in July, and the main body was completed in June, 20 12, covering an area of 550 square meters and a building area of 2,400 square meters. Because it is located on Dingdu Peak at the western end of the west extension line of Chang 'an Street, it is named Dingdu Pavilion.

From the map, Dingdu Peak and Chang 'an Avenue are at the same latitude (39 degrees 54 minutes north latitude). If you draw a straight line along this latitude, Dingdu Peak will be connected with Tiananmen Square.

In the miscellaneous notes of the Ming Dynasty, this magical mountain peak was called Niuxin Mountain. In addition, it has three names-Niuxintuo, Guacaojian and Wangdufeng. Dingdu Peak is 680 meters above sea level. The mountain is not high, but it has left the footprints of two experts. These two masters, one is Yao, the other is Yao.

Being stationed in Yan Di will eventually become a hegemony.

Judy, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, copied the collection of the Palace Museum like Yang Lingbo.

Judy is the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of Ming Dynasty, and the third emperor of Ming Dynasty, namely Yongle Emperor. During the Yongle period, the economy and culture flourished and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. Moreover, Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Seas greatly expanded the space for overseas communication. The heyday of the Ming Empire created by him was called "Yongle Shi Sheng" in history. In particular, he ordered the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing and moved the capital to Beijing.

The Forbidden City was built in the fifth year of Yongle (A.D. 1407) and recruited 300,000 migrant workers and soldiers, which lasted for 14 years. Finally, a large-scale palace complex was built, which became a wonder in the history of world architecture and left a precious cultural heritage for future generations. It is said that the location of the Forbidden City was decided with Yao on the peak in the west of Beijing.

So, what is the relationship between Judy and Ding Dufeng? At that time, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was in Nanjing. As a prince, how did Judy come to the distant state of Yan? According to legend, after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he decided to send governors to be stationed everywhere. After hearing the news, the concubines asked Zhu Yuanzhang to send his son to a rich and fertile place, but Weng, the mother of the fourth son Judy, kept silent. Finally, the remote Northwest Yan State was left to Judy. This result made Queen Ma Niangniang of Bigfoot overjoyed.

As Zhu Yuanzhang's wife, Ma Niangniang was brave and resourceful, and helped Zhu Yuanzhang unify the world in the war. Since becoming a queen, she has never changed her true colors of diligence and thrift, and influenced Zhu Yuanzhang with her words and deeds so that she would not forget the sufferings of the people. Zhu Yuanzhang praised her for "having a good wife at home and a good country." In the eyes of some historians, she was also the first queen in ancient China. However, Ma Huanghou, who can afford, let go and be aggressive, is still worried about one thing-although her son Zhu Biao is a prince, he is learned, but his character is soft. Once Ming Taizu takes the lead, all the princes will inevitably compete with Zhu Biao for the throne, especially the handsome SHEN WOO and the resourceful Judy. This kind of worry made her regard Judy as an enemy and always be on her guard.

When Judy was made the Prince of Yan and stationed in Beiping, Ma Huanghou summoned Liu Bowen and asked about the state of Yan. Liu Bowen only said one sentence: "Boil in a casserole and measure firewood." Ma Huanghou wishfully understood this sentence as "a pot of rice mixed with sand is cooked, and firewood is scarce." . I think Judy can't take care of herself in such a remote place. Where can he compete for the throne? So, a stone in my heart finally fell to the ground. As we all know, "casserole" is a kind of vessel made of crucible soil, which is rich in Anjiatan, wanping county (now Wang Ping Town, Mentougou District), and the casserole cooking is more fragrant. In addition, Xishan area produces high-quality anthracite, and the excavated coal is measured in baskets, which is called "barrel firewood". Coal is far more forbidden to burn than firewood, and it was a very precious fuel at that time because of its fierce firepower and cheap price. An old frontiersman loses his horse—a blessing in disguise. Judy lost the glitz in the south of the Yangtze River, but gained the vastness in the north. As far as successful thinking is concerned, isn't this a silver lining for every dark cloud? He prepared the army and gathered talents, and his strength grew rapidly.

Determine the position of the imperial city on Dingdu Peak.

Upon arrival, Judy followed the advice of her strategist Liu Bowen and relied on Yao and Chang Yuchun. I often go to Tanzhe Temple to visit Yao, who lives in seclusion, and they have a good talk. One day, while talking about the general trend of the world, Yao and I walked to Niuxin Mountain in the east. Grain Rain season, Wan Li is clear, standing on the top of the mountain overlooking the distance, the sun rises in the east, the sun shines everywhere. Judy's heart is surging, and she can't help feeling: "The place where the sun rises is the birthplace of my Daming Millennium inheritance." Later, the Ming emperor wanted to move the capital from Nanjing to his birthplace, Beiping, and ordered Yao to rebuild and expand the capital Beijing on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty and build a golden hall in the "Sun".

The so-called "sunrise" is where the sun rises. Where is this place? When Yao was at a loss, the engineer said, "The place where you look at the sun is the place where you look at the peaks, but that's where the sun sets." Yao suddenly realized that the "sunset" was the place where he looked west from Beiping Prefecture, and the sunset happened to be Niuxin Mountain, where he and the prince had climbed to the top. So, Yao climbed Niuxin Mountain again, looked to the east, and determined the position of the imperial city and heaven and earth. Niuxinshan in the west of Beijing was renamed Dingdufeng.

As the counselor of the Prince of Yan, Yao Fuzhuo won the throne. After Judy decided to move the capital to Beijing, he used the skylight (sunlight) and shadows (people on the ground) to locate the Golden Hall (now the Hall of Supreme Harmony) of the Forbidden City. On the platform on the east side of the museum, there is a Yao statue of white marble. He raised his right hand and stared ahead as if observing a target. At that time, it was here that he determined a straight line focusing on Qingshou Temple, Bajiao Pavilion and Dingdu Peak. At the two ends of this straight line, there are peaks in the west and the imperial city in the east.

After the positioning was determined, in order to build the Forbidden City into a magnificent style, Yao carefully studied the drawings of famous historical cities such as Chang 'an City, Bianliang City and Nanjing City, but they were not satisfied. No matter how hard he thinks, he can't conceive the ideal Forbidden City. One day, Yao walked out of the secluded Tanzhe Temple and walked alone in the mountains. Passing through a pine forest, I saw a woodcutter sighing sadly and went forward to ask why. The woodcutter said, "My axe handle is broken. I want to make a new one, but I don't know what to make it look like. " Yao said to him, "That axe is in your hand. Just do it. " The woodcutter woke up and said, "Oh, I was fascinated by the authorities." The dialogue with the woodcutter also helped Yao get rid of the dilemma of "obsessed with the authorities." He looked at the Tanzhe Temple in front of him and thought, "Isn't this a good model?" So, according to the architectural style and structural layout of Tanzhe Temple, he drew the design scheme of Beijing City. Tanzhe Temple has nine gates and nine passes, and Beijing has also built nine gates. According to legend, in its heyday, Tanzhe Temple had 99 and a half houses, while the Forbidden City in Beijing had 999 and a half houses, just like the expanded Tanzhe Temple. There is an old saying: "Tanzhe Temple comes first, and Beijing comes last." This statement has two meanings. First, the temple of Tanzhe Temple was built before Beijing. Second, Yao designed the city according to the architectural pattern of Tanzhe Temple.

Huge projects have created architectural miracles.

Poems by Mr. Hou Hetao in Zhongzhou are contained in Yao's Collection of the Palace Museum.

The Forbidden City, built by hundreds of thousands of skilled craftsmen and millions of migrant workers, is located in the center of Beijing's central axis, covering an area of 720,000 square meters, with a building area of150,000 square meters. It has more than 70 palaces and 9000 houses. It is the essence of ancient palace architecture in China, and it is far superior to the ancient capital Chang 'an in terms of resource consumption, engineering quality and architectural level. It is the largest and best preserved in the world today. Among the five largest palaces in the world (the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Palace of Versailles in France, Buckingham Palace in Britain, the White House in the United States and the Kremlin in Russia), the Forbidden City in Beijing (formerly known as the Forbidden City) ranks first. From 65438 to 0987, the Forbidden City in Beijing was listed as a world cultural heritage.

The meaning of the name "Forbidden City" comes from China's ancient philosophy and astronomy. In ancient astronomy, the stars were divided into three walls, surrounded by 28 constellations, among which Ziweiyuan (Polaris) was located in the center of the sky, which was the center of all the stars. "Purple" means that the royal family is at the core of the world and is supported by people all over the world. "Forbidden" is a forbidden place for the royal family to live, and dignity is paramount. The wisdom of the ancients can be seen from the Forbidden City as a symbol of imperial power.

Unlike the Yuan Dynasty, the capital of the Ming Dynasty consists of an inner city and an outer city. The outer city is wrapped by the inner city, the inner city is wrapped by the imperial city, and the imperial city is wrapped by the Forbidden City. There is a moat around the Forbidden City, which is closely structured and looks like an edict. The inner city was built on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty, with a circumference of 45 Li and a wall height of12m. The circumference of the inner city imperial city 18 Li was also rebuilt on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty. The imperial city has four gates, namely Bei 'an, Chengtian, Dong 'an and Xi 'an, and a T-square named Tianjie, which later became Tiananmen Square. The imperial city Miyagi is the place where the emperor lives. The Forbidden City, still named as Nanjing Miyagi, has a circumference of 6 Li 16 steps. It also has four doors, namely the Wumen Gate in the south, the Xuanwu Gate in the north, the Donghua Gate in the east and the Xihua Gate in the west. The architecture of the Forbidden City is divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court. The center of the outer court is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe, which are collectively called the three halls and are the places where the state holds large-scale ceremonies. The center of the Forbidden City is Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace, collectively referred to as the last three palaces, which are the main palaces where emperors and empresses live.

Overlooking Beijing, you can clearly see a central axis from Yongdingmen in the south to the Bell and Drum Tower in the north, with a straight line distance of about 7.8 kilometers. From north to south, the Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Di 'anmen, the Imperial Palace, the Three Great Halls, Daming Gate and Zhengyangmen are distributed along the central axis, which is a magnificent view. The central axis is the most outstanding achievement in ancient Beijing architecture. Mr. Liang Sicheng, an architect, once praised this central axis: "An eight-kilometer-long, longest and greatest north-south central axis runs through the city. Beijing's unique grand order is produced by the establishment of this central axis; The ups and downs, symmetrical figures or spatial distribution are all based on this central axis; The grandeur of the spirit lies in the scale of this north-south extension. "

In fact, the central axis of Beijing was formed in the Yuan Dynasty, which is located on the central line of the old Gulou Street and its extension line to the south, passing through the central part of Miyagi on the east bank of Taiyechi. In the Ming Dynasty, Judy moved the central axis of Beijing eastward by150m, forming the present pattern. The overall layout of the city is centered on the central axis, with ancestral halls on the left and national altars on the right; The imperial court is in front, and the market is behind, that is, Zuo Zu You She and Power and Market Prospect written by Zhou Li and Gong Ji. Beijing Shetan is a square altar, symbolizing the vast territory. The altar is composed of five-color soil, with blue soil in the east, red soil in the south, white mud in the west, black soil in the north and loess in the middle. Five-colored soil symbolizes five directions in the world-East, West, South, North and China. In the traditional culture of China, the five parties are combined with the sacred objects respected by the five parties. Tai Hao is revered in the East, assisted by wood gods. The south respects Emperor Yan, supplemented by Vulcan; The west respects Shao Hao, supplemented by the golden god; Zhuan Xu in the north, assisted by the water god; Respect the Yellow Emperor and assist the land god. The name of the supplement of Beijing Evening News-five-colored soil comes from this.

As an ancient imperial city, the keynote of Beijing is the walls, streets and quadrangles with gray walls and tiles, while the palace buildings with red walls and yellow tiles are in the core area of the imperial city. This large building with yellow glazed tiles is a remarkable symbol of Beijing as an imperial city. 600 years later, when the former Forbidden City turned into the Palace Museum and the Wumen Gate Tower, which once held a major ceremony, was transformed into a modern exhibition hall, I still think this imperial city is a mystery.

Twenty years later, the capital finally moved.

After Judy ascended the throne through the battle of Jingnan, she spent 20 years planning to move the capital, and finally moved the capital of Ming Dynasty from Nanjing to Beijing. As a fief of the prince of Yan, Judy has deep feelings for Beijing. At the same time, Beijing was also the military base where he sent troops to Mobei to fight against the remnants of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. Whether it is personal feelings or feelings of home and country, moving the capital to Beijing is a knot in his heart.

Beijing is surrounded by the sea in the left, Taihang Mountain in the right, Yonghe River in the north and Taohe River in the south. Located at the intersection of farming civilization and nomadic civilization, it can control the vast area from the customs to the northeast, command the Central Plains in the south, and deter the remnants of Mobei Yuan Dynasty. In addition, Judy has been guarding Beiping for a long time, with a good mass base and high reputation, which is his foundation. Undoubtedly, building the capital in Beijing is more conducive to political consolidation and economic and social development.

Perhaps based on the above considerations, since Judy became king, he began to build Gyeonggi. In the first year of Yongle (A.D. 1403), shortly after Judy ascended the throne, Li Zhigang, an official of the Ministry of Rites, said that Beiping was the emperor's "land of Longxing" and should be made the capital, following the example of Fengyang in Ming Taizu. This suggestion was exactly what Judy wanted, so he made a letter to promote Beiping to Beijing and changed Beiping House to Shuntianfu, calling it "running-in" and set up a complete court institution. At the same time, more and more people from Shanxi and other places have moved to Beijing. Crowds of immigrants cultivated land and operated businesses, which greatly promoted Beijing's economic development and social prosperity.

In the fourth year of Yongle (A.D. 1406), Judy ordered Song Li, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to build the Beijing Palace. In the second year, Xu, the filial piety queen, died, and she did not build a mausoleum in Nanjing. It was not until two years later when he visited the north that he chose Huangtu Mountain in Changping, Beijing as the burial place for himself and Queen Xu, and renamed it Tianshou Mountain, which is the first tomb in the Ming Tombs in Beijing-Changling. As the saying goes, fallen leaves return to their roots. At this time, Judy has made Beijing his life destination.

With the re-dredging of the Huitong section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the north-south water transport has been completely opened, and the plan to build the Forbidden City and move the capital to Beijing has been formally put on the agenda. Groups of highly skilled craftsmen and wooden and stone ships are continuously transported to Beijing through the Grand Canal. Cutting down precious nanmu from the mountain paid a huge life price of "going into the mountain for 1000 and going out for 500". It is also extremely difficult to mine stones used to build palaces. High quality white marble is produced in Dashiwo Village, Fangshan, Beijing. This kind of stone is buried deeply, and its thickness is generally 0.9 m to1.5 m. At that time, under the backward technical conditions, it is difficult to break the white marble weighing several tons or even hundreds of tons along the stone string with only one hammer. It is also a big problem to transport the boulder to the capital 50 kilometers away. The clever Shiwo people invented roller skating boats and chain cars, which made this kind of transportation possible. They dig a well every mile, and in the cold winter, they spill it on the ground. After the well water froze, they put the boulder on a special wooden frame called roller skater, and then dragged it by human like a tracker. This is the way that the largest marble behind the Baohe Hall of the Forbidden City reaches Beijing. In that year, it took 28 days to transport this piece of white marble with a length of 3 feet, a width of 1 foot and a thickness of 5 feet, and 20,000 civilian workers were mobilized, at a cost of11.2000 silver.

In the 14th year of Yongle (A.D. 14 16), Judy called ministers to formally discuss the move to Beijing. All ministers who opposed moving the capital were removed from their posts for investigation. While removing all obstacles on the road to moving the capital, Judy ordered the reconstruction of the West Palace on the basis of the old Yanjiu Palace, which was later Taiyichi Xiyuan, which is now Zhongnanhai. Looking back at that year, the Prince of Yan, who returned home dressed in splendor, stood at the peak of power in the Ming Dynasty and was in such a heroic mood.

In the 18th year of Yongle (A.D. 1420), the new capital of Ming Dynasty was built and the north wall of Yuan Dynasty was abandoned. After the south wall was demolished, it extended for two miles to rebuild Beijing. According to Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty, the newly-built Beijing "has temples, temples, altars, palaces, gates and rules, no different from Nanjing, but magnificent". In the same year 1 1 4th of the month, Judy, Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty, sent a letter to move the capital. Since the first day of the first month in the 19th year of Yongle (A.D. 142 1), Beijing has replaced Nanjing as the capital of Daming, changed Yingtianfu in Jinling to Nanjing, and Shuntianfu in Beiping to be the capital, but still set up six central institutions in Nanjing with Nanjing as its capital. On the first day of the first month, Judy, 62, was greeted by hundreds of officials in the newly-built Fengtian Hall. At this point, the plan to move the capital, which has been brewing for nearly 20 years, has finally settled.

Two years after the death of filial piety queen Xu, she chose Huangtushan in Changping, Beijing as the burial place for herself and Queen Xu, and renamed it Tianshou Mountain, which is the first mausoleum in the Ming Tombs in Beijing-Changling. Photography: Gannan

Tiananmen Square is expected to board the Ding Du Pavilion.

As a generation of monks and wise men, Yao's achievements are manifold. In addition to presiding over the construction of Beijing, he also presided over the supervision and repair of the encyclopedic Yongle Grand Ceremony, and supervised the construction of the world's oldest clock-Yongle Bell. All these, legends and historical facts, are enough to make his name immortal.

"Purple sky in the south, pilgrimage site in the east, bare Beidou Chang 'an and Dingdu Peak in the west." This is a couplet on the piedmont archway. Tourists in twos and threes pass through the exquisite archway and walk along the clean stone steps to the summit. In late autumn, the forest is full of dye. Are they going to enjoy the red or go on a pilgrimage?

Dingdu Peak is spiritual, and all kinds of legends on the mountain may be related to this spirituality. When I went around from the rooftop in the east of the attic to the west, I saw an oval platform, wooden floors and fences with faded blessing strips on the railings. There are four ochres on the platform, which look like four giant turtles. One of them crouched, one tilted to the west, and the other two tilted to the south.

According to legend, the Prince of Yan became Emperor Yongle, and after moving his capital to Beijing, he climbed the peak again with his strategist Yao and revisited his old place. When he saw these four tortoise stones with different shapes, he was in a trance, as if his father Zhu Yuanzhang, his younger brother Zhu Biao and his nephew Zhu Yunwen were around. So I was filled with emotion, and all the grievances drifted away with the wind. As a result, there is a "who wants to turn war into friendship, can climb the capital peak, the tortoise and the strange stone are there, and a smile will bury the enmity." Myth is illusory, but a wish in myth is beautiful and true.

On the top floor of the Ding Du Pavilion, there are two high-powered telescopes facing the east. It is said that when the sky is clear, you can see Tiananmen from there. When I boarded the Ding Du Pavilion, it was just foggy and the visibility was not high. Standing in the high attic, I suddenly remembered the phrase "the green hills are still there, and the sunset is a few degrees red" in Yang Shen's Linjiang Fairy. Today, on the Chang 'an Avenue and the west extension line of Chang 'an Avenue, Qingshou Temple and Octagonal Pavilion no longer exist, and only Dingdu Peak stands tall, witnessing the vicissitudes of the world as always.

Source Beijing Evening News

Author yue Qiang

Liu Weili, process editor