The wall on the cultural visit map, the trend of the Hutong waterway "into the ground", and the rescue and repair of the century-old gatehouse ......After the completion of the more than 500-meter-long Xicao Street at the end of October this year, it presents a quaint style of pushing the window to see the greenery and seeing the scenery every step of the way, and has been selected as one of the top ten "most beautiful streets and alleys in Beijing" in 2023.
More than 300 meters of alleys have been illegally built 39 places.
Xicao Market Street is named after the formation of a market for buying and selling dried and fresh grass in the Qing Dynasty. This is a back street alley sandwiched between the Temple of Heaven Park and the South Central Axis, with a length of only more than 500 meters, and a straight-line distance of only 50 meters from the South Central Axis. During the Qianlong period, after the four major Hui troupes entered Beijing, the theatrical costume production industry that served them slowly gathered here, and Xicao Street became a famous drama costume street.
In 2019, the northern section of Xicao Street, which is dominated by costume shops, was demolished and renovated to restore the traditional style, color and texture of the buildings along the line, build a leisure square, add public spaces such as pocket parks, green pools, and residents' meeting halls, and optimize and upgrade the traditional costume industry along the line, and the regional characteristics of the century-old "costume street" have been restored. The southern section, which is mainly dominated by residential buildings, has been vacated by some courtyards along the street after applying for lease surrender in 2021. "Before the renovation and upgrading, the southern section of Xicao Street is about 350 meters long, and there are 39 illegal buildings alone, and almost every household on the street is 'enclosure' on the street, and the illegal small houses are expanded from the eaves of their own houses to the outside of the road. Li Chao, deputy director of the Urban Management Office of Tiantan Street, Dongcheng District, took reporters to walk and look at the streets of Xicao Market after the renovation and upgrading.
This year, Dongcheng District will improve the environment of Xicao City as a key regional project to promote sparseness, under the premise of maintaining the texture of the streets and alleys, the architectural style remains unchanged, 29 buildings along the line will be repaired and updated, so that the Ming and Qing dynasties that have been submerged in the courtyard will reappear, and at the same time, the overhead line into the ground will be implemented to create a walk-in ribbon park, and more than 40 roadside parking spaces will be planned to promote the integration of the southern section and the northern section to form a whole, so that the entire old street will rejuvenate the new charm of the ancient capital.
Cultural visit map "on the wall" Hutong waterway trend "into the ground".
Walking from the north exit of Xicao Street, not far away, a huge copper map appeared on the quaint gray wall of the roadside pocket garden. Looking at the map from afar, it seems to overlook the entire Temple of Heaven area from the air;Up close, the alleys and courtyards are carefully depicted on the map. "This is our specially designed 'Xicao Hongmiao Neighborhood Cultural Exploration Map'. Li Chao explained that the core area control regulations divide the Temple of Heaven Street into four blocks, of which the area in the northwest corner of the Temple of Heaven Park is called the "Xicao Hongmiao District". "In the process of renovating and upgrading Xicao Street, we found that there are not only many registered cultural relics in this area, but also some non-genetic inheritance spaces, and even some hutongs actually have stories to tell. ”
Li Chao used his fingers to follow the uneven lines of the map, telling the story behind the map. There is a "Zhengyang Bridge Canal Monument" here, after the dredging of the waterway during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qianlong Emperor personally wrote it as a record. This is the Yuanshun Dart Bureau, this is the Clothing Appraisal Hall, all of which are registered cultural relics. Do you know why this alley is called "Brush City Hutong", there is a 90-year-old grandmother living in the alley, her handmade brushes used to be very famous, hence the name ......In order to let the residents who live here, and even citizens and tourists have a deeper understanding of this area, in the process of street renovation and upgrading, some key landmarks worth visiting in the hutong and the entire block are specially marked and displayed in the form of a large map. "A lot of people passing by are willing to come to the map to look for it. ”
In a pocket garden at the south entrance of the alley, a unique ground pattern attracted the attention of reporters. Dense waterways run through the entire area, interspersed with small ponds. "It was also in the process of renovation and upgrading that we accidentally noticed that many small alleys with branches and branches near Xicao Street have the element of 'water' in their names. For example, Shanjiankou Street, Goldfish Pond, etc., all have the side of 'three points of water' in their names. Li Chao explained that after consulting a large amount of information, everyone found out that there were dense drainage channels in the Xicao City area in the past, and waterways such as Longxugou flowed through this place in the past. However, after several treatments, most of the river has been buried underground. Many people have long been unaware that the streets and alleys they walk through every day and the underground houses they live in are actually hidden in ancient waterways. "In order to preserve this history and memory, we presented the trend of the Longxugou waterway in the past in the form of a map, and decorated it on the open ground at the south entrance of the alley, forming a unique scene of Xicao Street. ”
Rescue the century-old gatehouse.
No. 86 Xicao Street, two magnificent big wooden doors are hidden, come closer and take a closer look, the couplet penmanship of "Spring City Song Yue Hui" on the door is vigorous, revealing the ancient meaning.
Before, because I didn't know the goods, these two old wooden doors were almost thrown away. Fortunately, when it was repaired, it was rescued by the master. Li Chao explained. It turned out that when the façade of the building of Courtyard No. 86 was repaired, it was found that the century-old gatehouse was seriously damaged, one door panel had been leaning against the wall for a long time, and the door shaft of the other door panel had long been unable to open and close normally.
Residents have different opinions about the origin of the courtyard. Some old residents said that this used to be a big car shop, and people who came and went to the capital to do business would rest here before entering the city. However, some old residents said that they used to live here with large families.
I wanted to tear down the old broken door and replace it with a new one. Unexpectedly, during the construction, the master with rich experience in the repair of ancient buildings saw the doorway. Take the sandpaper and gently rub it on the dilapidated wooden door, and after the stain on the surface of the wooden door is slightly rubbed off, the master cries: "Look!."There are words!After two more polishes, the handwriting of the couplets of "Spring City Song Yue Hui" revealed its true face.
The old master stopped polishing his hand and muttered, "This door has a bit of history, don't lose it." Change to a new door, and it won't be the same. ”
Splicing the door shaft, cleaning, repairing, grinding, and reinforcing the door panel, adding the middle column of the gatehouse in accordance with the traditional gate regulations, adding the door hairpin, holding the drum stone, and increasing the ...... of the clear water ridgeAfter the repair, two antique gates were re-erected at the gate of number 86. The originally inconspicuous No. 86 courtyard also has the most magnificent façade on Xicao Street in one fell swoop.
In October this year, after the completion of the renovation and upgrading, Xicao Street showed a quaint style of pushing the window to see the greenery and seeing the scenery every step of the way. In the office building of the Temple of Heaven sub-district office, pennants sent by residents of Xicao Street are hung. "This pennant was sent to us by residents who were initially resistant to the rectification, but later changed their minds when they saw the beautiful scenery of the streets and alleys. ”
*: Beijing** client reporter Zhang Nan Liu Ping.