The city gates and walls are the elegant outer covering of the ancient city of Suzhou. Over the past thousands of years, they have blocked the ancient city from wind and rain and driven away many invading enemies. There are so many ancient city walls and gates in Suzhou. To say that it is the most frequented and the most well-known, Pingmen is probably the most popular.
Pingmen is located in the north of the ancient city of Suzhou, across the river from the train station. If you come to Suzhou by train, Pingmen will be the first thing you see when entering Suzhou city. However, what most people don’t know is that the former Pingmen is not here, and it looks like this...
01 The origin of the name Pingmen is still unconfirmed
Pingmen , which is quite mysterious among the city gates in Suzhou. There are two common versions of the origin of its name.
According to records from the Tang Dynasty, in 505 BC, Wu Zixu led his troops northward from Pingmen and finally defeated Qi. He entered the city through this gate when he returned in triumph. Therefore, in order to commemorate and express the intention of pacifying Qi, it was named "Pingmen", which has the same meaning as the French Arc de Triomphe.
Another theory is that the name here is purely a misunderstanding. According to the records of "Pingjiang Chronicle" of the Yuan Dynasty: "Wucheng Pingmen, formerly known as Wumen... A stone plaque was found in the ancient Hao, with the two characters 'Wumen' in seal script. Wu Xian was a wise minister in the Wu Dynasty of Shang Dynasty, and his tomb is in The gate is about three miles northeast, so it is named "Wu" and "Ping" because they looked very similar in ancient times, so they became Ping gate.
The word "ping" means governance. Naming the city gate with the word "ping" means to control the water and soil, and its purpose also includes winning a good agricultural harvest, making the Republic of China prosperous, and dominating the princes. There are many theories, but we still have difficulty figuring out the real reason.
02
Abandoned for a long time, only its name is heard, but its door is not seen
Compared with other city gates in Suzhou City, the fate of Pingmen is also quite rough. . Because in the long history of Suzhou, Pingmen has been abandoned for a long time. Even the famous "Pingjiang Picture" in the Song Dynasty cannot find any trace of Pingmen.
Thousands of years of siltation have affected Pingmen. During the wars of the Five Dynasties, Qian Yuanhuang repaired it here to use it as a garrison and a school ground. There are different opinions as to why the city gate was abandoned for a long time. Some said it was because of the war, while others said it was due to Feng Shui issues.
03
Welcome to the turnaround! The city gate "pushed in" by the train
After being absent for a long time, no matter what the reason, Pingmen, which had a rough fate, finally got a chance to turn around in modern times!
In 1904, construction of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway began. In May of the lunar calendar in 1906, the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway ushered in a grand opening ceremony. In July of the same year, a train spewed black smoke and made a loud noise as it drove into Suzhou. The city of Suzhou has ushered in a new century and a new era.
And this newly opened flat door has a great relationship with the train station.
There was no Pingmen or Pingmen Bridge at that time. The Beisi Pagoda is so close. If you want to get there, you have to go around to Changmen and then walk through Changmen. This is too troublesome for people who get off the train. So in 1926, nearly 20 years after the railway station was built, Suzhou people finally reopened Pingmen. Now the traffic suddenly became clearer, and the spring of Pingmen was about to come.
However, not long after Pingmen opened, warlords in Jiangsu and Zhejiang started fighting. A "master" immediately came to see Feng Shui and said: Suzhou City resembles a crab. If all the gates of Suzhou City are opened, if the crab escapes, Suzhou City will be in trouble, so the flat gates are blocked!
Not long after, in order to connect the train station and Guanqian Street, Suzhou people decided to rebuild the Meicun Bridge and Pingmen. At that time, the flat gate only had two tall city gate openings side by side. There was an outer city river but no inner city river. There were no city towers and no water gates. In 1958, Suzhou ushered in a wave of city wall demolition. Pingmen and most of the ancient city walls were demolished. Pingmen has been lost in the long river of history, and only the place name remains.
04
The landmark has become the gateway to Suzhou
The Pingmen we see today was rebuilt in 2012, and the new Pingmen city wall , located on the north side of the original ancient city wall ruins.
The new Pingmen retains the characteristics of the Suzhou-style city gate and shows the charm of the ancient city of Suzhou to tourists from all over the world. The word "Pingmen" is written on the city gate tower. The city tower is about 24.5 meters high and has two floors. There are three city gate openings, one large, two small and two small. The upper part is a two-story antique pavilion. It is on the same axis as the south square of the railway station. The entire city wall is integrated with the original low city wall and tower-like sluice gate on the east side, which is a spectacular sight.
In conjunction with the repair of the Pingmen and Hepingmen sections of the city wall and the construction of the south station building of the railway station, a large relief stone tablet "Pingjiang Picture" was placed in the moat between the two and erected on the south square. There are bronze sculptures of eight historical and cultural celebrities including Fan Zhongyan.
Pingmen, with its ups and downs on one side and its beauty on the other, is not just as simple as history. For Suzhou people, Pingmen now means more of a landmark!