In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing was built on the ruins of the Yuan Dynasty. Whether the ancients built the city or the layout of the house, they all built it in a square way. However, as an imperial city, its northwest corner is missing a corner, which is incredible. What is the reason? There are three mainstream views:
1. Nezha city with eight arms,
Regarding the construction of Beijing, there is a folklore about the city of Nezha with eight arms. It is said that when Judy became the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he planned to build the city. However, ministers said that Beijing was originally a lonely and miserable country, and the evil dragon lived there badly, so he sent his great strategists Liu Bowen and Yao to repair the city.
When designing the drawings, both of them saw Nezha with eight arms. Nezha said to them, Draw like me. Liu and Yao didn't dare to disobey, so they painted like Nezha. At this moment, a sudden gust of wind blocked the northwest corner. They dared not say that Nezha would be displaced, so they didn't draw the northwest corner. Later, when the city was built, a corner was missing.
Eight-armed Nezha strangled the dragon, and Peking was thus repaired. Although this story is not credible, the ancients believed in Feng Shui very much, so the lack of horns may be related to Feng Shui.
Second, military defense,
Beijing in Yuan Dynasty was called Dadu, and its basic outline was square. In the Ming Dynasty, General Xu Da was ordered to capture the Yuan Dynasty. In order to defend the city, he abandoned the desolate place in the north and shrank the original city wall five miles south, and the northwest corner happened to be the Jishuitan. At that time, the water area was very large. In order to avoid the stagnant pool, the city wall can only be built obliquely.
Third, avoid the earthquake zone,
The northwest and southeast corners of Beijing are located in the earthquake zone. There were many earthquakes in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the city walls there collapsed. No way, the emperor can only send people to avoid these earthquake zones, resulting in irregular city walls. Later, people confirmed this statement through satellite photos. There is indeed an earthquake fault zone in the northwest corner of Beijing. It seems that this statement is reliable.