This is a jingle circulated in old Beijing: Nine inside, seven outside, four in the city. It is said that the city gates of Beijing are divided into nine gates in the inner city, seven gates in the outer city and four gates in the imperial city.
Nine gates in the inner city: Zhengyang Gate, Chongwen Gate, Xuanwu Gate, Chaoyang Gate, Fucheng Gate, Dongzhimen, Xizhimen, Anding Gate, Deshengmen
Seven gates in the outer city : Yongding Gate, Zuo'anmen, You'anmen, Guangqumen, Guang'anmen, Dongbianmen, Xibianmen
The four gates of the imperial city: Tiananmen, Di'anmen, Dong'anmen, Xi'anmen
There is a jingle that sums up the city gates of Beijing: "The inner nine and the outer seven emperors are four, and the nine gates are at eight o'clock."
The "inner nine" are: due south There are the first three gates, namely the Zhengyang Gate, commonly known as the Qianmen. It is named because this gate is located in front of the Forbidden City. On the left side of it is Chongwen Gate. Because a prince named Hade lived here in the Yuan Dynasty, everyone called this gate Hade Gate. To the right of the front gate is Xuanwu Gate, which was once named Shuncheng Gate.
The two gates opening to the east on the east side of the city wall are: Chaoyang Gate, which was called Qihua Gate in the Yuan Dynasty. It was used for transporting grain carts into the city. The other gate is Dongzhimen, which is used to transport firewood.
The two gates opening to the west on the west side of the city wall are: Fucheng Gate, which is a gate that uses camels to deliver coal into the city. The other one is Xizhimen, which is a city gate dedicated to transporting water. In those days, the emperor's water was brought by horse-drawn carriage from Yuquan Mountain.
The two city gates in the north are Desheng Gate. When going out to fight, you should start from Desheng Gate to gain good luck in winning the battle. The city gate on the north and east side is called Anding Gate. When you go out to conquer the war and return to the court, you should enter the Anding Gate when entering the city, which symbolizes the destruction of the enemy and the realization of stability.
"Outer Seven" is the outer city gate built by Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty in the 32nd year of Jiajing to strengthen the city's defense. Parallel to the "first three gates" in the north and the inner city are Dongbianmen and Xibianmen. To the east and west are Guangqumen and Guang'anmen respectively. To the south are Zuo'anmen, You'anmen and Yongding, which leads directly to Zhengyangmen. Door.
The "Four Imperial City" include: Tiananmen, Di'anmen, Dong'anmen and Xi'anmen. When ministers enter the court, they enter the imperial city according to the regulations of "Wen Dong Wu Xi". Civil servants must enter the court through Donghua Gate. Therefore, civil servants lived in Dongcheng for convenience when entering the court. Liu Luoguo, for example, lived in Lishi Hutong in Dongcheng.
"Nine gates at eight o'clock and one o'clock" means that in the past, the city gates were closed at night. Before closing the door, you must hit a "dot". The dot is an ancient percussion instrument made of copper. It is similar to a peach shape and is flat in shape. It has a bulge in the middle and two holes on the side. It is suspended and struck. The sound is very loud when struck. . There is still a "dot" hanging in the east side hall of Fayuan Temple, which may be a signal for the monks' work and rest time.
Before closing the city, you have to knock "dot" three times. After knocking "dot" for the first time, one of the city gates is closed. When you knock "dot" for the second time, the other door is half closed again. The third time "click", the door was closed with only a small gap left. The people rushing to the city could hear the sound of beatings from a long way away. At this time, they ran with all their strength until they were out of breath. Sometimes if they ran slower, they would be locked outside the city and unable to enter the city, or locked inside and unable to leave. city. At this time, you have to climb the "Shuiguan'er", which is the sewer that clears the city's rainwater. Generally, there is no water in the dry season. Children or people who are not too fat can pass sideways through the gaps in the railings.
Eight of the nine city gates ring the "dot" when closing the city. Only Chongwen Gate rings the bell when closing the city. The old man said that when Liu Bowen and Yao Guangxiao built the city of Beijing, they built the Chongwen Gate. There was an eye of the sea right under the city tower, and there was a giant turtle lying on top of the eye. If the giant turtle is not suppressed, if it turns over, the sea water will submerge the capital. It is said that the Beijing area was originally the Forty Mile Sea of ??Bitterness, a vast ocean. It was because the giant turtle blocked the eye of the sea that Beijing became land.
At that time, it was decided to build the city tower on the turtle's back, and press it down while it was sleeping to prevent it from turning over, which would be safe. When the giant turtle woke up and found that he was pinned down, he was very unhappy and asked Liu Bowen: Why did you put the tower on me? Liu Bowen praised and said good things, and said to the giant turtle: "It doesn't matter, you are strong anyway, carrying a tower on your body is nothing." The giant turtle said: When can I stand up? Liu Bowen said: When you hear the sound of "dot", you can turn over.
When the giant turtle thought about it, he had to hit "points" every day in Guancheng, and he could turn over every day, so he endured it and didn't ask any more questions. Unexpectedly, the resourceful Liu Bowen ordered people to change the "point" to a bell at Chongwen Gate. When closing the city gate, only the clock was struck but not the hour. The result was "nine gates at eight o'clock and one bell".