In ancient times, Beijing has always been called an ideal capital by Feng Shui experts as "surrounded by mountains and rivers, it must have vitality". The Xishan Mountains in the west are the Taihang Mountains; the Jundu Mountains in the north are the Yanshan Mountains; and the south entrance is an important military location. The two mountain ranges meet at the south entrance of Beijing, forming a semicircular mountain bay that spreads to the southeast and surrounds the Beijing Plain.
The terrain of the Beijing Plain slopes slightly from northwest to southeast. The Sanggan River and the Yang River merged here to form the Yongding River. Therefore, the geographical layout of Beijing is "Liaojie to the east, Taihang to the west, Shuomo to the north, the military capital at its back, and the Central Plains to the south." This is particularly conducive to social and economic development and strategic control.
Beijing was called Youzhou and Yanjing in the Tang Dynasty, Zhongdu City in the Jin Dynasty, Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty, and Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
In the history of my country's civilization development for thousands of years, Beijing has been the capital of eight dynasties: Yan, Qian Yan, Dayan, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. Various dynasties carried out large-scale construction projects in Beijing and built ancient buildings with their own characteristics. However, it was the Yuan Dynasty that first had an indirect influence on the construction of Tiananmen Square.
In 1260, Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, was located in Kaiping Prefecture, which was later the eastern part of Zhenglan Banner in Inner Mongolia. In 1264, Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty issued an edict to make Yanjing the central capital. The old site was the area east of the Lotus Pond in the southwest of what would become Beijing. In 1272, he changed the central capital to the Yuan Dadu, and began to build the Yuan Dadu in 1267, which lasted 18 years. It took many years and it was not until 1285 that it was all completed.
The overall layout of Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty at that time was rectangular. The south wall was located on the south side of Chang'an Street in Beijing, and the north wall was located near the North Third Ring Road north of the later Deshengmen and Andingmen. There are intermittent mounds that remain, called Tuchengzi mounds, which were the earliest northern city walls of Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty.
From the inside to the outside, Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty was divided into palace city, imperial city and big city. The city has a circumference of 60 miles and has 11 gates. There are three gates in the south: Li Zhengmen in the middle, later known as Zhengyang Gate, Wenming Gate in the east, and Shuncheng Gate in the west; Qihua Gate, Chongren Gate and Guangxi Gate in the east from south to north; and Qihua Gate, Chongren Gate and Guangxi Gate in the west from south to north. They are Pingze Gate, Heyi Gate and Suqing Gate; there are only two city gates in the north, Anzhen Gate in the east and Desheng Gate in the west.
The south gate of the imperial city of Yuan Dynasty was called Lingxing Gate, which was located in the area that later became the Meridian Gate. There used to be a "T"-shaped semi-enclosed palace square between Lingxing Gate and Li Zhengmen. Later, the palace square in the Ming and Qing dynasties basically used its old site, and Tiananmen Square was built in the middle. There are turrets on all four corners of the city wall of Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty, and piers and platforms outside the city. The palace in the city is in the front, the market is in the back, and 50 neighborhoods are dotted around.
At that time, a famous Italian traveler named Marco Polo came to our country. After seeing the magnificent palaces and beautiful flower gardens of the Yuan Dynasty, the "City of the Khans", he was greatly moved. He praised: The city is so beautiful and the layout is so clever, we can't even describe it.
The Travels of Marco Polo, which he later wrote, contained a description of the capital city, which made this ancient city famous throughout the world. Although the Yuan Dynasty did not build Tiananmen at that time, the architectural layout of its new site and the positioning of the Yuan Forbidden City and the Palace Square made it feasible for the later Ming Dynasty to build Chengtianmen.
In 1368, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and established the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, General Xu Da of the Ming Dynasty led his army to conquer the capital of the Yuan Dynasty and changed its name to Peking. At that time, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty demolished all the Forbidden City in the Yuan Dynasty to eliminate the "royal spirit" of the previous dynasty.
Later, Zhu Di, the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ascended the throne of the emperor, and became the emperor of the Ming Dynasty from the king of Yan. In the first month of 1403, Peiping was renamed Beijing, and it was temporarily called "Xingzai", which was the emperor. Xingdu when you are away from home.
The first major event after Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, took office was to decide to move the capital from Nanjing to his "Longxing Land" Beijing.
According to historical records, the main reason why Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, moved the capital to Beijing was because Beijing "surrounded the sea on the left, supported Taihang, bordered Heji on the south, and rested on temples on the north." ", "Huitong has convenient port transportation and Tianjin has a superior geographical location." In addition, he also wanted to control the northern and northeastern regions to maintain national stability.
In 1406, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, sent ministers to various places to supervise the people to collect wood and bake bricks and tiles. He also recruited craftsmen, sergeants and migrant workers from various places to start the preparatory project for the construction of Beijing. In 1417, the large-scale construction project of Beijing officially began. At that time, a craftsman named Kuai Xiang was selected into the capital by the Ming Dynasty along with a large number of skilled craftsmen.
Kuaixiang is a native of Xiangshan, Wu County, Suzhou Prefecture, Jiangsu Province. He was born in the Hongwu period of the early Ming Dynasty. His father was a well-known craftsman at that time. Kuai Xiang was deeply influenced by his father. In his 30s, he was "able to take charge of large-scale repairs" and was a highly accomplished carpenter. Because of his superior skills, he fully utilized his architectural skills and design talents in the construction, and was highly valued by the supervisors, including the architect Cai Xin and others.
In the construction of Beijing palaces, many famous craftsmen emerged one after another. In addition to Cai Xin, the supervisor who worked on the design, and Yang Qing, who was a bricklayer and became the minister of the Ministry of Industry, there are also famous carving and stonemason Lu Xiang who were contemporary with Kuai Xiang.
Cai and Yang played a big role in the initial construction of the palace, but they were both old at the time, while Kuai Xiang was young and strong, and was good at calculations and painting. After the deaths of Cai Xin and Yang Qing, a large number of royal projects were directed by Kuai Xiang.
Kuaixiang is not only proficient in woodworking technology, but also has high artistic talent and aesthetic awareness. According to records, Kuai Xiang could hold the brush with both hands and draw a dragon at the same time, making the two images look exactly the same. His skill had reached a very high level.
When building palaces and pavilions, he could draw the design drawings with just a little calculation. After the project was completed, the size of the building and the design drawings were exactly the same. Even the emperor at that time respected him he.
In the process of building Beijing, Kuai Xiang made careful plans in terms of materials and construction, and the tenon and rivet frames he created were very accurately and firmly combined. At the same time, he also skillfully applied the architectural art of Jiangnan, such as Suzhou colored paintings and glazed gold bricks, to make the palaces and pavilions look magnificent.
In 1420, when the imperial palace was completed, Kuai Xiang was promoted to the post of Chief of the Ministry of Works and Maintenance Office due to his merit.