During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing, the capital of China people today, was the only city among the six ancient capitals of China to inherit the status of the capital, and it was the peak of the capital construction of China.

In the first year of Yongle (1403), Chengzu changed Beiping to Beijing. In the fourth year of Yongle (1406), preparations for the construction of Beijing Miyagi began. In the 19th year of Yongle (142 1), the first month was "successful", which lasted 15 years, and Beijing was officially made its capital. In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing, that is, the reconstruction of the capital of Yuan Dynasty, the north wall shrank 5 miles to the south and the south wall spread 2 miles to the south, becoming an east-west rectangle. Rebuild Miyagi and Imperial City. In the thirty-second year of Jiajing (1553), the outer city ⑥ was built, only on the south side. At this point, the basic outline of Beijing has been formed, namely Miyagi, Imperial City, Inner City and Outer City.

Basic scale

Miyagi is the Forbidden City, which is the Forbidden City in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing today. Located in the south-central part of the inner city, with a circumference of six miles and sixteen steps, it is 960 meters long from north to south and 760 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 0.72 square kilometers. There are eight gates in Miyagi, and five gates in the south, namely Chengtianmen (changed to Tiananmen in Qing Dynasty), Duanmen, Wumen, Zuoyemen and Youyemen, with Donghua Gate in the east, Xihuamen in the west and Xuanwu Gate in the north (changed to Shenwumen in Qing Dynasty). ① There are seven main buildings in Miyagi, which are located on the central axis and divided into front yard and backyard by Gan Qing Gate. The first three halls are Fengtian Hall (changed to Huang Ji in the 41st year of Jiajing and Taihe in Qing Dynasty), Gaihua Hall (changed to Zhongji and Zhonghe), Shenshen Hall (changed to Jianji and Baohe Hall), and the last three halls are Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace. There is a moat around Miyagi, which is 52 meters wide and named Yu He (Tongzi River in Qing Dynasty). The buildings of the Forbidden City in the Qing Dynasty were rebuilt and their names changed, but they basically maintained the scale of the Ming Dynasty.

Outside the palace, the imperial city has an odd circumference of eighteen miles, lacking its southwest corner. It is 2.75 kilometers long from north to south, 2.5 kilometers wide from east to west and covers an area of 6.87 square kilometers. There is Miyagi in the east, Xiyuan in the west (Xiyuyuan in Yuan Dynasty), and Taiyue Pool in the middle (namely, Yuantai Liquid Pool, plus Nanhai). There are six gates in the Imperial City. "Daming is in the south, Dongan is in the east, Xi 'an is in the west and Bei 'an is in the north. Daming Gate turns east to Chang 'an Left and west to Chang 'an Right ". In Qing Dynasty, Daming Gate was changed to Daqing Gate, and Bei 'anmen was changed to Di 'anmen.

Rebuilding the inner city, namely Yuanduyi, has a perimeter of 45 miles and 9 gates, with a length of 6.65 kilometers from east to west, a width of 5.35 kilometers from north to south and an area of 35.57 square kilometers. Due south is Zhengyangmen (front gate), left is Chongwen Gate, and right is Xuanwu Gate; From Chaoyangmen South in the east to Dongzhimen in the north; Fuchengmen in the west and Xizhimen in the north; To the north is Andingmen in the east and Deshengmen in the west.

Jiajing built a "heavy city, covering the south of the capital, turning east and west to watch the building, 28 miles long." Gate 7, Yongding is due south, south left is Zuo 'an, south right is You 'an; The east is called refraction, and the north of the east is called east; There is Guangning in the west (called Guang 'an in Qing Dynasty) and western convenience in the north. Today, it is measured that the east-west length is 7.95 kilometers, the north-south width is 3. 1 kilometer, and the area is 24.49 square kilometers. The total area of the inner and outer cities is 60.06 square kilometers, which is larger than that of Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty. Among the metropolitan cities in China, it is the third largest city after Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty and Luoyang in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Street mode

In the street pattern of Beijing's inner and outer cities, the street leading to each gate is the widest and is the main road of the whole city. Most of them are east-west, north-south, and there are fewer inclined streets, but there are also differences between inner and outer cities. The outer city forms the urban area first, and then the city wall is built. The streets are dense and many streets are not straight. The streets leading to the city gate are also named after the city gate, such as Chongwenmen Street, Chang 'an Street, Xuanwumen Street, West Chang 'an Street, Fuchengmen Street, Andingmen Street and Deshengmen Street. There are many streets in this area, which are divided by various streets. According to the statistics in the Hutong Collection of Wuchengfang Lane in Beijing, there are about 1 264 streets and villages in Beijing, including about 457 hutongs. Comparatively speaking, there are more than 300 streets and lanes in the midtown area on both sides of Zhengyangmen and Huangcheng. This is because Midtown is strategically located in the middle of the city, close to the Imperial City and the Forbidden City, and its population is naturally dense.

Surrounding residential areas

Residential areas are commensurate with squares, which are called shops or brands and shops. Residential buildings are typical quadrangles. There are 9 squares and 68 shops in the downtown area (at Zhengyangmen and on both sides of the Imperial City); There are 5 squares in Dongcheng District (Chongwenmenli, east to North Street, to the city wall and outside Dongguan), 37 squares in Chaoyang, Dongzhiguanwai, Zhengcunba and Paifang, 199 squares; Xicheng District (Xuanwumenli, street west to north, to the city wall and outside Xiguan) has four squares, namely Hexi Straw Mat, Chaotian Palace West, Fucheng and Xizhiguanwai, with 20 brands and1kloc-0/shop; Chengnan District (Zhengyang, Chongwen, Xuanwu, inside and outside the new city) has 8 squares, 49 brands and 247 shops; There are 7 workshops in Beicheng (from Bei 'anmen to Anding, Deshengmenli and outside Beiguan), Anding and Deshengguan, with 90 shops. There are 33 squares, 106 brands and 705 shops in the whole city and its nearby suburbs. It is bounded by North Anmen Street and Pan Qi Street (Zhengyangmenli), belonging to wanping county in the west and Daxing County in the east. Xicheng belongs to Wanping, Dongcheng belongs to Daxing, and the three cities in central, south and north are divided into two counties. Among them, Wanping County 13, Hutong 3 12. It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, there were many hutongs in the west of Beijing, but the opposite was true in the east.

During the Ming Dynasty, in addition to setting up two counties, Beijing also set up a five-city army division with the same status as the two counties, named "criminal thief". In fact, its administrative functions are close to today's municipal institutions. Midtown Military Forces Company is located in Renshou Square (outer Manchuria, Donganmen), Dongcheng Military Forces Company is located in Sicheng Square (southeast of Donganmen), Cheng Nanbing Company is located in Zhengyang Street outside the city, Xicheng Military Forces Company is located in Xian Yi Square (southwest of Xi 'an), and Beicheng Military Forces Company is located in Jiaozhong Square (outer Manchuria, north Anmen).

In the Qing Dynasty, the squares, streets and hutongs in Beijing were changed again and again, but on the whole they still followed the scale of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the management of Wanping and Daxing counties, it was placed under the Eight Banners garrison. Zhenghuang Banner is located in Deshengmen, Andingmen is decorated with yellow flag, Dongzhimen is decorated with white flag, Chaoyangmen is decorated with white flag, Xizhimen is decorated with red flag, Fuchengmen is decorated with red flag, Chongwenmen is decorated with blue flag, and Xuanwu Gate is decorated with blue flag, which is divided into left and right wings.

Prosperous economy

The market in Beijing is arranged along the street, but it has formed several major market areas. The cities in the early Ming Dynasty were mainly concentrated in the vicinity of Imperial City Simen, Dongsi Pailou, Xisi Pailou, Bell and Drum Tower, Chaoyang, Anding, Xizhi, Fucheng and Xuanwu Gate. Because in the early Ming Dynasty, in order to attract investment, houses and shops were built near the above-mentioned gates, which were called "porch houses". Judging from the distribution of corridors, the commercial market area is mainly in the west of the city. With the development of social economy, the market area is getting bigger and bigger, and the regional distribution has also changed. The main markets are Chessboard Street in Zhengyangmen, Deng Shi, Chenghuang Temple, Neishi and Chongwenmen. The chessboard street in front of Daming Gate (the south gate of Imperial City, which was changed to Daqingmen in Qing Dynasty) is full of "department stores". Because "the left and right sides of the street are opposite to the government", "Jia, a migrant worker from all over the world, came to Sri Lanka in his own way, rubbing his shoulders, which was actually noisy." It is obviously located in the middle, and it is close to the imperial city, Miyagi, government forces and government agencies. With more people coming and going, business will naturally flourish. The Lantern Market is located two miles east of Wang Fu Street and west of Chongwen Street in Donghuamen. In the north and south, there are all kinds of jewels to capture everyday objects. In the middle of the song, the city is set in chess, and there are several rows of tall buildings facing each other ... The city begins on the eighth day of the first month and ends on the eighteenth. "On the opening day," goods are divided with the team, people can't care, cars can't turn, the city overflows, and hundreds of people flow ",which is also very lively. In the Qing Dynasty, "the lantern market was in Chongwen Street, Donghuamen, and now it is also in Liulichang". It can be seen that the lantern market in the Ming and Qing Dynasties is also constantly changing, and it is not fixed in one place. The lamp market outside Donghuamen is now called dengshikou (East-West Street), and Liulichang is in the outer city, which is also an East-West Street. The Donghuamen mentioned above should be Dong 'anmen, because outside Dong 'anmen is Wang Fu Street. Chenghuang Temple City is located in the southwest corner of Xicheng, which is north of Fuxingmen today. " The bright moon is in the sky, the fifth day has passed, the East Temple teaches, and the West Temple is detained, three miles away. Ancient and modern scrolls, Ding Yi, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Qin and Han Dynasties in the mirror, paintings and calligraphy in Tang and Song Dynasties, jewelry, elephants, jade, rare defects, brocade and other collections in Yunnan, Guangdong, Fujian, Chu, Wu and Yue. "Prove that this is the antique market in Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a large scale and prosperous business. The inner city is a shopping market for royalty, located on the left (east) side of the Forbidden City, passing through Guanglu Temple (north of Dong 'anmen Inner Street) and entering the inner gate, from Yumajian to Xihaizi. There are transactions on the 4th, 14th and 24th of every month. "That is to say, in Dong 'anmen, there are three trading days a month in the city, mostly high-end goods, such as mink, fox skin, plain cloth, cotton, wine, precious stones, Kim Jong-il, medicinal materials, rhinoceros and so on. Chongwenmen is the east gate of the south wall of Licheng, and it pays the most taxes in all cities in Beijing. Especially in the early years of Wanli, all goods entering the city were subject to "three taxes on the right ship at Chongwenmen", which made Chongwenmen area also form a prosperous market area. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the canal entered the city only at Chongwenmen, with convenient waterway transportation and natural prosperity of commerce. Chongwenmen in Qing Dynasty collected 94,483 taels of positive tax silver, which was the highest among all collection points and was a typical example.

Xiyuan, located outside Xihuamen, is the Western Imperial Garden of the Yuan Dynasty. "West of Xihuamen is Xiyuan. The list is called Xiyuanmen and the entrance is Taiye Pool. " "Since the golden age, it has been called Xiyuan Taiye Pool. Famous sites such as Guanghan Temple in Qionghua Island, from Yuan Dynasty to Ming Dynasty, the benefits of the garden pool change with the Buddha, but only for recreation. " In other words, Xiyuan is a place for the emperor to play, and pavilions and Taiye Pool complement each other with magnificent scenery. In the Qing Dynasty, it developed further and became a place for the emperor to summon princes and ministers and receive foreign guests, such as Dunxu Hall, Hanyuan Hall, Yingtai and Ziguangge, all of which became places for the emperor to rest and conduct state activities. Taiye Pool is today's North Sea, China Sea and South China Sea, which was excavated in the Ming Dynasty. Today, Beihai has been divided into Zhongnanhai, where the State Council is located, and xinhua gate, the Bao Yue Building in the South China Sea.