Beijing Postcards: The Master Plan
Thanksgiving Thursday we found ourselves in China again, and without Randy again. He was off to Singapore, so the kids and I were left to our own devices. The Bookworm was offering a Thanksgiving menu, in addition to their normal offerings. An added bonus was that a Beijing Postcards program was also scheduled that evening. Suddenly, the decision what to do for Thanksgiving was easy.
The Beijing Postcards presentation, titled "Looking for the Master Plan," dealt with a subject that we ourselves often grapple with--why is Beijing a capital city, located there in a dry, brutal part of Northern China. Sandstorms in the spring, baking temperatures in the summer, windstorms in the fall, and a winter so cold that outdoor ice skating rinks are common all add up to a climate that not many would describe as hospitable. Additionally, water is such a scarce resource that already the country had been diverting water from wetter regions long before the population hit the twenty-plus million it is today. Seriously, we often ask somewhat rhetorically: Who ever thought that such a place would make a good city, let alone a capital city, when there are far more habitable regions across China?
Lars from Beijing Postcards, armed with his PowerPoint, some books, and a few maps, promised a good explanation about how Beijing came to be.
More after the jump
The earliest known settlement on the Huabei plain that was the predecessor to modern Beijing dates back to the Western Zhou Dynasty ( 1046-771 BC).. According to Lars, the Yongding River was the reason for the location of this early town. Until recently, the popular theory has been that the settlement was a distance from the river because of spring flooding. However, there are people today revisiting this, positing that the Yongding River actually went through what is Beijing today, and changed course over time. While the experts debate this, it is at least known that the Yongding River played a role in the initial settling of what is now Beijing.
Beijing, though, does not have a prominent role in China until the Liao Dynasty, and those that followed. Of the five last dynasties that ruled Northern China, the Liao, the Jin, the Yuan, and the Qing all originated somewhere out of the north of Beijing. For these dynasties, Beijing provided a somewhat central location from which the emperors could rule the Han lands to the south, collect taxes and income from them, and funnel these to their original kingdoms in the north. For the Ming and the eventual PRC, Beijing was the capital if only because it had already become recognized as the axis of power. Even in governments that for all kinds of geographical and logistical reasons would want to relocate the capital, Beijing was their chosen seat of rule.
After he had described the reasons why this unlikely spot on the Huabei plain became a significant capital city for centuries, Lars outlined how the city's design came about. The plans for a walled Chinese city had been long since spelled out in an authoritative book, and Beijing's walls, gates, and sectors (called hutong) followed these. What I found particularly interesting was that each of Beijing's gates had a particular role in how the city and the empire was governed. There was a gate from which soldiers left (Deshengmen) and another into which they would return (Andingmen). Coal entered through Fuchengmen,while Xizhimen was the water gate. Other gates were designated for bringing in alcohol, collecting taxes, and taking the condemned to the execution grounds.
On June 16, 1915, not long after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the destruction of Beijing's city walls began. Lars had a dated photograph that recorded this moment, and some of the tools used ceremonially that day are enshrined at Qinghua University. This was not just a break with the restrictive imperial past, as I have often cast it in my mind, especially considering that it happened in other cities like Changping around that time. It was intentional, for sure, but as Lars described it, it was quite possibly the only way to set into motion modernization and development. Modern cities, and especially the capital of the New China, could not be constrained by the walls. However, I could not help but note that it may have set into motion the nothing-is-too sacred-to-chai philosophy that would come along in more recent times.
There was so much more to the the talk, and as this was Lars' first presentation on this theme, I am really looking forward to future revisions. Our whole family really enjoys Beijing Postcards events when we can get to them. Both Simon and Lars have an obvious passion for uncovering these pieces of Beijing history that it is impossible for us not to get wrapped up in their enthusiasm. That's a great way, though, for our kids (and us) to learn more about Beijing.
The Beijing Postcards presentation, titled "Looking for the Master Plan," dealt with a subject that we ourselves often grapple with--why is Beijing a capital city, located there in a dry, brutal part of Northern China. Sandstorms in the spring, baking temperatures in the summer, windstorms in the fall, and a winter so cold that outdoor ice skating rinks are common all add up to a climate that not many would describe as hospitable. Additionally, water is such a scarce resource that already the country had been diverting water from wetter regions long before the population hit the twenty-plus million it is today. Seriously, we often ask somewhat rhetorically: Who ever thought that such a place would make a good city, let alone a capital city, when there are far more habitable regions across China?
Lars from Beijing Postcards, armed with his PowerPoint, some books, and a few maps, promised a good explanation about how Beijing came to be.
More after the jump
The earliest known settlement on the Huabei plain that was the predecessor to modern Beijing dates back to the Western Zhou Dynasty ( 1046-771 BC).. According to Lars, the Yongding River was the reason for the location of this early town. Until recently, the popular theory has been that the settlement was a distance from the river because of spring flooding. However, there are people today revisiting this, positing that the Yongding River actually went through what is Beijing today, and changed course over time. While the experts debate this, it is at least known that the Yongding River played a role in the initial settling of what is now Beijing.
Beijing, though, does not have a prominent role in China until the Liao Dynasty, and those that followed. Of the five last dynasties that ruled Northern China, the Liao, the Jin, the Yuan, and the Qing all originated somewhere out of the north of Beijing. For these dynasties, Beijing provided a somewhat central location from which the emperors could rule the Han lands to the south, collect taxes and income from them, and funnel these to their original kingdoms in the north. For the Ming and the eventual PRC, Beijing was the capital if only because it had already become recognized as the axis of power. Even in governments that for all kinds of geographical and logistical reasons would want to relocate the capital, Beijing was their chosen seat of rule.
After he had described the reasons why this unlikely spot on the Huabei plain became a significant capital city for centuries, Lars outlined how the city's design came about. The plans for a walled Chinese city had been long since spelled out in an authoritative book, and Beijing's walls, gates, and sectors (called hutong) followed these. What I found particularly interesting was that each of Beijing's gates had a particular role in how the city and the empire was governed. There was a gate from which soldiers left (Deshengmen) and another into which they would return (Andingmen). Coal entered through Fuchengmen,while Xizhimen was the water gate. Other gates were designated for bringing in alcohol, collecting taxes, and taking the condemned to the execution grounds.
On June 16, 1915, not long after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the destruction of Beijing's city walls began. Lars had a dated photograph that recorded this moment, and some of the tools used ceremonially that day are enshrined at Qinghua University. This was not just a break with the restrictive imperial past, as I have often cast it in my mind, especially considering that it happened in other cities like Changping around that time. It was intentional, for sure, but as Lars described it, it was quite possibly the only way to set into motion modernization and development. Modern cities, and especially the capital of the New China, could not be constrained by the walls. However, I could not help but note that it may have set into motion the nothing-is-too sacred-to-chai philosophy that would come along in more recent times.
There was so much more to the the talk, and as this was Lars' first presentation on this theme, I am really looking forward to future revisions. Our whole family really enjoys Beijing Postcards events when we can get to them. Both Simon and Lars have an obvious passion for uncovering these pieces of Beijing history that it is impossible for us not to get wrapped up in their enthusiasm. That's a great way, though, for our kids (and us) to learn more about Beijing.
Comments