Introduction to Beijing Beihai ParkIntroduction to Beihai Park

Beihai Park in Beijing is a top royal garden. Its internal layout and architectural design are extremely artistic and aesthetic. This is also a place where ancient emperors visited and enjoyed the natural beauty, leaving behind many places of interest and cultural relics. The following is a detailed introduction to Beijing Beihai Park.

Maybe children in the 1980s would sing "Let's Swing the Oars", which is inextricably linked to Beihai Park, especially in TV series. Every time Beihai Park appears, there is always a beautiful melody that makes us row. But few people know that the melody of this song was inspired by teacher Liu Chi when he was taking his children rowing in Beihai. He completed the famous song using his legs as a table.

What is Beijing Sanhai

Many people may be curious. This is obviously a lake. Why is it called the sea? For this historical reason, the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty was a Mongolian who came to Beijing from deserts and vast grasslands lacking water. It is rare to see this lake known as "the sea". In fact, Beijing has six seas, including the three outer seas and the three inner seas. The North Sea, China Sea and South China Sea are called the three inner seas in Beijing. On the west side of the palace, connected to the palace, is the garden from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, called Taiye Pond. The West Garden was built here during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Beihai is northwest of the Forbidden City, adjacent to Jingshan Mountain in the east, Zhongnanhai in the north, and Shichahai in the north, with a total area of ??1,063 acres and 583 acres of water surface. There are Qiongdao White Pagoda, Nine Dragon Wall, Wulong Pavilion, Tuancheng and other places of interest. The scenery around Qiongdao is beautiful, with pavilions, bridges, pines and cypresses. "Qiongdao Spring Shadow" is one of the eight scenic spots in Yanjing. The dragon's "Qiongdao Chunyin" monument is erected at the east foot of Baita Mountain.

The buildings in Beihai Park have a long history, which can be traced back to the Liao Dynasty. It has a history of almost 1,000 years now. Beihai belonged to Ligong in the Liao Dynasty, and later belonged to the Jin Dynasty. King Wan Yanliang of Jin Hailing expanded the "Yao Yu Palace". In Jin Shizong's reign, Qionghua Island and Daning Palace were built in imitation of the Genyue Garden in the Northern Song Dynasty. From then on, Beihai basically became a royal palace.

After the Yuan Dynasty unified the world, Kublai Khan established the Yuan capital in Beijing, expanded Qionghua Island three times, and rebuilt the Guanghan Palace. In 1271 AD, Qionghua Island was changed to Wanshou Mountain.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Beihai was expanded and repaired on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty, but the layout of the Beihai in the Yuan Dynasty was basically maintained. During the Xuande period of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty carried out large-scale expansion and renovation of Wanshou Mountain. He built Taisu Hall, Ninghe Hall, Cuiying Hall and some bridges and other engineering buildings. In the seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1579), after more than 600 years of ups and downs in the four dynasties, the Guanghan Palace collapsed, and the main landscape architecture of the Heavenly Palace on Earth was gone.

The construction of Beihai Park was most prosperous in the Qing Dynasty. During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Tibetan White Pagoda was built on the site of Guanghan Palace, and the White Pagoda Temple was built in front. During the Qianlong period, Beihai Park was expanded and repaired for 30 years, and many pavilions and gardens were added. During the Guangxu period, the Empress Dowager Cixi used naval expenditures to build Beihai Park, laid China's first railway along the west and north shores of the lake, and built a small train station for the Empress Dowager to take a small train to visit the park.

During the Republic of China, there were not many construction projects. In 1925, Beihai Park was opened as a park. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state invested heavily in repairing ancient buildings in Beihai Park, dredging lakes, and increasing public facilities. In 1961, Beihai Park was announced by the State Council as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

The construction history of Beihai Park

Beihai Park was built according to the specifications of the legendary Chinese and Western Empress Dowager's Yao Chi. Generally speaking, it is a "one pond and three mountains" layout. Beihai symbolizes Taiye Pool, Qionghua Island represents Penglai, Tuancheng and Xishan Terrace, all of which are in the water, symbolizing Yingzhou and Abbot. In terms of the overall space, a "centripetal radiation" layout is adopted, with Qionghua Island as the core, the White Tower as the commanding height, and other buildings arranged radially around Qiong.

Beihai Park also has a Nine-Dragon Wall, which is similar to the Nine-Dragon Wall of the Forbidden City and the Forbidden City. Together with the Nine Dragon Wall in Datong, Shanxi, it has become the three largest Nine Dragon Walls in China. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it was said to be the Nine Dragon Wall. In fact, there are more than nine dragons. Craftsmen made them with colored glazed bricks, totaling 635 dragons.

(Nine Dragon Wall)

There are so many palaces, pavilions and pavilions in Beihai Park that I cannot list them all, but there are some famous ones, such as Kuai Xuetang, Xiaoxitian, Wulong Pavilion, Dushu Ancient Building, etc.

Among them, eighty inkstone carvings by twenty calligraphers from the Jin Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty are embedded in the corridors on the east and west sides of Kuai Xuetang. Among them, Wang Xizhi's "Kuaixueshi Qingtie" and Qianlong's "Kuaixuetang" are the most famous.

There are beams on the inner wall of the Drum Tower, and 495 famous ink-carved stones from the Wei and Jin Dynasties were ordered. These include the famous "Sanxitang Fa Tie", which is a collection of ancient Chinese calligraphy.

The architectural features of Beihai Park

The artistic value of Beihai Park, or the entire inner three seas, is first-rate among the existing ancient gardens in China. It is not only its exquisite architecture and rich collection of cultural relics, but also it has witnessed the rise and fall of Beijing over the past 1,000 years. More importantly, some characteristic buildings are of great significance to our study of ancient architecture. In addition, a large number of calligraphy and stone carvings are outstanding works of Chinese philology, and their cultural value is immeasurable.