Where there is a wall, there is a door. There are seven gates in the outer city, namely Yongding Gate, Zuo 'anmen Gate, You 'anmen Gate, Guangqu Gate, Guangning Gate, Dongbian Gate and Bianxi Gate. In the Qing Dynasty, because the title of Daoguang Emperor was "Yuning", Guangning Gate was changed to Guang 'anmen to avoid taboo. Because Guang 'anmen and Zhangyimen on the site of Zhongdu in Jin State are on the same axis, people call it Zhangyimen.
Guang 'anmen is a very special place. It is the only gateway to the western outer city, the only way for the southern and southwestern provinces to enter Beijing, and it belongs to the traffic artery. It is also a "window" to show the image of Beijing. 1644, it was through Guang 'anmen that Li Zicheng's army entered Beijing, ending the nearly 300-year national movement of the Ming Dynasty.
1766, Emperor Qianlong specially expanded Guang 'an Gate and improved its specifications to make it close to the largest Yongding Gate in the outer city.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were five main roads in old Beijing, only two of which were stone roads. Among them, 1 connects Yongdingmen and Zhengyangmen, which is a royal road for the emperor to go to the Temple of Heaven and Xiannongtan near Yongdingmen after leaving Zhengyangmen. Ordinary people are not allowed to use it. In addition, 1 is the road from Guang 'anmen to the outside of the city. This is because after Yong Zhengdi acceded to the throne, he built his own historic place-Tailing on a large scale in Hebei Province, and ordered the construction of 1 stone road from Guang 'anmen to Wanping Ancient City to facilitate future generations to go to Tailing for sacrifice.
The stone road in Qing Dynasty is equivalent to expressway now, which is very "burning money". The stone road from Guang 'anmen to Wanping Ancient City is 1500 feet (about 4,950 meters), and * * * spent 82,000 yuan, with an average of 5.23 yuan and 3 cents per foot. Folk songs call it "one foot road 5.23".
"To get rich, build roads first." The construction of the stone road from Guang 'anmen to Wanping ancient city greatly promoted the economic construction of the two places, especially Guang 'anmen, which soon became a gathering place for businessmen from all directions. Camel teams carrying coal, building materials, mountain products and local products from outside the city have entered the outer city through Guang 'anmen in an endless stream, which has become a special scenery.
Li Hongruo, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, also wrote a poem called "Cars and horses are in various shapes": "Stop cars and block roads, and walk while walking, and five or six are connected in a string. Insulting the street can be tolerated, and Zhang Yi is ruthless as a wolf. " Why "as ruthless as a wolf"? It is because the camel team is tall and slow that it has caused inconvenience to pedestrians after occupying the road and provoked pedestrians to curse. But the camel team is still walking on the stone road in no hurry.
At that time, the entrance to Guang 'anmen was Zhangyimen Inner Street (today called Guang 'anmen Inner Street), where there were many shops, dazzling goods and crowded pedestrians. The inner street of Zhangyimen is the most prosperous place in the outer city, so there is a saying among the people that "as soon as you enter Zhangyimen, money will knock people down".
But 1909, after the Jing-Zhang Railway, which was built under the auspices of Zhan Tianyou, was completed and put into use, Guang 'anmen gradually lost its position as a traffic artery, and there were fewer merchants coming and going, gradually being left out in the cold. The development of Zhangyimen Inner Street obviously lags behind other areas in the outer city. So that by 1949, there was not a two-story building in Zhangyimen.
200 1 With the construction of Guang 'an Avenue, the economic and social development of Guang 'anmen and its surrounding areas has been greatly promoted. The bustling scene of the past is back.
Now Guang 'anmennei Street is becoming one of the important commercial centers in Beijing.