Cultural Heritage Declaration Report _ Central Axis Declaration: Let the cultural heritage shine in the new era

In Beijing, there is a legendary line, this 7.8-kilometer-long virtual line, which is the epitome of the history and culture of the capital Beijing, and also the central line of Beijing's urban planning and layout-the Beijing axis. Nowadays, this central axis, which combines the essence of traditional culture with modern industry and modern architecture, is preparing for applying for world-class intangible cultural heritage. What kind of hardships has the world's longest urban planning axis experienced in the process of formation, protection and urban construction? This article will trace back to the source, take you into the long river of history, and explore the past lives about Beijing's central axis.

The Yuan Dynasty was established through three dynasties.

As early as more than 3,000 years ago, there was a record of urban planning when Zhou Li took an examination of Gong Ji. The so-called "left-handed society" and "facing the market outlook" are based on balance and symmetry, and the city should have a central axis. This axis is the central backbone of the whole city, and all buildings are scattered on both sides of it. Only the tallest palace can be built on the axis.

Throughout the history of China, the rulers of various dynasties had such plans when they built their capitals, but due to various factors, Xianyang in the Qin Dynasty and Chang 'an in the Han Dynasty failed to realize them. Although the balanced and symmetrical planning of Chang 'an in Tang Dynasty began to take shape, it was not perfect. It was Yuan Dadu who really realized this idea, and Beijing further expanded to Yongdingmen in the Ming Dynasty. The complete inheritance of the Qing dynasty is the pattern of the old Beijing city.

Since ancient times, although the ruins of Beijing have changed, there is always an important element in the basic pattern-controlled by the central axis of the city, which is a remarkable feature of China, especially the capital. The central axis of Beijing began with the planning and design of the capital city in Yuan Dynasty and reached its present scale in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It starts from Yongdingmen in the south and reaches the bell tower in the north, with a total length of 7.8 kilometers. It is the longest city axis in the world, and many famous cultural relics and historic sites in Beijing are on this line. The main existing cultural relics include Yongdingmen (rebuilt), Yandun, Temple of Heaven, Xiannongtan, Zhengyangmen, Ancestral Hall, Shejitan, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Jingshan, Beihai, Imperial City Wall, Purdue Temple, Wanning Bridge, Fire Temple, Drum Tower and Bell Tower. After the founding of New China, Tiananmen Square was expanded one after another, and the Monument to the People's Heroes and Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall were built. At present, many areas with relatively mature functions have been formed around the central axis, such as Shichahai, Nanluoguxiang, Qianmen, Dashilan and other traditional commercial streets, the World Cultural Heritage Tourist Area around the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, Zhongnanhai, Dongjiaominxiang and other relatively concentrated government service areas.

Just when it is generally believed that the central axis is due south and due north, an expert's conclusion broke this 700-year-old understanding.

When preparing for a panoramic bird's-eye view of Beijing, researcher Zhong Yu Kui of China Academy of Surveying and Mapping suddenly found from the aerial images, satellite images and maps of Beijing that the north-south central axis of Beijing was not due south, but offset. In order to prove the phenomenon that the north-south central axis of Beijing deviates from the meridian, firstly, Zhong-yu Kui selected three points on the topographic map of Beijing, namely Yongdingmen, Di 'anmen and Bell Tower, and calculated the deviation angle as more than 2 degrees 10. Then, he conducted an "instant" test on the north-facing Yonglu under Yongdingmen Gate Tower.

"We set up a 2-meter-long pole in the middle of Yonglu. Stick a 6-meter-long black tape from the bottom of the pole to the north along the center line of Yonglu, indicating the central axis. When the sun passes through the Yongdingmen meridian, the shadow of the pole is on the Yongdingmen meridian. The angle between shadow and black tape is the angle between meridian and central axis. After calculation, the deviation between Beijing's central axis and meridian is also 2 degrees and more than ten minutes. According to this calculation, the central axis from Yongdingmen to the bell tower has deviated from the meridian by 300 meters. "

After the fact that the central axis of Beijing deviated from the meridian was revealed, there was an influential saying that the designers of the Yuan Dynasty were Han Chinese, who deliberately refused to let the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty sit on the central axis because they were dissatisfied with the hierarchy of the Mongols.

If we want to verify whether this statement is valid, we must know what kind of designers of Yuan Dadu are. Speaking of which, this designer is really a legend.

Lu You, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in the poem "Book Wrath": "If a teacher shows his real name, who will be equal in a thousand years?" Some people commented that after 1000 years, there really appeared a person comparable to Zhuge Liang, and he was Liu, a famous minister of the Yuan Dynasty.

Liu, whose real name is Zhong Hui, 12 16, was born in xing zhou (now Xingtai, Hebei). Liu is not only good-looking but also smart. He entered school at the age of 8 and "recited hundreds of pages a day". 17 years old, became a government official in Xingtai. Liu doesn't trust to do copywriting work, and he is moping all day. Finally, one day, he went to Wu 'an Mountain and became a monk. His legal name was Zi Cong.

Liu was not only a politician, but also a first-rate scholar, scientist and poet at that time. Zhang Wenqian, Wang Xun and Guo Shoujing, who studied with him in Zijinshan, Cizhou, southwest of Xingtai, all said that they were loyal to each other. Wang Xun, the teacher of Prince Zhen Jin, is famous for his arithmetic. Later, Wang Xun and Guo Shoujing took the exams day and night and created a calendar. Liu's achievements in arithmetic, astronomy, calendar and water conservancy can be seen. His "Cloudy Cave with Lotus Leaves" was included in Lu Qian's "Song of Three Hundred Yuan": "Nanfeng, Beifeng, Bleak Cloudy Cave. Song Gaozong was empty, and Wu Shan was still full of wine and flags. Two Jiangnan dreams. " Mao Zedong was very grateful and wrote to me again and again.

In addition to helping Kublai Khan design the blueprint for the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liu was also the designer of two capital cities and capitals in the Yuan Dynasty, leaving amazing achievements in the history of urban construction in China and even the world. Among them, Yuan Dadu was founded in 1267, completed in 1285 and lasted 18 years.

In view of the historical fact that the Yuan Dynasty carried out the policy of national oppression, some historians put forward that the central axis was deliberately deviated by Liu Hanchen, Zhong Bing and Guo Shoujing, that is, it did not comply with the emperor's will, so that the central axis affected the urban layout on the meridian of due south and due north in an attempt to resist the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.

In this regard, some scholars questioned, because the above statement could not produce convincing evidence. Therefore, there is a second view: it may be that the builder adopted the magnetic needle positioning method, which caused technical mistakes. However, Kui Zhongyu thinks this reasoning is unconvincing. After all, Liu and Guo Shoujing were outstanding scientists at that time. They could use astronomical measurements with high accuracy, but "it was impossible to use magnetic needle positioning which proved to be extremely inaccurate at that time". In addition, there is a saying that the central axis may be skewed due to the destruction of natural factors.

Kui Zhongyu mainly introduced Kublai Khan, the grandson of Temujin, the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. "This central axis was built during Kublai Khan's reign. Is its formation also related to the local yuan that Kublai Khan rose? "

With questions, Zhong-yu Kui and others continued to measure maps and conduct field trips. Finally, they found that the central axis of Beijing continued to extend northward, and the extension line just passed through Gukaiping, which is more than 270 kilometers away from Beijing, that is, Zhaonaiman Sumer in Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

According to local Mongolian historians, Zhaonai Mansumi is the site of Shangdu ruins in Yuan Dynasty. That's where Kublai Khan moved his capital to Yuandadu (now Beijing). In fact, Kublai Khan practiced a "two-capital patrol system" in Yuan Shizu: working in the Yuan Dynasty in winter, the so-called "winter capital"; In summer, I work in the capital, which is called "Summer Capital".

Therefore, researcher Kui Zhongyu believes that the fact that the central axis deviates is intentional by Kublai Khan, the founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. Because the archives of the "Mongolian Empire" in Yuan Dynasty are not complete, scientists and historians are still struggling to find the answer in specific textual research and reasoning.