Nine Gates Word: Nine Gates Definition: 1. According to legend, the ancient emperor had nine gates.

2. Gate of Nine Heavens.

3. Refers to the nine gates in Beijing, namely Zhengyangmen, Chongwenmen, Andingmen, Xuanwumen, Deshengmen, Dongzhimen, Xizhimen, Chaoyangmen and Fuchengmen.

4. Place name.

Zhao Yi during the Warring States Period.

Source: 1. "Book of Rites·Yue Ling": "Don't go out of the nine gates." Zheng Xuan's note: "The emperor's nine gates are Lumen, Yingmen, Pheasant Gate, Kumen, Gao (gao, gāo,

(meaning: highland by the water) gate, city gate, suburban gate, outer suburb gate, closed gate." 2. Li Bai's "Liang Fu Yin": "阘合 (阘閖, chāng hé, meaning: the legendary Tianmen).

If the nine gates are not accessible, you will be angry if you use the forehead to close the palace gate.

4. See "Historical Records·Zhao Family". I remember when Liu Bowen built the city of Beijing, he built nine city gates, which are often referred to as the "nine inner cities" of Beijing.

Although most of the nine gates in Kyoto are gone today, it is interesting to recall the historical stories of the nine gates.

The Special Purposes of the Nine Gates in the Inner City The previous section describes the evolution of Beijing’s gates through the ages.

Now let’s talk about the functions of these doors, mainly the characteristics and functions of each door during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Chaoyang Gate: It was called Qihua Gate in the Yuan Dynasty. All the grains from the nine warehouses inside the gate were transported from this gate. Therefore, there is a bunch of grains engraved in the Wengcheng Gate cave. During the warehouse-filling festival in Kyoto, there is an endless stream of grain trucks.

"Chaoyang Sui" is the first welcoming god for the transportation of grain from the south to the north.

Grain truck.

In those days, there was no rail transportation.

Grain produced in the south was transported to Beijing through the Tonghui River and by water to Tongzhou (now Tong County) east of Beijing.

By the way, Tongzhou is divided into Nantong Prefecture and Beitong Prefecture. There is a famous pair "Nantong Prefecture, Beitong Prefecture, South Tongzhou, North Tongzhou, Tongzhou Tong North," which is what it means.

After the grain arrives in Tongzhou, it is loaded into trucks and sent to the city.

The way into the city is through Chaoyang Gate.

Therefore, on the top of the city gate of Chaoyang Gate, there is a grain ear carved on it.

After the grain enters Chaoyang Gate, it is stored in a nearby granary.

Nowadays, the place names in Chaoyangmen include "Lumi Cang", "Haiyun Cang", "New Taicang", etc., which were all warehouses where grain was stored.

Chongwenmen: It was called Wenmingmen in the Yuan Dynasty, and is commonly known as "Hard Gate" and "Haidai Gate".

Chongwenmen is famous for the iron turtle that holds the sea inside Zhenhai Temple at the left end of Wengcheng.

In addition, the harsh tax customs at Chongwenmen also made foreign merchants intimidated.

The name "Chongwen Iron Turtle" is known throughout Kyoto.

If you take the wine cart, there is a wine road outside the city. Most of the fine wines in those days were transported from Zhuozhou, Hebei and other places. Naturally, you have to take the south road to enter Beijing.

The truck transporting wine first entered Zuo'anmen in the outer city, and then went to Chongwenmen to pay taxes.

In the Qing Dynasty, the signboards selling liquor in the capital had to read "Nanlu Shaojiu", which meant that I had paid taxes and my liquor was not pirated. Of course, there was no such thing as property rights at that time, haha.

One of the Yangliuqing paintings of the late Qing Dynasty is called "Evening Crossing on the Autumn River".

It has a picture of a wine shop with the words "South Road" and "Yu Jiu" written on it, which reflects the good custom of paying taxes to all people.

In the past, outside Chongwen Gate, there was an iron turtle in the northeast, with a very simple shape. It is said that there was an eye of the sea under the bridge of this section of the moat, so people used a turtle to calm the eye of the sea and protect the safety of Beijing.

Zhengyangmen: It was called Lizhengmen in the Yuan Dynasty, and commonly known as "Qianmen" by people in Beijing. It echoes Di'anmen (commonly known as the back door) from the north to the south.

The Guandi Temple in Wengcheng is the first of the nine gates, so it is called "Zhengyang Guandi".

Zhengyangmen is also known as the "Guomen" because the emperor's dragon carriage enters and exits through this gate.

Take the "dragon carriage".

The Zhengyang Gate is located in the middle of the south wall of the inner city and is exclusively used by the emperor. The emperor goes out of the Zhengyang Gate twice a year, once in winter to worship at the Temple of Heaven, and again during the Waking of Insects to plow the fields at the Xiannong Altar.

For both trips, I had to go through Zhengyangmen.

Zhengyangmen is also called Qianmen. It was here that the People's Liberation Army held its entrance ceremony when Peiping was liberated on February 3, 1949.

"Daqianmen" cigarettes are also named after this. Do you still remember the pattern on the cigarette box?

Yes, that is the majestic Zhengyang Gate. The picture on the reverse is the arrow tower built in the 4th year of Ming Zhengtong (1439).

Xuanwumen: It was called Shunchengmen in the Yuan Dynasty (rumored to be Shunzhimen). Outside Xuanwumen was the Caishikou execution ground. Prison cars often came in and out of this gate, so it was known as the "Death Gate". What is evocative is that the noon cannon on the barbican fired every day.

The sound shocked Beijing, and the people in Beijing responded to it by saying, "Xuanwu Wu Cannon".

Take the prison car.

Because the execution ground was located at Caishikou outside Xuanwu Gate.

After being reviewed and confirmed by the Ministry of Punishment, the prisoner was sent out from Xuanwu Gate and interrogated and executed at Caishikou.

Three big characters are engraved on the top of the city gate of Xuanwumen: "It's too late to regret." It doesn't mean it's too late to regret. It's too late to regret if you have to ask and behead it.

Caishikou is a downtown area in Beijing. Most people from the southern provinces must pass through here when they cross the Marco Polo Bridge, enter Guang'anmen, and then enter the inner city of Beijing.

This place has been a famous place for killing people a long time ago. There is no fixed place in Caishikou as the execution ground. Usually, the execution site is set up at the entrance of merchants or pharmacies on the north side of Caishikou Road.

At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang, the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty, who had been imprisoned by the Yuan Dynasty rulers for four years, was finally killed in Caishikou because he refused to surrender.

On the execution ground, he solemnly said to the executioner: "What I could do for the Song Dynasty has finally been done." Then he died generously.