If the earliest cities "Yan" and "Ji" appeared on the current border of Beijing since the Western Zhou Dynasty, then the ancient city of Beijing has a history of almost 3,000 years. Because of its long history, Beijing has too many historical and cultural stories and allusions. A town, a village, a street, an alley, even a well and a brick in Beijing have stories. Some have been brushed away by historians, and they exude golden charm; Some are like pearls scattered in the soil, waiting for our descendants to carefully pick them up in the rubble lost by our ancestors and connect them in series. To this end, we have opened up a garden called "Geography of Ancient Capital", hoping that people with a heart can practice here.

When I was a child, I lived at No.31Longfu Temple. This is a big yard near the back door of Long Fu Temple. It turned out to be a flower factory, almost half the size of a football field. Children who come to play with me can ride horses, fight, hide and seek, jump house, jump rope and toss and turn in the yard. In the courtyard, there are seven rooms in the North House and two rooms in the Westinghouse. There is a tall and straight Ailanthus altissima tree next to the West Room. Whenever a gust of wind blows, the branches sway and the leaves rattle, which is really beautiful. Long Fu Temple's "Temple Fair" grew up with me day by day. Play in the market when there is a market, and play in the temple fair when there is no market. At that time, the scene around Long Fu Temple and Dongsi Pailou was deeply imprinted in my mind and remained in my memory.

Long Fu Temple, built in the Ming Dynasty, is the "sweet court" of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Therefore, Long Fu Temple Fair will be one of the most prestigious temple fairs in Beijing. In the Qing Dynasty's "Kyoto Zhi Zhu Ci": "The East and West temples are genuine, and they can clear millions a day. How many nobles are idle here, and the clothes are still fragrant. " This "East Temple" refers to the Long Fu Temple in the East Temple archway. The Long Fu Temple Fair is described in the Year of Yanjing: "There are many department stores, including pearls, jade, silk, clothes, food, antiques, calligraphy and painting, flowers, birds, insects, fish and ordinary daily necessities, as well as acrobatics. It is a big market in the capital. " At that time, Long Fu Temple was a very large temple, with the main entrance in Longfumiao Street and the back door in Liangqian Hutong, with Donglang Hutong and Xilang Hutong. The main entrance faces south with three bays and three doorways, the largest in the middle, followed by the east and west sides. After entering the door, the Buddha statues are provided in the front and rear halls. Three halls or two floors. I remember it's probably the Buddhist Scripture Building! There are a large row of meditation rooms on the east and west sides of the first and second halls. The lamas in the temple live in the east and rent them to civilians in the west. In the past, the flower business of Long Fu Temple Fair was very prosperous. There are many large and small flower factories in Long Fu Temple Street, which specialize in planting and selling flowers. For example, walk 20 or 30 meters to the west from the hutong in the East Corridor of Miaojie, Long Fu, and turn a corner to the north to find a flower factory. From the gate of the flower factory to the east, you can directly enter the gate of themoon Cinema (now Changhong Cinema). When the flowers bloom, the flowers are overflowing and bees and butterflies are flying. In summer, people in the flower factory put a big ice cube at the door, put a blue cloth on the mask, and then put many white orchids and jasmine flowers strung together with strings on it for sale. People who come to the movies can buy some flowers to hang on their skirts, or wrap them in wet handkerchiefs and hold them in their hands, and smell them from time to time. The faint fragrance is refreshing. As Du Men Zayong said: "The East and West temples are the most prosperous, and there are not many jade houses. I only like to sell spring scenery artificially, and the four seasons are constantly blooming. " Temple fairs are held on the 9th, 10th, 1st and 2nd of the lunar calendar. Temple fairs were very lively at that time. People are willing to go to temple fairs to buy things. The first is all kinds of commodities, pots and pans, daily necessities, clothes, shoes and socks, and so on. The quality of goods does not require much exquisiteness, as long as it is solid and practical; Secondly, the selection is convenient, the price is cheap, and you can bargain. Another important reason is that the picture is lively and you can buy snacks to see things. There are abundant snacks and snacks at the temple fair, such as scones, bean jelly, cut cakes, pea yellow, bean juice, enema, tea soup, aiwowo, fried egg horns and so on. And snacks such as marshmallows, sugar-coated people, sugar-coated haws, dried apricots, jujube noodles, hawthorn cheese and dried fruits. The "things" to see are also rich and colorful: the "big monster" who sings Beijing opera and the "little mushroom" who speaks cross talk are all famous, as well as those who sing Pingju and Qilaibao, and those who play double spring, juggling, wrestling, juggling and Latin films. During the temple fair, people came and went, bustling and lively. After the peaceful liberation of Beiping, the temple fair of Long Fu Temple lasted for about two years. 195 1 year, many vendors and tourists in this area were arranged in the open space of longfu temple, which was transformed into the "dongsi people's market" which was open all the year round. Dongsi People's Market is built between the front door of Longfu Temple and the second hall. The second hall and the third hall were not closed, but were converted into office buildings and warehouses. Later, a small Dongsi Theater was built in the east. Besides acting in movies, I often watch performances by Beijing Quju Opera Troupe and Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe. Until 1964 saw the Italian film "She in the Night" in Dongsi Small Theater. Long Fu Temple Street is very prosperous, with many shops, including Bai Kui restaurant and Long Fu snack bar, as well as three photo studios, bookstores, bathhouses, department stores and candy shops, as well as large and small flower factories and velvet flower shops. In particular, velvet flowers, flowers and birds, and happy characters are very popular with women. No matter old people, big girls and little wives, they like to buy some to pin in their temples or put them in a bun in another way. In addition, what impressed me was an open-air bookstall, which rented comic books and novels. The stall owner has prepared a small bench and Mazar-e, which can be read around the book stand or rented home. The stall owner will split the thick comic books and novels into several volumes, bind them separately and rent them separately, which will not only increase income, but also facilitate circulation. At the front door of Longfu Temple, there is a short street less than 100 meters, leading to Zhu Shi Street. This short street is in front of the temple and intersects with Long Fu Temple Street. There are businesses on both sides of the street, so it is also very lively. I remember that it was a "human market" before liberation, which is today's spontaneous labor market. Every morning, many people gather here. Some of them have saws in one hand and bags with tools in the other, such as axes, chisels and planers. This is a carpenter looking for a carpenter. Some suitcases are full of trowels, shovels, clay tablets, etc. This is a bricklayer looking for a job as a bricklayer. The foreman came, and some ordered the carpenter to take the work away, while others ordered the mason to take it away. The other three people chatted in pairs and continued to wait until the "people's market" ended. There is a pub in the northwest corner of this street. The owner's surname is Niu, and he is called "Old Niu". In addition to the counter, there are several big jars in the pub, which are covered with round slates. This is a wine table with benches around it. When the customers come, they can sit there and talk while drinking. There is a jar in the counter, and the jar mouth is covered with a cork wrapped in red cloth. Red paper is attached to the jar with the name of the wine written on it. The tool for scooping wine is a basket made of lead and iron. There are large and small "baskets". The big "carrying basket" is packed in eight or four taels, and the small "carrying basket" is packed in one or two taels. At that time, it was 16 Liang a catty. Guests use "baskets" to put wine in tin or lead-iron flagons, pour them themselves, or put them directly in small wine bowls. If it is hot in winter, tables and drinks are simple and cheap, but they are very distinctive. What is fried tofu, boiled dates, boiled broad beans, edamame and fried peanuts are all very popular. You can have a drink without spending a few dollars. Dongsi archway was called "Cross Street" in Yuan Dynasty and "Dashi Street" in Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, an archway was built in the east, south, west and north of the intersection, hence the name Dongsi archway. Now, the archway is gone, and this place is called Dongsi for short. The four archways are the same. The base of the arch is made of stone. There are three four-poster wooden archways on the third floor on a stone pedestal with a height of more than one person. The word "city street" is written on the forehead of the north and south archways, the word "honor" is written on the forehead of the east archway, and the word "righteousness" is written on the forehead of the west archway. After liberation, in order to widen the road, trolleybuses were connected and the archways on all sides were demolished. Among them, an archway was moved to Taoranting Park. I once saw it on the north bank of Taoranting Park (not far from the north gate of Taoranting Park). Instructions are engraved on the base of the archway, and this archway was moved from Dongsi archway to this reconstruction. After the "Cultural Revolution", it was never seen again in Taoranting Park. It is said that the rebels broke the "four old" and destroyed the archway. Dongsi archway, located at the crossroads, enjoys convenient transportation and extends in all directions. East to Chaoyangmen (called Qihuamen before Ming Dynasty, but most people still called Qihuamen before liberation), west to Zhu Shi Street, south to Dongsi South Street and north to Dongsi North Street. These streets are full of shops, food, clothes and supplies. They are very rich. On both sides of the street of the pig market, there are morning markets selling chickens, ducks, fish and vegetables, which are very lively. I remember that there are several pork bars in frontispiece (the store selling pork is called pork bar, and the store selling mutton is called mutton bed), and there are many white pig urine bubbles hanging like balloons, which attract customers in this way. Especially for fish sellers, there is a big trough made of lead and iron on the wooden shelf, which contains fresh fish and shrimp. The stall owner shouted from time to time and blew flies with a banana fan from time to time. I probably remember several famous shops in Dongsi North Street, such as Tianyuan Sauce Garden, just north of Xikou Road, the street of Dongsi North Street. The frontispiece is antique, distinctive and magnificent. I remember that in the 1950s, China and France co-produced a children's film called Kite, and there was a scene in it, Tianyuan Sauce Garden, which was filmed at the beginning, and it is still fresh in my memory. "Tianyuan Sauce Garden" is diagonally opposite, and there is a big Nanwei food store near Dongsipailou on the west side of the road. The font size is probably "Senchunyang", which is not very accurate. My mother often takes me to that store to buy my favorite southern-style meat floss, sausages and so on. There is a big shop selling incense next to Sen Chunyang, which specializes in making incense. From Dongsi to the north, there is an old shop just north of Sitiaokou-Beiqingrentang Chinese Medicine Shop (now Yong 'antang Pharmacy). At that time, Chinese medicine was bought by wrapping a small piece of white paper in a small bag, then wrapping it in a big bag and tying it with a paper rope. Each packet contains a matchbox-sized piece of white paper with a red description, including the origin, medicinal properties and therapeutic effects of the medicinal materials, and a small illustration showing the shape of the medicinal materials. I still kept these little pieces of paper when I was a child. Opposite Beiqingrentang, on the west side of the road, there are several shoe stores. One of the most famous is Lauder Huasheng. At that time, when buying shoes, after entering the door, the buyers and sellers of the shop asked you to sit down first, served tea, and then asked you what size shoes to wear. Take the shoes out of the big glass shoe cabinet as needed and smoke them with a duster (also called a fly swatter). Please sit there and have a try. As said in the cross talk, after you tried several pairs, you were not satisfied. If you feel a little tight, he will say that wearing these shoes will "open the last tree"; If you feel a little loose, he will say that these shoes are "durable". In short, he will be happy to let you buy these shoes and make a deal. The service attitude at that time was really picky.

Star Cinema is a famous entertainment place in the East Fourth District, located at the northeast entrance of Temple Street in Long Fu. It often shows excellent films at home and abroad, and sometimes shows "Variety" and other programs. Speaking of star cinema, we can't help but mention its manager, who is very smart and capable, and was very influential in Longfumiao Street before liberation. At that time, in order to cover the underground work of our party, the manager became the supervisor. However, during the Cultural Revolution, the manager was tortured to death. He paraded in the street wearing a hat and was criticized for going public. Later, he fell ill and died. His younger brother works as a projectionist in the Moon Cinema and is also an underground party member. After liberation, he was transferred to Dahua Cinema as a branch secretary.