京城守卫者---消失的城门

鲍海飞 2014-11-27

旅途上半刻的宁静，一会儿的阅读，就会把人的思绪带到遥远的过去。

首都北京，一座美丽的城市，小时候就知道它。但那时候，它是那样的遥远，感觉就像是天上的星星一样总是在那里闪耀，又感觉它是那样的亲近。因为那时，最喜欢唱的歌就是“我爱北京天安门，天安门上太阳升，伟大领袖毛主席，指引我们向前进！”那是一座多么让人神往的城市啊！每当唱起这首歌，心真的就像长了翅膀飞到了北京一样。

前几天到北京出差，提前来到了候机室，有很长的一段时间需要等待。于是便坐在候机室里等待着，拿着当天的报纸仔细地阅读《China Daily》（China Daily.com.cn/Opinion, 9, Views0letters. Wednesday, November 9,2014）。翻阅到第22版面的‘生活文化’（Life culture），映入眼帘的是几幅彩色图片，古香古色、又金碧辉煌的建筑格外引人注目，标题是《Capital gatekeeper》---京城守护者。原来那些精美的图片都是曾经北京古城城门和城墙的照片，是一位热衷中国古建筑，尤其是喜爱城墙和城门的女士Chen Lihua（陈丽华）发起的重建古城墙和城门的项目，目的是让那一块一块的砖唤起人们曾经遗失的记忆。“我有一个梦想，就是要唤起北京的记忆。这些缩微的城墙和城楼是留给后人的文化传承。

(a current project to recreate the walls and gates is restoring those ancient memories brick by brick, using precious red sandalwood and ebony。I have a dream to restore old Bejing’s memory. The miniature city gates and walls are a cultural legacy for future generations）。

陈女士土生土长于北京，从小就熟悉那些城墙和城门，她说她对这个项目有一种特殊的感情。她今年73岁，1999年在北京成立中国首家私人红檀香木博物馆，从此以后，她便热切地投身于复制那些遗失的古城墙和城门。该项目十年前就已经开始了，按照原来建筑的十分之一缩建，利用珍贵的檀香木和乌木(red)，预计还有两年时间将把16个城门复原。比如，北京内城九门之一的安定门，有3.5米高，6.5吨重。城楼和瞭望塔用檀香木制造，而城墙用乌木制造，这种颜色像古城墙砖的颜色。

(Chen, 73, set up the first private red sandalwood museum in China in 1999. Since then she has devoted herself to the project replicating the lost city walls and gates. Growing up in Beijing and having seen the city wlls and gates in her childhood, Chen says she has a special feeling for the project. All the gates and walls are being built one-tenth the size of the original structures. Andingmen, one of nine gates in ancient Bejing’s inner city, is about 3.5meters tall and weighs about 6.5 tons. The gate tower and watchtower are made of sandalwood while the city walls are being built from ebony, the color of which is similar to bricks of the old walls)。

现在的北京都是高楼大厦。那么，曾经的北京古城是个什么样？那些巍峨挺立的城门又有什么说头？

原来的北京古城分为内城和外城，内城有9个城门，而外城有7个城门，现存只有两个内城门，一个是正阳门，一个是德胜门。永定门于2004年重新修建。从明代开始(1368-1644年间)，中国皇帝开始在北京大规模修建作为首都的紫禁城系统。一个单独的城楼和相连的城墙就需要大约20万人4年的时间来修建。古老的北京一共有16个这样的内外城门。(Beijing Had nine inner city gates and seven outer city gates. Today, only two of the original inner city gates, Zhengyangmen and Deshengmen, remain. Yongdingmen was the only outer gate that was rebuilt in 2004. Since the Ming Dynasty, China’s emperors continued building the colossal fortification system for the capital city. A single gate and the attached walls took about 200.000 men up to four years to build. Ancient Beijing had 16 such gates in its inner and outer city areas.)

一位北京历史协会的主席说，紫禁城是北京的金红色皇冠，而灰色的城门和城墙是它的衣裙，但这座城市的文化象征从60年代被破坏之后就此被割裂了。北京的城墙和城门不只是具有保护一座城市的作用，它更代表了帝王的等级和他所统治的国家。

(Li Jianping, chairman of the Bejing History Association, says the Forbidden City is Beijing’s gold and red crown while the grey gates and walls were the city’s skirt. The city’s cultural symbol was halved with the demolition of its gates and walls in the 1960s, he says. Beijing’s gates and walls were more than a protection system. They stood for the hierarchy of the emperors and the country they ruled.）。

作为京城，北京的城墙和城门都要比其他城市的大，如山西平遥，江苏南京。皇帝所居住的内城城门也要比外城的城门高。每个门都有清晰的功能。比如，正阳门就是人们去交税的地方。安定门也叫和平门，就是得胜归来军队返回的门，而朝阳门是运送谷物粮食的所要走过的门。内城的德胜门是派出军队远征的门，清朝帝国就是从此派出主要的三次军队去远征，外族侵略北京必须要先控制德胜门方才可以。现在北京地铁的2环线就是北京的内城了。记载内城又叫京城。城墙高12到15米，底厚20米，顶厚16米。有城门九座，角楼四座，水门三处，敌台172座等。城外有宽30到60米的护城河。那九个城门是：正阳门（前门），崇文门，宣武门（顺治门），阜成门，西直门，德胜门，安定门，东直门，朝阳门。人们都非常熟悉街道的名字，但对城门的名字就知道得很少，因为，年青人从来都不曾看过这些门。这也是陈女士的初衷，想通过重新复原这些建筑，让年青一代学习北京曾经的历史和文化。

(As a capital city, Bejing’s gates and walls were bigger than those in other cities such as Pingyao, Shanxi province, and Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The gates of the inner city where the emperors resided were also higher than those in the outer city. Each gate had a clear function. Ror instance, at the Zhengyangmen gate, people gathered to pay their taxes. Andingmen was where troops would return after winning wars and Chaoyangmen was the gate through which grain was transported. An inner city gate literally meaning the Gate of Peace. When generals and troops returned victorious from war, they would walk through the gate to report their triumph to emperors living in the Forbidden City. The Gate of Victory, this was one of nine gates in Beijing’s inner city, through which armies sent into battle by China’s emperors would walk to begin their expeditions. Emperors of the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911) launched three major wars from here. If rivals wanted to invade Beijing, they would first have to forcefully take control of Deshengmen.The gate names remain as street names. I’m sure most young people are familiar with the streen names but not so many of them know the history behind them as they haven’g even had a chance to see the gates. Says Li.)

其它的如内城的东直门是运送用于宫殿建筑木材的门，成为木门，门的周围就是很多木材加工的一些店铺；内城的西直门是送给皇宫和皇帝送水所走的门，叫做水门，而且水是从北京城外运来，在黎明前送到宫中。

  永定门意味着永远稳定和安全，是北京外城七个城门中最重要的门。遥遥地看见了这座城门，游人便知道他们已经到北京了。外城又称国城或外锅。城墙长28里，高7.5米到8米，底宽约12米，顶宽约9米。这七个外城城门是：永定门，左安门，右安门，广渠门，广安门，东便门，西便门。环绕北京的这些城墙和城门大部分是在60年代被破坏掉了，从此，人们关闭了来仰望一座古代帝王城市的历史之门。

(The inner Dongzhimen was known as the Gate of Wood. All the wood needed for the construction of palaces for royal families was transported through this gate, which was surrounded by woodwork factores and coffin stores. The XiZhimen in the inner city functioned as the Gate of Water. Meneral water for emperors was fetched from a spring outside Bejing and sent to the palaces through this gate before sunrise. Yongdingmen, the name translates as the Gate of Eternal Stability. This was the most important of the seven gates in ancient Beijing’s outer city. Its name signifies that the nation will remain stable and sage forever. Seeing the gate tells travelers they have arrived in Beijing. The walls and gates encircling Beijing were mostly demolished in the 1960s, closing a door on an important part of the imperial city’s history)。

    北京城是中国历史上辽金元明清的都城。北京古城基本上就是明朝时的样子，清朝时略加改动，而明清北京城的前身是1264年的元大都城，大都城按照《周礼考工记》中“九经九纬”、“前朝后市”、“左祖右社”的记载而设计。而明北京城又是仿造南京皇宫的一些布局建设的，1421年明朝朱棣正式迁都北京。

  城市的建筑，包含着一个城市的历史，更包含着一座城市的精神和文化。无论它曾经是什么，象征着什么，我们都无法追回那逝去的历史印迹，再也无法重塑那旧日的辉煌。或许有一天，我们只能遗憾地从博物馆里来把它们浏览，或在睡梦中追寻它们的踪迹。

那些城墙、城门、胡同、四合院，难以再见了。只有一些胡同残留，最著名的便是铜锣古巷，走在那里似乎还能让人想起北京的往昔，唤起人们内心的一丝想象。

毁树容易栽树难！创业难守业更难！

是多少个岁月长河，累积起来的建筑群！增建又废弃。

如果那些城墙还在，或许还能阻挡些风沙尘霾。

   那图片上美丽的城墙模型，那些精美的构图，说不完的北京。

上图朝阳门模型；下左，德胜门模型；下右：东直门模型。

上图：西直门模型；下左：安定门模型；下右： 永定门模型。

望城门

梦里望城门，烟花几度寻；

往来多少客，秋雨洗凡尘。

幽谷枝头叶，碧空月下云。

青石无觅处，只有晚风吟。

小诗一首以记。