Everyone has many memories of Yongding Gate. The duck farmers, the moat, and the merchants outside Yongding Gate are all filled with the atmosphere of people's lives.
As time goes by, a comparison of the past and present of the little duck boy outside Yongding Gate!
In the 1950s, Yongdingmen was released, which was a moat and a river, so animals such as ducks were naturally raised. But don't underestimate these ducks, they are specially bred for the many roast duck restaurants in Beijing.
The old photo below is very precious. It shows a five or six-year-old boy with a thin braid and a little duck in his hand. He looks cute and well-behaved. He was the child of a family that raised ducks by the Yongdingmen moat. Maybe you can't imagine that a little boy who raised ducks who lived by the Yongdingmen moat grew up to become a professor at Peking University . So who is this little duck boy? What is the story of his growth?
Who is this little duck boy? Regarding
, let us start from the beginning. In 2009, Quanjude once issued a notice in the media to find this little duck boy. Mr. Li Yanshan, a researcher of Quanjude literature and history, is an expert in collecting and appreciating Beijing's history, geography, folklore and old photos. He accidentally discovered a group of precious photos taken by Mark Kaufman, a reporter for American Life magazine, for duck farmers in Yongding in 1947. Photo . What will the little boy in the photo look like after decades of growth? This gave him the urge to find the duck boy.
It turns out that on the moat outside Yongding Gate, there are many duck farmers who provide ducks for Quanjude, the most famous of which is "Duck Lai". "Duck Lai" inherits at least fifth generation and above.
A duck farmer named Lai Jingxuan in Daoguangnian, Qing Dynasty, after many years of practice, solved the problem of incubation, which means hens hatch ducks and fatten them, which means feeding ducks and breeding ducks to keep out the cold. In winter, they focus on Yongding, which is leeward and sunny. Problems such as the two sides of the gate tower have led to the creation of Pekingese duck that is superior to other duck species.
The ducks he raised had a high hatching rate, were fattened and released quickly, and he was the first to establish a large-scale duck farm in Beijing. Most of the descendants who came to Jingxuan started raising ducks with their families when they were about 10 years old. Even young children can know whether they can hatch by picking up a duck egg and shining it at the light. In the next hundred years, the duck houses of "Duck Lai" were spread all over the Beijing moat water system, and attracted more duck farmers. Under the city wall and beside the moat, flocks of white ducks were once a beautiful sight in old Beijing.
After Mr. Li Yanshan discovered these photos on the Internet, the poster mistakenly thought the Yongding Gate Tower was the Zhengyang Gate Tower, so he posted a correction. Afterwards, he reported the discovery to the company leaders and speculated that the little boy in the photo might come from the old duck family that supplied ducks to Quanjude. So he discussed with the company leaders and used the media for "event marketing" and published it in the newspaper. Looking for the "Little Duck Boy" of yesteryear. Unexpectedly, I actually found this "little duck boy"! It should be said that Mr. Li Yanshan was the first person in Quanjude to discover and study these photos and advocate the search for the "Little Duck Boy".
After the media issued a notice to search for the little duck boy, the duck boy was quickly found. This person, was Professor Lai Zenglu, a senior engineer from the Sackler Museum of Archeology and Art at Peking University , who was already 70 at the time Many years old.
At that time, the design plans and construction plans of many buildings in the School of Archeology and Museology of Peking University came from Professor Lai, who was honored as "Lai Gong". After Professor Lai retired, he struggled with cancer for 11 years and still maintained a sunny attitude, optimistic spirit, and peaceful mood. He actively participates in various academic activities, insists on explaining the anti-cancer spirit and fighting spirit to army officers and soldiers, insists on explaining archaeological culture and archaeological stories to the public, and insists on explaining the feelings and feelings of loving the party and patriotism to primary and secondary school students. Decades later, he was very excited to see the photos of his childhood, because although he was photographed at that time, he had never seen this set of photos, and there was only a small, broken group photo at home.
Professor Lai Zenglu was just a child when his grandfather led his family to raise ducks under the west wall of Yongding Gate. He didn't have this photo at home, just a small, broken group photo. He also wondered why Quanjude had these photos. Later, when he came to Quanjude, Mr. Li Yanshan told him about the process of discovering old photos on the Internet. Mr. Lai Zenglu also talked about his growth process. It turned out that after liberation, Lai Zenglu's father worked at Peking University's duck farm, so he became a Peking University student and worked in the factory run by Peking University. Later, through further studies, he worked in Peking University Cultural Museum and became an engineer and deputy director.
According to Professor Lai Zenglu’s recollection: Back then, there were many duck houses in Beijing, and all the ducks in Quanjude came from the Donglaiji Duck House of the imperial palace. This duck house started raising ducks during the Daoguang period. They explored the most perfect way to raise ducks. At that time, it was the Peking duck that was most suitable for roasting ducks.
Photographer Mark Kaufman took a group of photos at Laiji Duck House in the east of Yongdingmen. There are several pictures of a little boy holding a duck in his hand, which is the young Mr. Lai Zenglu. He recalled the situation at that time: He didn't like taking pictures, so the photographer tempted him with an American slide rule with a leather cover. Because he really liked this thing, he cooperated with him in taking pictures. This slide rule also became the professor's collection. Later, together with the American slide rule that I had collected, as well as old furniture and appliances from more than a hundred years ago, a duck feeding urn for the duck room, a medicine pounding mortar and other 17 family heirloom collections that have been treasured for a hundred years, I came to Mr. Zenglu with me. Donate to Quanjude Exhibition Hall. A number of exhibits with high historical and cultural value have been added to the Quanjude Exhibition Hall.
What was Yongding Gate like back then?
As early as 2009, a netizen named Yinggege posted a post on the forum of the old Beijing website, writing down the story of his life outside Yongding Gate.
Ingege's family lived outside Yongdingmen. In the 1950s, when she was still young, her father took her into the city for errands and often took the tram. Sometimes I go home very late and catch the last train. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the tram driver to drive the tram back to the tram depot, the driver takes the father and daughter outside Yongding Gate. The tram drives across the moat to the tram depot. They got off the bus at the gate, otherwise they would have to get off at Yongding Gate. The driver was kind-hearted, and they lost more than two miles.
Yongding Gate, the south gate on the central axis of Beijing. The Yongding Gate in the 1950s looked tall, large and antique. The city walls on both sides of the gate were winding for miles, just like beautiful clothes and soaring wings. A wooden bridge spans the moat, and donkey carts, horse-drawn carriages, foreign carts , and handcarts come and go.
In the 1950s, against the background of the Yongding Gate Tower, the streets outside Yongding Gate were busy with traffic, the scenery was pleasant, and people came and went. It was unique and very lively. What is evocative are the shops in what could be called an "economically developed" area at that time.
At that time, the way outside the city gate was called Guanxiang, and the road was very narrow.
In the 1930s, the scenery of Yongding Gate moat
As soon as you leave Yongding Gate and cross the moat, the place on the east side of the road is called Taoyuan. There are restaurants, shops, clothes makers, blacksmiths, and a coffin shop on the street.
That small restaurant was called "Yongwai Restaurant". At that time, there were people driving horse-drawn carriages and people traveling on foot. In order to save money, everyone brought their own dry food when they went out. When the guests walked into the small restaurant, the waiters welcomed them warmly. They spent a penny to buy a bowl of soup. You can also spend a few cents to process and heat up the dry food you brought with you. The service is considerate in the small restaurant. Business is booming.
That "clothing store" that sells clothes has an old tailor in the store. He doesn't hesitate to buy Chinese and Western clothes, including pants and jackets for adults and children.
The "coffin shop" was busy all day long. In those days, people had to put coffins in and bury them when they died. Later, cremation was advocated, so it became less prosperous. After the mid-1960s, the coffin shop was completely closed.
At that time, there was also a "Longquan Department Store" here, which sold agricultural tools and daily general supplies of oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, as well as a "grain store" and a "repair sales department".
The place facing the street on the west side of the road outside Yongding Gate is called Sanyuan Palace. It has a higher terrain and most of the places are bungalows, mainly residential housing. In the residential area, there is a small courtyard that is a cultural activity station. The gate of the courtyard faces east, with three north rooms, two east rooms and two west rooms. Whenever they have free time, the old residents nearby go there to read books and newspapers. Ingege often went there to read and borrow books, which was very convenient. She remembered that the teacher in charge of the cultural station was named Wang, and he was the station manager alone. Teacher Wang is well-educated and can write very well with calligraphy. He is polite, kind and enthusiastic towards others. Despite its small area, the cultural activity station is extremely popular. Chairman Mao said: "The enemy of learning is one's own satisfaction. If you want to study something seriously, you must start from not being complacent." This quotation from Chairman Mao is the motto of the cultural activity station. At that time, Chairman Mao's quotations were neatly written, framed, and hung high on the wall. This was the first time Ingege saw quotations promoting Mao Zedong Thought.
In the 1950s, illiteracy was eradicated and cultural knowledge was popularized. It was full of learning and cultural renaissance. It was inspiring and the scene was unforgettable. The former site of today's cultural activity station has disappeared due to the expansion of the road outside Yongdingmen.
Yongding Gate is located in the south of Beijing and is the main entrance to the outer city. The people living outside the city were all poor people. At that time, the houses were not densely populated, and the people were sparsely populated. It was very desolate, very poor, and very backward. There were many farmlands scattered everywhere and the roads were very narrow.
Due to historical reasons and the needs of construction and development at the time, Yongding Gate was demolished without establishing advanced cultural relics protection regulations and awareness, and without long-term planning.
Unexpectedly, more than 40 years later, in order to restore the style of the ancient capital of Beijing and maintain a complete central axis of the capital, the Yongding Gate, the southern gate of Beijing, was rebuilt in 2004. The old appearance was given a new look, with the Temple of Heaven and the Xiannong Altar revealed inside Yongding Gate, which completely changed the surrounding environment, beautified the inside and outside of Yongding Gate, which had been dormant for many years, and opened up a new, modern, wide, straight Yongding Gate Street. , writing a new chapter in history to promote the economic development of Nancheng and the harmonious development of society.
Source: Beijing Daily▪Jiu Beijing Pictures
Process editor: u028
