Four-sided clock
On the west side of Tianqiao South Avenue on The Central Axis Road in Beijing
In recent years, a single building with bells on all sides has been erected
With the Nature Museum of Ludong
Across the road
The elders of the capital call it "Silk Mill" bell
"Silk Mill" clock in the morning light (four-sided clock)
The taupe body of this four-sided clock
Stand tall upright
There is a circle of corridors underneath
Above the veranda is a balcony with a ring of parapet
Tightly wrapped around the upright clock body with windows on all sides
Above the four windows at the top of the bell are inlaid with Roman numerals
Four large circular clocks
The top of the bell tower is dark green
Compatible with the dexterous ornaments of the bell body
From a distance, the entire bell tower is beautiful and elegant, and the atmosphere is magnificent
The top of the bell tower is dark green and inlaid with four large circular bells
The entire bell tower
Group of sculptures with eight monsters on the north side of the skybridge
It forms one in the shadow of the fountain and the hedge
A small square with a clear heart
It is a good place for Beijing people to entertain, relax and rest
Becomes on the South Central Axis
A beautiful streetscape
Today we will talk about this "Silk Mill" clock
The past and present lives of the four-sided clock
Speaking of this four-sided clock, its early location is not here, but at the intersection of Beiwei Road and Luchang Street a few hundred meters to the west, and there is an anecdote story in the early years of its establishment.
Jiangxi warlord Chen Guangyuan
In that year, during the beiyang government's development of the "new urban area", the Jiangxi warlord Chen Guangyuan, who had made a windfall fortune by plundering the people's fat and people's paste, enriching himself, and making a windfall, planned by one of his most favored fifth aunts, and asked foreigners to design and build a four-story building in the northeast corner where Wanming Road and Xiangchang Road intersected.
Building location
She asked the engineers to design the building into the shape of a sea steamship, and the types of business in the building set eating, drinking, playing and enjoying, named new world amusement park, and hired Liu Baogeng, a Shanghainese, as the general manager of the big world. She called it a beautiful name: my boat is going to sail to "money" (front), and I want "money".
New World Amusement Park
On February 11, 1918 (the first day of the first lunar month), the New World Amusement Park building was completed and opened, and like the Beijing Hotel and the Six Nations Hotel in the inner city, the first elevator in the public place in the outer city was installed in the building. Because the elevator was a rarity at that time, within a few days of opening, there were also many people rushing to take the elevator and trampling people to death.
New World Amusement Park advertising leaflet
New World Amusement Park adopts the pass method, that is, the audience buys a ticket to enter, and can enjoy all kinds of performances on each floor and rooftop at will.
There are four novel "haha mirrors" on the left side of the entrance on the first floor, and at that time, with these four mirrors, the New World Amusement Park attracted countless tourists, and the source of wealth rolled in.
Opera stills
The entrance is directly opposite the elevator room, and the tall iron fence on both sides of the elevator is hung with large stills of the Kunlings. On the right hand is the ticket office. In the north, there are small and heavenly restaurants that specialize in large dishes from the north and south. In the east is the female theater of the Kun lings of the "Chongya Society", where dozens of Kun Jiao, such as Meng Xiaodong, Cheng Yanfang, Fu Zhifang, Li Yueqing, Bai Suchen, Su Lanfang, Jin Youqin, Liang Chunlou, Jin Guizhi, Zheng Jufang, and Zhao Shufang, performed here all year round.
The eastern part of the second floor is a movie theater specializing in new films from various countries, the south is a tea house, the north is a shopping mall, and the west is a juggling field, often performing magic, Beijing rhyme drums, plum blossom drums, crosstalk, double reeds, single strings, allegro books, lotus falls, five-tone playing and so on.
The eastern part of the third floor is a photo studio, the southern part is a tea house and shopping mall, there is a gift shop in the center of the mall, and the western part is a storytelling hall.
On the fourth floor is a café in the south, a Kishilin Fan Restaurant in the west, and a large dish room in the north.
The five-storey roof garden is the highest point in the South City, which is the ideal place to enjoy tea and flowers and overlook the capital. In the roof garden, looking north, the three halls of the Forbidden City, the Beihai White Pagoda, and the Jingshan Wanchun Pavilion are all in sight; looking west, you can see the green and verdant scenery of the West Mountain; looking east, Tongzhou Tower can be seen.
Flyover "Eight Monsters"
At that time, the New World Amusement Park, commonly known as the "Big World" by the common people, gathered a large number of famous and unique artists in the Beijing-Tianjin area. Because of its location close to the Qianmen Dashilan Commercial Street, north of the "Eight Hutongs", Liulichang Culture Street, east of the overpass a stone's throw away, thousands of tourists of all colors flocked to the endless stream, so that the big world gate day and night to hit the shoulder, the road is filled, the grand situation is unprecedented, the hustle and bustle, so it has to ask the patrol police to control the number of people playing the big world.
In 1917, the Kyoto Municipal Office drew the "Map of the Inner and Outer Cities of Kyoto City", which is located in the direction of the Seongnam Amusement Park near the Xiannongtan Temple outside xuanwu gate
The booming business of the big world caused the envy of some businessmen. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Li Zhun, who was an official in Guangdong Shuishi Yamen and a former overseer in the early years of the Republic of China, was known as Li Junmen, hired Peng Xiukang, a Guangdong man who was then a member of the National Assembly, as the general manager, and built the Chengnan Amusement Park on February 1, 1919, a mile away from the south side of the Great World (now the West Courtyard of Friendship Hospital).
Seongnam Park main entrance
After the completion of the Seongnam Amusement Park, the ticket is the same as the price of the Great World, and there is no need to buy tickets again to visit the Xiannong Temple. Entertainment projects are not less than the big world, but also add roller skating, bowling, billiard hall and many other projects, and the scenery of the pavilions and pavilions in the park, small bridges and flowing water attracts more tourists to come, and the fireworks display held every Saturday makes tourists rush to watch.
1921 Seongnam Amusement Park Play List
Many famous actors and artists in the big world have turned to perform in the Seongnam Amusement Park, making the Peking Opera Theater, the New Civilized Theater, the Film Theater, the Juggling Field, the Magic Field, the Puppet Theater and so on in the Chengnan Amusement Park popular.
Seongnam Amusement Park is a hit
Seongnam Amusement Park competes with the "haha mirror" of the big world by adding a kind of "human head speech" program, and its process is to use optical principles to cover up the human body, leaving only the human head to perform speech and answer questions with tourists. Obviously, this kind of "human head talking" performance method is more interesting than the haha mirror of the big world, which is even more than enough, so that a large number of tourists abandon the big world and go to the amusement park, and the flow is endless.
During the flourishing period of seongnam amusement park
In order to compete with the great world and compete for tourists, the Seongnam Amusement Park also built a four-sided clock in the southwest corner of the park (where the north entrance of luchang street and the north latitude road intersect).
This four-sided bell tower is more than ten meters high, and all four sides are equipped with clocks, resembling iron anchors. Peng Xiukang's implication is that I will use this iron anchor to tie up the business of your ship-shaped big world, so that it cannot set sail and cannot open to "money" (front), thus breaking the "money" vein of your big world.
A European-style clock tower was built in the Seongnam Amusement Park
After several years of commercial struggle, the Chengnan Amusement Park and the big world have not distinguished between high and low, and can only be regarded as a draw and an equal division. A few years later, the Great World collapsed after a fire. The Nationalist government moved south, the situation was turbulent, and the Seongnam Amusement Park was also followed by bankruptcy. Although the Seongnam Amusement Park was later reopened, it only lasted for a few days to close.
After liberation, in the early 1950s, the tianqiao area opened up streets and renovated the pavement, and the four-sided clock located at the intersection of the north entrance of Luchang Street and the north latitude road was demolished, and this former scenic spot in the south of the city became a distant past, gradually fading out of people's memories, but the story of this incident that happened to the four-sided clock remained in people's hearts.
The four-sided clock was rebuilt in a different location
Recreate the landmark scenery of the Old Sky Bridge
This makes this old building rejuvenated
Become on the central axis
A beautiful new landscape
A landmark building representing the cultural heritage of the former flyover
It was preserved
Not only to become a witness to the changes of the times
It also symbolizes a better future
Text: Qiu Chonglu
Image: Old Kyo tu says information picture
Production: Fan Luyang
Editor-in-charge: Wang Zhao
Review: Hou Mingyue
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