Return To 1977 Chapter 433: Old House

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Siheyuan in Beijing has a long history, starting from the Jin Dynasty and evolving to this day. It is famous throughout the country and even the world.

There are too many things to pay attention to.

Taking the door as a symbol representing the social status of the owner of the house, this door alone can show the family background and dignity of the owner of the house.

As stipulated in the "Qing Huidian Cases", the "Prince's Palace Gate" of princes, county princes, crown princes, beizi, and other relatives of the emperor have different regulations. The "Guangliang Gate" and "Jinzhu Gate" of the official families also have different values. Among the common people, the "Manzi Gate", "Ruyi Gate" and "Suiqiang Gate" also have different levels of sects.

Therefore, the meanings of "family status" and "well-matched" that people often say are derived from this.

In short, the things contained in this courtyard can be said to be a system of its own. The regulation, form, and style of anything are worthy of careful study. Whether it is tiles, wood, oil, or carving, none of the work is simple.

Not to mention that most people today don’t understand the specific details. Even in the ancient construction industry, not everyone is proficient in it and understands it clearly.

If we want to list them one by one here, it is certainly not realistic to make it clear.

However, if we want to describe the area and scale of the Hong family residence, we only need to clarify the two quantifiers first. That is "enter" and "cross".

As we all know, "siheyuan" is a general term for the unique courtyard architectural form of the capital.

"Four" refers to the four sides of "south, east, northwest", and "he" means that the houses on the four sides are gathered together to form a "kou" shape.

As long as it meets these two requirements, it can be called a "siheyuan".

Because people are rich and poor, the specifications of their houses must also be different. This simple form of a small courtyard surrounded by houses can actually only meet the needs of small households.

Private residences of nobles, officials, and wealthy people often have several courtyards. There is a verandah in front of the main house, a balcony in the back, and wing rooms in the east and west, making it luxurious and spacious. There are many additional facilities inside and outside the courtyard, all with gardens.

How can such an extremely complex courtyard house be accurately expressed and differentiated in language?

Then it lies in the words "jin" and "cross".

To put it simply, "enter" can be regarded as the "meridian" of a set of courtyards. It represents the depth of the courtyard.

A courtyard surrounded by houses on four sides is the basic unit of a courtyard house and is called a Yijin courtyard house. If a house is surrounded by two courtyards, it is a two-entry quadrangle; if there are three courtyards, it is a three-entry quadrangle, and so on.

Most of the dignitaries in the dynasty can reach the seventh or eighth level, but the saying "the depth of the sea is as deep as the sea once you enter the marquis" is not empty talk.

But don’t forget that space has practical limitations, but not all houses can develop infinitely vertically, so some large houses have horizontal structures

This is the concept of "crossing", which is opposite to "progress". It can be thought of as a "latitude", which refers to the width.

The principle is the same as "entering". There are as many "crossings" as there are left and right parallel courtyards.

The courtyards arranged along the central axis are usually called "middle roads", while the courtyards on both sides are distributed according to the direction and are called "a certain road" cross-courtyard.

Take the Hong family’s old house as an example.

Since Meishi Street is a north-south street, their home is on the west side of the street.

And because after several generations of expansion, the middle courtyard was gradually improved to include a gate, a screen wall, an outer courtyard, a second gate, an inner courtyard, a third courtyard, and a backyard.

Their old house can be called a "siheyuan with four entrances facing east and west".

Of course, with this orientation, the main house is also facing west and east, which is definitely inferior to the orthodox courtyard facing north and south. What's the old saying? "If you have money, don't live in the southeast. If the east is not warm, the summer will not be cool."

Fortunately, the Hong family made up for this shortcoming with the gradual addition of several north road crossings.

Although it was not possible to incorporate the surrounding homes to maximize space utilization, the newly added parts were somewhat untidy, like a bouquet of scattered flowers.

But after all, the shortcomings do not hide the advantages. These cross-courtyards can ultimately make the functionality of the overall courtyard more perfect.

This is how the Hong family has a concierge, a counting house, a carriage house, a porter class, a private school, a living room, a flower hall, a dining room, a warehouse, a kitchen, a toilet, and a garden. There is a "deep house compound" with western-style buildings.

In fact, by the time of Hong Lucheng's generation, the scale of the Hong family's buildings was comparable to that of the prince's palace and the residences of the emperor's relatives. The houses were tall, with overlapping courtyards, front porches and back buildings, and connected courtyards. means "one family".

It’s no wonder that the gate of the house can accommodate a hundred workers, and each leader is equipped with an independent office. In the end, two buildings can be divided to house more than 30 families.

Needless to say, it takes a lot of time to take a good look at such a big house.

The "concierge" was transformed into the "communication room" of the street factory. The two wing rooms on the north and south sides of the outer courtyard were used as warehouses. The remaining rooms in the row of "inverted rooms" facing east and west, which were originally the Hong family's accounting rooms and the residence of the male servants, became the street factory for the storage of finished products. The "shipping point" where the goods are packaged.

Actually, the outer courtyard has nothing to say. But there are more than a dozen houses in these places, although Hong Lucheng and everyone just opened the door and took a look around. But I also wandered around for twenty minutes.

It’s even worse after bypassing the screen wall of the Hong family and entering the hanging flower gate. Those places are worthy of Hong Lucheng’s stop and look

Why?

Because this hanging flower door is not an ordinary door, it must be built on the central axis of the courtyard, between the first courtyard and the second courtyard. Its function is actually the key door used to distinguish the inner house from the outer house.

As the old saying goes, a young lady "can't leave the front door, and can't step forward from the second door". "Second Gate" refers to the hanging flower gate.

In "A Dream of Red Mansions", when Lin Daiyu first entered Jia's house, it was written, "The women walked around and alighted in front of a hanging flower door. The servants left, and the women came up to raise the sedan curtain and helped Daiyu get out of the sedan. . Lin Daiyu held her mother-in-law's hand and entered the hanging flower door. There were hand-painted verandahs on both sides and a hallway in the middle..."

You can see it here. The "mother-in-laws" are women, so they can enter, but the "boys" are all male servants, so they are prohibited from entering. Moreover, Sister Lin can only get out of the sedan after they exit, which shows how strict the rules are.

The shape of the hanging flower gate is mostly one hall and one roll, which is composed of a pointed roof and a roll shed. Its door leaves are generally four doors, with bucket squares on them. There is a related description in the cross talk "Kuai Residence".

Except for important events such as weddings and weddings, the arrival of distinguished guests, etc., these four doors are not open on weekdays and serve as a screen wall in the inner house. Family members enter and exit from the side.

So it is exactly after entering this door and entering the widest inner courtyard from the Chaoshou Veranda. The memories of Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin that had been buried in the dust for many years were revived little by little.

In large courtyards, the north room in the second courtyard is often used as a hall to receive distinguished guests. There are no extra rooms in the small courtyard house, so we had to arrange this function in the middle hall of the north house, while the suites on both sides are still occupied.

In the old days, the living allocation of the inner house was very strict, and the main house was the most important building in the courtyard. Since the ancestral tablet and main room are located in the middle of the main room, it has the highest status in the whole house.

The second inner courtyard of the Hong family must have the highest regulations. The main house on the west is "seven square and four ears", and the wing rooms on the east and west sides are "five square and two ears". This courtyard alone adds up to twenty Five rooms. It is one and a half times larger than the entire east courtyard of Guanyin Yuan.

In this courtyard, the two sweet-scented osmanthus trees in front of the main house are also old, and their trunks and branches are as tall as adults’ legs.

And because it is a southern tree species, it is very rare to grow in the capital. Under their lush cover, the main house is made more solemn and elegant.

It's just a pity that the street factory is a bit abrupt, burning the harp and boiling the crane. In order to make it easier for the workers at the front and the leaders at the back to eat, in addition to using the east and west wings as paper cutting workshops, the main building was also converted into a factory canteen.

In the eyes of Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin, the place that was originally a shrine has become a food window, and the scent of sandalwood that used to emit all year round has been replaced by the smell of chopped green onion.

In front of the main house, the smooth concrete floor makes it difficult to find traces of grass. And he was actually connected to two water pipes.

This allowed them to instantly appreciate the vicissitudes of life and feel the power of time.

"Dad, shouldn't all these courtyards be red and green? Why are the pillars in our house black? But let's not say it, it looks pretty and looks solemn..."

Just when Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin looked at the greasy floor of the main house and shook their heads frequently, Hong Yanwu suddenly asked a question.

But his question was quite interesting. Even Hong Yanzheng and Chen Liquan looked over with concern. Apparently they also want to know the answer to this question.

Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin both looked at each other and smiled in unison before Hong Lucheng answered.

"You don't understand this. How can red and green oil decorations be used by ordinary people? They must be used by relatives of the emperor or princes and nobles. Your mother's natal family is qualified. Our family is a businessman, so It can only be plain and black.”

The juniors suddenly realized this. Especially Hong Yanwu, he finally understood why the doors, windows and pillars of the Wang Family Courtyard in Pingyao, Shanxi and the Qiao Family Courtyard in Qixian, Shanxi, were all of that color.

Because it’s just like their family. Those family owners are also businessmen and cannot use red and green oil.

As for the fact that red and green must be used in all ancient buildings today, that is purely a fool's errand to pretend to understand.

Using transgression is not something we can talk about now, but in terms of culture, it has undoubtedly lost its original flavor and authenticity. Moreover, the red and green oils have also been downgraded, making them look quite gaudy.