Xuechi Hutong

Xuechi Hutong

Xuechi hutong is located between the west gate of Jingshan Park and the east gate of Beihai Park. There is an east-west zhishanmen street. Turn north from the middle of zhishanmen street. In the Qing Dynasty, there were six Royal ice cellars, and now there are two. Xuechi hutong is also named after ice cellar.

Characteristics of Hutong

There are still two ice cellars left in Xuechi Hutong, one is abandoned, with garbage inside and outside, and the other is used for storing bicycles in Beihai Park. Although the brick cellar made of stone and city bricks is dilapidated, it is still in its original state. The ice cellar is a semi underground building. From the outside, it looks like a huge and low old house. The above ground side wall is about 20 meters long, only 2 meters high, the gable is about 10 meters wide, and the highest part of the peak is about 4 meters. The roof is a "herringbone" shaped ridge with double slopes, covered with yellow glazed tiles, which is the symbol of royal architecture. On the gables at both ends, there are arches 1 meter wide and 2 meters high, with steps leading to the bottom of the cellar. The interior is a brick vault, like a big gate hole, without beams and columns. The rammed earth between the wall and the vault and the roof tile is very thick. It seems that the sealing and heat insulation performance is very good. After the revolution of 1911, when Puyi was the "little emperor of closing the door" in the Forbidden City, Xuechi ice cellar continued to supply ice to the palace for several years.

Hutong culture

Related Legends

The ancients frequently held the ceremony of offering sacrifices to the gods and ancestors. The offerings must be clean and fresh, otherwise it is disrespectful. After the sacrifice, the meat should be distributed to the relatives. It is said that they can get blessings, which is called "San Yu". Therefore, the sacrificial offerings should be kept fresh with ice. In summer, the dignitaries also use ice to prevent heatstroke, make cold drinks and keep food fresh. In the Qing Dynasty, 18 ice cellars were set up in four places in the capital, which were under the control of the Department of water resources of the Ministry of industry, with a total ice storage of 205700 pieces.

Nowadays, people use refrigerators and air-conditioners to store ice for the royal family. Only two old ice cellars, Xuechi Hutong, are left. The incomplete yellow glazed tiles on the top of the cellar, which used to be the symbol of the royal family, are still shining in the setting sun.

literary works

Nearly 3000 years ago, in the book of songs, there was a poem that said, "on the second day, ice was dug and flushed; on the third day, ice was taken out; on the fourth day, fleas were offered to the gods. It said that as far as the Zhou Dynasty was concerned, people collected ice in the twelfth month, stored ice in the ice cellar in the first month, and took out ice in February to ice lamb and vegetables for sacrifice to the gods.

In his "life in old Beijing" written in the 1930s and 1940s, Mr. Jin Shoushen said, "the ice cellar in the city is the cleanest in the snow cellar The ice was cut from the North Sea and transported out through Zhishan gate. It's the ice cellar of Xuechi Hutong.

Address: between the west gate of Jingshan Park and the east gate of Beihai Park, Xicheng District, Beijing

Longitude: 116.39226735397

Latitude: 39.926442753552

Ticket information: no ticket required.