Nanbanjie Hutong

Nanbanjie Hutong

Nanbanjie hutong is located in the east of Niujie area, connected with beibanjie Hutong in the north, nanhengxi street in the south, Caishikou Hutong and lanman Hutong in the East and Tianjing Hutong in the East. It is 385m long and 4.2m wide. House numbers: 1-55, 2-34. The southern and Northern hutongs are collectively referred to as "stumbling Hutong".

The origin of the name

Nanbanjie hutong is located in the south of Caishikou, Xuanwu District, Beijing. It is named because the length of the hutong is half of the North-South longitudinal street.

There are different views on the division of the South and north half of the Hutong. One of the views is that the division of the South and north half of the Hutong has no special significance. It is only based on the terrain of the central part, because there is an "s" shaped bend in the South and north half of the Hutong, and the north and South are divided into half. Another argument is that as early as the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, the north and South half of the Hutong were collectively referred to as stumbling alley, which was named because it was related to the former Caishikou area as a homicide execution ground. The so-called "stumbling alley" is a superstition for the death penalty criminals. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the stumbling alley was divided into two parts, so it is called "the north and South half of the Hutong". The military saying is: Caishikou is a place of execution. In order to prevent the execution ground from being robbed, the military forces for defense are deployed from the terrain. The soldiers cross the South Hengxi street. There is a saying that even if you cut off the execution ground and enter the north half, you can't enter the South half and cross the South Hengxi street.

Characteristics of Hutong

Important people

Lu Xun lived here when he first came to Beijing in 1912. Here, he wrote the famous diary of a madman.

Mr. Lu Xun, the great cultural pioneer of China, once lived in the former site of No. 4, nanbanjie. Now No.7) "Shaoxing guild hall" has lived for seven years. His first vernacular novel "Diary of a madman" was born here. It is called No.4 South half lane of xuanwumenwai. There is a big locust tree in front of the old house. It is no longer there, but the courtyard is basically the same as in the past. Now it is a cultural protection unit. In history, the area from the south end of Hutong to Mishi Hutong was the former site of Yiyuan, which was the other business of Wang Chongjian and his son Wang Xi. At that time, Zhang Ran, a master of building gardens in the south of the Yangtze River in Beijing, was invited to build the gardens. There were more than 20 scenes in the garden, including piling stones, digging pools, planting flowers and trees. It was one of the famous gardens with the characteristics of Jiangnan residential gardens in the early Qing Dynasty.

Main landscape

Shaoxing guild hall

Close to the north end of the Hutong, there is an obvious courtyard, which is the famous Shaoxing guild hall. Shaoxing guild hall was built in 1826 in guangmen of Qing Dynasty. It is an ordinary courtyard at No. 7 of nanbanjie Hutong.

Bus routes

Take bus No.6, 715, 687 to Caishikou

Address: North of nanheng West Street, Xicheng District, Beijing

Longitude: 116.37326847607

Latitude: 39.88522330362

Ticket information: no ticket required.