Imperial Granary 南新仓
东四十条桥西南角
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of North and East of the Imperial City
During the Qīng great care was taken to see that there were no food shortages in the capital, and particularly not amongst the bannermen who formed the defence forces of the Inner City, nor the Manchu aristocracy, nor the officials and bureaucrats who kept the empire running and who received grain stipends at immense cost to the imperial purse. Barges brought grain (mostly rice) long distances up the Imperial Canal to Tōngzhōu (通州), east of the city, to be stored in 13 large and expensive granaries there and in the Inner City itself. Most of these survive simply as names such as Lùmǐ Cāng Hútòng, lù mǐ cāng meaning ‘warehouse for rice paid as part of salary’, and now the site of the Zhìhuà Sì.
But this particular multi-building granary, recently exposed by destruction of the surrounding housing and now dwarfed by modern towers, claims to be very early Míng, and at 1410 to pre-date the completion of the Forbidden City and other major Míng monuments by ten years. The buildings’ 1.5m-thick tapering walls and low-pitch roofs free of bracket sets are unlike anything else you’ll see in Beijing: squat, powerful, and practical. Much of the brickwork and even some of the wood looks original.
Some of the buildings have been turned into entertainment venues of various kinds, one being the Imperial Granary Theatre (皇家粮仓, Huáng Jiā Liáng Cāng, imperialgranary.com.cn), a performance space for Kūnqǔ (昆曲) opera. Its lobby area is a curious mix of modern (glass screen walls, state-of-the-art hi-fi equipment) and ancient (bird cages, furniture, figurines, and other bric-à-brac), the roof supported by gnarled columns dating back to the Míng, now reinforced with bands of steel.
A shop inside sells a selection of Western opera on DVD, including the fairly obscure (Purcell’s Faerie Queen, Prokofiev’s Fiery Angel, Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène all look remarkably genuine at ¥180 for an individual DVD, and region code 6). Pausing for a simple coffee will set you back ¥58, and there’s alcohol available, too. But this is surely one of the more bizarre bars in Běijīng.
▶ Nán Xīn Cāng, Dōng Sì Shí Tiáo 22, t 6401 0843, www.bjnxc.com.cn. Free. m Dōng Shí Sì Tiáo (Line 2) exit D. b to 东四十条桥南: 特2, 机场3线,
12内环, 12外环, 44外环, 44内环, 75.
Brand new sìhéyuàn have been built around the ancient buildings, one a teahouse and others restaurants, while a modern building houses further eating. Hútòng a block further west around Dōng Sì Liù Tiáo offer walks full of small-scale domestic interest and with the remnants of other ancient buildings. See Hútòng Walking.
Next in North and East of the Imperial City: Míng City Wall Ruins Park
Previously: Losing Their Heads (story)
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
