Ancient bricks of over 400 hundred years old from the west wall of the old Imperial City are now in the restoration site of the Temple of Emperors.
The 2000 pieces were found when laborers demolished two rows of single-story houses at Beishuicheng Street on May 5. The walls of these houses were built with blue bricks almost uniform in size, 48cm long, 24cm wide and 12cm high. More than ten different names of kilns and the titles of emperors’ reigns could easily be recognized. Experts said that the bricks, from the walls of the Imperial City of the Ming Dynasty, were preserved well and of excellent quality. The different names of the kilns proved that the bricks for the Imperial City walls were not made only by the imperial kiln, but that some privately owned kilns also contributed to the construction of the Imperial City. When the old Imperial City walls were torn down in 1969, the bricks were used directly to build those one-story houses on the same site. It is estimated that more bricks will be discovered from Beishuicheng Street northwards to Fuchengmen overpass.
The Temple of Emperors was first constructed in the 10th year of Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1531), and is the temple for offering sacrifices to former kings and princes, generals and ministers.
It underwent two periods of renovation in the reign of Yongzheng and Qianlong. The site was allocated to No.159 Middle School from 1929. The renovation began last December with a total investment of 150,000,000 million yuan from the Xicheng District government. It is reported that the Temple of Emperors will be opened to the public in 2003.
(Beijing Today 05/21/2001)
