History Underground

History books are filled with the great decisions and grand ventures of leaders based in Beijing. As a vital city with a history of more than 3,000 years, more than 850 of them as a capital, some of the world’s most important events have taken place here in palaces and temples second to none in elegance and grandeur.

Yet, there was housekeeping to be done too: the proper disposal of sewage has been an issue in Beijing since ancient times, just as it was in a prosperous ancient Rome; it’s an issue that just won’t go away.

The first sewage system built by our forefathers in Beijing was a drainage system called shuiguan (later, also: shuimen, shuijinmen and shuihandong). This refers a system of water passages, rivers and ditches, some of which flowed under the various city walls of antiquity. The drainage systems varied according to human settlement and their activities, marking the advance of human civilization. Good drainage systems have always been an essential part of Beijing’s urban planning and construction, and an insight into this history is available to everyone at the Liao and Jin City Wall Museum in Fengtai District.

 

Yuan Dynasty

“According to its stratigraphical relationships and unearthed artefacts, this water passage (Liao Jin Shuiguan) was still in use during the early Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368); it was abandoned in the mid-to-late Yuan Dynasty.”

——Record in the Liao and Jin City Wall Museum

 

The construction of the drainage system in Beijing began during the Jin Dynasty (1115–1234). But, considering the irrational arrangement of the water resources in the Jin capital, Zhongdu, the governors of the succeeding Yuan Dynasty abandoned the old site of Zhongdu (in today’s western Xuanwu District), and built open drainage channels on street sides of their capital, Dadu (southern wall just north of today’s North Second Ring Road). “Before construction, builders made a comprehensive layout, including a designed drainage system and paved sewage ditches,” said Tan Liefei, a researcher of Beijing’s history.

 

Ming and Qing Dynasties

“The concealed drainage technology used during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties preceded that of Europe.”

——a principal of the Beijing Water Authority Drainage Management Department

 

Drainage systems used during the Ming and Qing dynasties were better developed than that of the Yuan Dynasty. Most of the alleyways, streets and hutong had ditches concealed underground. Beginning with the Ming Dynasty, residents covered open drainage ditches with flat stones; these ditches were given the name “board ditches” (bangou). During the Qing Dynasty, the use of fully concealed ditches appeared in the drainage system. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, in 1786, the ditches reached a length of 429 kilometres in Beijing. Now there are at least 600 blind ditches still in use that were constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties and the Republican period. They are mainly found in Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chongwen and Xuanwu districts.

Some of the Ming and Qing drainage achievements can be found in the Forbidden City, where its drainage lines, open ditches and blind ditches intertwined and connected all the palaces and courtyards. Generally, water was gathered by east–west sewage lines that flowed into a north–south line that flowed into the Jinshui River (the river in front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony). Two sides of three palaces (the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, the Palace of Earthly Tranquillity) had north–south concealed ditches to deal with the rain runoff. At the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony and Hall of Preserved Harmony), rain was a special event, because after a rain, water spouted from nearly 1,000 stone dragons’ mouths. There was a regulation during the Ming and Qing dynasties mandating that ditches in the Forbidden City be cleaned in spring. These water courses are still in use today.

 

Modern Times 

Beijing’s drainage systems degraded during the Republican period.

Kong Qingpu, a retired professor with the Beijing Municipal Engineering Corporation, said, “They were silted up, and only a small part of the sewage system could be used.

From 1953–57, about 251 kilometres of new sewage lines were built; most of the city’s sewage/drainage lines in use today were built at that time. They are in a sad state as evidenced by a collapse under a service road on the East Third Ring Road in Beijing on January 3, 2006, which came because of a broken sewer. Some of these old lines still pose a danger: the grading of some is too steep, which results in the collection of decaying matter that can produce poisonous and explosive gases that threaten underground workers.

Wang Lan, deputy-secretary-general of the China Urban Water Association, said, “We can’t neglect them: once something goes wrong, this underground system could cause even greater trouble.”

 

Future Underground Systems

“We now have two small robots brought in from abroad. They can be inserted into our tiny lines that are not easy for people to search,” said Cai Yongmao, secretary of the Party Committee of the Beijing Drainage Pipe System Branch Company. “We use photographs and statistics collected with the robots and we have created a digital archive. Before 2008, we will make a digitalized map so that we clearly understand our underground circumstances.” The city is also upgrading or replacing old pipelines. The construction of Beijing’s future underground systems will be guided by the use of the latest high technologies.

 

Beijing Liao and Jin City Wall Museum

The Beijing Liao and Jin City Wall Museum was built on the site of an old watergate that was built 840 years ago at the southern city wall of Zhongdu. Part of the museum is underground where its long-hidden watergate was discovered by archaeologists in 1990.

Address: Yulin Community, You'anmenwai , Fengtai District

Tel: +86 10 6305 4991

 

Yuan Dynasty Capital City Wall Relics Park

Yuan Dynasty Capital City Wall Relics Park is the largest linear trans-district park. One scenic spot in park is called New Scenery of the Ancient Waterspout (Shuiguan Xinxi). It is built upon a watergate used during the Yuan Dynasty. Guo Shoujing, a well-known astronomer, mathematician, irrigation expert and instrument producer in Yuan Dynasty, guided the layout of the Yuan Dadu drainage project. The watergate at the southeastern corner of the Huayuan Lu junction is the best preserved one and is magnificent for the study of the Yuan drainage system.

 

Drainpipe Museum in Paris

On the Seine River Pont de l'Alma, the Paris Sewer Museum will lead the visitors to a drainage complex six metres underground. Visitors will not get lost because each drainpipe is named corresponding to an aboveground street name and cleaners serve as guides. There are three sections of this drain pipe museum: the first section is exhibition hall of Paris Drainage history; the second section is a part of a drain pipe that is used, with all of its water treated before it flows into the Seine River; and the last section is an audio-visual room, where visitors can enjoy a short-film to get a full sense of the Paris sewage draining system. A three-kilometre long air pressure pipe in the museum can deliver files from French National Assembly to the official journal of France in three minutes.

 

Function of Drainage Facilities

The main function of drainage systems was to allow water to flow through the city wall. But the focus in the Xianfeng Period (1850–1861) of the Qing Dynasty was on preventing the escapes of thieves and robbers. The residents they defended were high officials and noble lords living inside the nine gates area. The “robbers” were the poor people living outside nine gates area. 

The nine gates were the Zhengyang Gate (Front Gate), Chongwenmen, Xuanwumen, Dongzhimen (Chongwenmen), Chaoyangmen (Qihuamen), Xizhimen (Heyimen), Fuehengmen (Pingzemen), Andingmen and Deshengmen gates.