DONGJING MENG HUA LU / 卷三
大內西右掖門外街巷
Where the State Meets the Street
Government does not occupy an empty quarter. Along the palace’s western edge, administrative offices, military command, restaurants, lodging, medicine, entertainment, punishment, diplomatic hospitality and defensive equipment appear one after another.
ENTER THE CORRIDOR ↓01 / INSTITUTIONAL ADJACENCY
The route keeps changing function.
This is a relative sequence from Meng’s text, not a surveyed plan. Category labels clarify institutional shifts without pretending the city was cleanly zoned.
Entry 16 is strongest when read as adjacency. Each few steps change the function of the street, but the administrative capital never detaches from the commercial city around it.
1. The western palace edge is already mixed.
大內西去右掖門、祅廟，直南浚儀橋街，西尚書省東門。至省前橫街，南即御史臺，西即郊社。省南門正對開封府後墻，省西門謂之西車子曲。史家瓠羹、萬家饅頭，在京第一。次曰吳起廟。WORKING TRANSLATION
West of the palace, the route passes Youye Gate and the Zoroastrian temple, then runs south along Junyi Bridge Street. To the west is the east gate of the Shangshu Sheng. At the cross street before it, the Censorate lies to the south and the suburban ritual establishment to the west. The south gate of the Sheng faces the rear wall of Kaifeng Prefecture; its west gate is called Xichezi Qu. Shi Family calabash soup and Wan Family steamed buns are praised as first in the capital. Next comes Wu Qi Temple.
2. Command, food, lodging and entertainment stay on the same route.
出巷乃大內西角樓大街。西去踴路街，南太平興國寺後門，北對啟聖院街。以西殿前司，相對清風樓、無比客店、張戴花洗面藥、國太丞、張老兒、金龜兒、醜婆婆藥鋪、唐家酒店，直至梁門，正名闔閶。出梁門西去，街北建隆觀，觀內東廊於道士賣齒藥，都人用之。街南蔡太師宅。西去州西瓦子，南自汴河岸，北抵梁門大街，亞其裏瓦，約一里有餘。WORKING TRANSLATION
Leaving the lane brings the route to the main street by the palace’s western corner tower. Continuing west, it passes Taiping Xingguo Temple, Qishengyuan Street and the Dianqian command. Opposite are Qingfeng Tower, Wubi Guesthouse, cosmetic and medicine sellers, pharmacies and Tang Family Wine House, continuing toward Liang Gate, formally called Changhe. Beyond the gate are Jianlong Guan—where a Daoist in the eastern corridor sells tooth medicine used by people of the capital—Cai Taishi’s residence and the western wazi, which extends from the Bian River bank toward Liang Gate Street.
3. Care, punishment, diplomacy and defense appear in one run.
過街北即舊宜城樓。近西去金梁橋街、西大街，荊筐兒藥鋪、棗王家金銀鋪。近北巷口熟藥惠民西局。西去甕市子，乃開封府刑人之所也。西去蓋防禦藥鋪、大佛寺、都亭西驛，相對京城守具所。WORKING TRANSLATION
Across the street to the north stands the former Yicheng Tower. Farther west, near Jinliang Bridge Street and West Main Street, are a pharmacy and a gold-and-silver shop. Near the mouth of the northern lane is the official prepared-medicine outlet Meng calls the Western Huimin Bureau. Farther west is Wengshizi, where Kaifeng Prefecture carried out punishments. Beyond it are another pharmacy, the Great Buddha Temple and Duting West Hostel, opposite an institution responsible for equipment used in the defense of the capital.
GALOK READING
The force of the passage comes from proximity, not a moral slogan. An official medicine outlet, a penal site, diplomatic lodging and a defense-equipment institution are remembered as successive pieces of the same city corridor.
4. The route keeps going.
自甕市子北去大街，班樓酒店。以北大三橋子，至白虎橋，直北即衛州門。WORKING TRANSLATION
From Wengshizi the main street runs north past Banlou Wine House, then by the bridge sequence to Baihu Bridge; directly north lies Weizhou Gate.