DONGJING MENG HUA LU / 卷七
駕幸寶津樓宴殿
Behind the tower.
South of Baojin Tower the banquet hall, the archery hall, the polo street and an old-parasol-tree lane; and at the garden gate, the dry drill that the public may watch on ordinary days.
WALK BEHIND THE TOWER ↓1. The banquet hall and the lanes behind it.
寶津樓之南有宴殿，駕臨幸，嬪御車馬在此。尋常亦禁人出入，有官監之。殿之西有射殿。殿之南有橫街，牙道柳徑，乃都人擊毬之所。西去，苑西門水虎翼巷橫道之南，有古桐牙道，兩傍亦有小園圃、臺榭。南過畫橋，水心有大撮焦亭子，方池柳步圍繞，謂之「蝦䗫亭」，亦是酒家占。
South of Baojin Tower is the banquet hall. When the emperor visits, the consorts’ carriages and horses are stationed here. Ordinarily people are also barred from going in and out, and an official supervises it. West of the hall is the archery hall. South of the hall is a cross street, a paved way and willow path, where the people of the capital play ball-striking (polo). Going west, to the west gate of the garden, south of the cross lane of Shui Huyi Lane, there is a paved way of old parasol trees, with small gardens and terraces on both sides. Passing south over a painted bridge, one finds in the middle of the water the great “Cuojiao” pavilion, with a square pool and willow walks around it, called the “Xiama Pavilion”; this too is held by wine sellers.
This is a site plan, assembled by compass directions from the tower: banquet hall south, archery hall west of it, the cross street south of it, then a westward lane. The hall is the one restricted place. On ordinary days people are barred and an official supervises it, and on the day of the visit it holds the consorts’ carriages and horses. Around it the entry is public ground, with a ball-playing street for the capital’s people (擊毬, the ball-striking game of which entry 57 shows two staged versions) and small gardens along a lane. The archery hall named here is where entry 58 puts the emperor. The last item repeats the pattern of entry 55: a pavilion in the water, a square pool framed in willows, again “held by wine sellers.” The tower’s south side is thus half court, half street.
2. Dry drill at the gate.
尋常駕未幸，習旱教於苑大門，御馬立於門上，門之兩壁皆高設綵棚，許士庶觀賞，呈引百戲。御馬上池，則張黃蓋，擊鞭如儀。每遇大龍船出及御馬上池，則遊人增倍矣。
Ordinarily, before the emperor has come, the dry drill is practiced at the main gate of the garden. The imperial horse stands at the gate, and on both sides of the gateway colored stands are put up high, where gentry and commoners are allowed to watch and enjoy as the hundred entertainments are presented and led in. When the imperial horse goes up to the pond, a yellow canopy is spread and the whips are cracked as ritual. Whenever the great dragon boat comes out, or the imperial horse goes up to the pond, the number of visitors doubles.
The unit turns from places to a rehearsal calendar. Before the visit, the “dry drill” (the land counterpart of the water drill in entry 53) is held at the garden’s main gate, with stands raised on both sides for the public to watch, so the rehearsal is itself a spectacle. When the horse goes up to the pond the ritual is reproduced complete, with yellow canopy and cracked whips. The closing sentence is the only crowd statistic in the group of entries, stated as a ratio: visitors double when the great dragon boat comes out or when the imperial horse goes to the pond. The text thus names the two events that draw the most onlookers, and they are not the same as the tower’s performance in entry 57.
Three small choices.
The Siku witness doubles 南 (殿之南南有橫街), a likely dittography. Modern editions print one 南, and the page does the same.
The second character is a rare glyph, probably a variant of 蟆 (so “toad pavilion”). The page keeps the witness form and transliterates it, without resolving the name.
The text writes 旱教 (“dry drill”) in contrast to the 水教 of entry 53. The page translates it as a land rehearsal and does not equate it with the later cavalry display.
The hall south of Baojin Tower where the emperor is received and the consorts’ carriages are kept.
The hall west of the banquet hall, used in entry 58.
Ball-striking, the polo game of which entry 57 stages two versions; here played on the cross street by the people of the capital.
The land rehearsal at the garden gate, counterpart to the water drill.
The imperial canopy spread when the horse goes up to the pond.
A pavilion on a square pool among willows, held by wine sellers.
Entry 56 sets down the ground that supports the tower: the one barred hall, the archery hall, the polo street, the lanes of small gardens and pavilions leased by wine sellers, and the dry drill that makes rehearsal a show. Entry 57 now brings the troops under the tower.
每遇大龍船出及御馬上池，則遊人增倍矣。The plan is Meng’s. The punctuation is editorial.
The primary text is read from the Siku-family witness (Kanripo KR2k0111, 卷七); punctuation and the standardization of Siku variant glyphs are editorial. The title’s 寳 is standardized to 寶; the doubled 南 in 殿之南南有 is treated as a scribal repeat.