In my 2021 edition of the Forbidden City poster, the serial of seventeen bullets "Watching the Red Walls and Golden Tiles, Appreciating the Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties" has been generously rewarded by many readers. Some readers put forward some opinions and suggestions and pointed out some fallacies. This revised edition was reissued immediately, adopting the opinions and suggestions of early readers, enriching some content, collating clerical errors, and updating and supplementing some pictures. Although I dare not say that all fallacies have been corrected, most of them should have been corrected. A detailed account of the architectural art of ancient China's top palaces seen in the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some royal cultural relics collections displayed in the Forbidden City and traces of royal life in the Qing Dynasty, and also associate some stories and legends that occurred in the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. I dare not say "for readers", just hope to share it with readers. Thank you.

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Since Qianqing Palace is the emperor's home, of course, they still have to do some housework here. These household matters should include fighting between the couple and discussing whether to have a second child, but these are not recorded in the official history. I wonder if there are records in the daily lives of the emperors of each dynasty kept in the Imperial History, but they have not been made public. The official history records some domestic banquets in the Qianqing Palace, where loved relatives and friends went to the Qianqing Palace to have a banquet. This is a family banquet, which is different from the state banquet in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The most important family banquet in Qianqing Palace is New Year's Eve dinner. The Royal New Year's Eve dinner is separated by men and women. On New Year's Eve, it is for women, and on the first day of the lunar New Year, it is for men. During New Year's Eve dinner, the emperor himself dined on the rostrum, the queen dined in the back row of the rostrum, and the others dined on both sides under the rostrum. Because this is a family banquet, it follows the custom of urban and rural people. They also serve cold dishes first, then hot dishes, and a fruit plate is served separately. The emperor is generous. Although it is a domestic matter, there must be rules for housework. Cold dishes are all placed in enamel bowls. There are salted ducks in the Ming Dynasty and blood sausages in the Qing Dynasty, reflecting the origin and origins of the emperor. Hot dishes are also served in enamel bowls. In the Ming Dynasty, there is bird's nest stewed white duck, and in the Qing Dynasty, there is deer tendon stewed meat. Bird's nest was a precious product developed for Zhu Di in Nanyang during Zheng He's voyages to the West. It was not in China before, and even Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had never eaten it. The fruit plate is a large carved lacquer plate with various seasonal fruits, as well as candied preserved fruits. There are bergamot in the Ming Dynasty and apples in the Qing Dynasty. Of course, there are snacks. There are duck meat dumplings in the Ming Dynasty and radish dipped in soy sauce in the Qing Dynasty. Forty flavors of these dishes will be served to each person on the rostrum, and thirty flavors will be served to each person under the rostrum. By the way, there should also be wine. In the Ming Dynasty, Shaoxing wine was used, and in the Qing Dynasty, it was used to kick a cow to death or choke a donkey to death. Because the imperial dining room is near the Qianqing Palace, you can eat hot dishes at the Qianqing Palace banquet, unlike the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where you can only eat cold rice. When you look at these meals, they are no different from what we eat ourselves, right? This is because the emperor's stomach and intestines are the same as ours, and his teeth and throat are similar to ours. If he was really the son of heaven, he should not eat worldly fireworks and only eat elixirs, right?

These three later palaces are also three halls, and the three halls are also on the same continuous platform. Look at the front eaves corridor of the Qianqing Palace.

Looking back along the semi-enclosed side porch, you can see the Palace of Kunning behind.

The one in front of the latter three palaces is the Qianqing Palace, and the one behind is the Kunning Palace. Dry is the sky, Kun is the earth, and the clear sky and the clear earth are cool. You can also understand it as saying that there are no dark clouds and lightning in the sky, and there are no tigers, leopards and wolves on the ground. The ancients said that the emperor and the earth were the mother. Since the emperor slept in the Qianqing Palace, the queen would definitely sleep in the Kunning Palace. That's right, Zhu Di sleeps in the Qianqing Palace, and his wife lives in the Kunning Palace. Which wife? Zhu Di's queen was the daughter of Xu Da, a general under Zhu Yuanzhang. She passed away in the seventh year of Yongle and lived in the Kunning Palace in Nanjing, but did not catch up with the 18th year of Yongle and lived in the Kunning Palace in Beijing. After the death of Empress Xu, Zhu Di never conferred the title of queen again, so during the Yongle period, there was no queen in Kunning Palace in Beijing. After Zhu Di, the wives of the Ming emperors all lived in the Kunning Palace. During the transformation of Renyin Palace, it was Empress Fang, who lived in the Kunning Palace, who rescued Emperor Jiajing.

At that time in the Ming Dynasty, the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace were in the shape of an I-shape connected through a hall in the middle, with a round hall in the middle. Therefore, the Ming Palace was also called the "Three Palaces and Two Palaces". In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (1557 AD), the Forbidden City was struck by lightning and caused a fire. During reconstruction, the hall between the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace was renovated, and independent square halls like the first three halls and the Zhonghe Hall were built to prevent the latter three palaces from burning. Camp, completed in the forty-first year of Jiajing. From then on, the royal palace became the "three halls and three palaces". This year, Emperor Jiajing originally wanted to build another outer city wall outside the inner city wall of Beijing. Because he had to rebuild several halls in the palace that had been burned down by fire at the same time, he could not afford it, so he only built the southern outer city wall, namely Zuo 'anmen, Yongding Gate and You' anmen. Take a look at the newly built Jiaotai Hall by Emperor Jiajing.

This Jiaotai Hall is one size smaller than the Zhonghe Hall of the first three halls, but it is the same in shape as the Zhonghe Hall. It is a three-room square hall with a double arch and beam structure, with yellow glazed tiles, single eaves and four corners and spires. The difference is that this Jiaotai Hall does not have an eaves corridor, and there are only open doors on all sides, four doors with six stripes separated by each other, three crossing and six rows of flowers, and dragon and phoenix wood-carved gold skirts. The secondary room is closed by a blue brick sill wall and a grid sill window. In the early Qing Dynasty, Jiaotai Hall was rebuilt in Shunzhi and Kangxi. In the second year of Jiaqing (1797 AD), when Qianlong was still the emperor, there was a fire in Qianqing Palace. After the fire, the reconstruction of Qianqing Palace also included Jiaotai Hall. What we are seeing now is the Jiaotai Hall rebuilt in the second year of Jiaqing.

Look at the ridge temples of Jiaotai Hall. They are the same as the ones in Zhonghe Hall in front.

Look at the painting on the horizontal archway.

You can see that the color paintings of the harmony seals on the upper and lower horizontal beams are different from those in Zhonghe Hall. The one in Zhonghe Hall is called the Golden Dragon Harmony Seal, and the one in Jiaotai Hall is called the Dragon and Phoenix Harmony Seal. Walking down from the Meridian Gate into the palace, this is the first time a phoenix appears in the painting of the harmony seal. The heart of the lower Fang is painted with a dragon, and the head on both sides is painted with a phoenix; the heart of the upper Fang is painted with a phoenix, and the head on both sides is painted with a dragon. Dragon and phoenix are all painted with powder and gold, which means that mineral pigments are used to pile up the lines of dragon and phoenix, and then plated with gold to form an extremely shallow embossed effect. According to the rules, when the changes on both sides of the square heart are green, the dragon or phoenix painted inside is descending, which is called "descending dragons and descending phoenixes"; if the bottom is blue, the dragon and phoenix are painted as ascending, which is called "ascending dragons and descending phoenixes". The color paintings on this horizontal beam are reflected.

The ground in the hall is covered with gold bricks, and between the Ming Dynasty and the back are panels, with a terrace and a throne in front of the screen. On the top is the ceiling of the dragon and phoenix, and on the throne there is a caisson covered with gold, coiled dragons and playing with beads.

Couplets are on gold pillars on both sides of the board screen: Eternal harmony, welcoming the rest of the day and growing; Guan Sui Lin Zhi is the beginning of the king's transformation. "Eternal harmony" comes from the Book of Changes, which means that the world will always be peaceful and the country will be rich and the people will be safe;"Tianxiu" comes from the Book, which means blessing from heaven. "Guan Ju" is a beautiful bird call, which comes from the "Guan Guan Duhou, on the River Island" in the Book of Songs. A gentleman likes to woo a fair lady ";" Lin's toes "are the feet of a unicorn, which are very good and do not kick people. They come from the Book of Songs," The toes of a Lin shake the son, and sigh the Lin ";" Wang Hua "means the enlightenment of the emperor. The whole alliance means that by keeping the world at peace, God can grant the country wealth and the people peace; the emperor must govern the world with kindness.

This couplet was inscribed by Qianlong and should be the same as the "Jiaotai Temple Inscription" on the board. The date of the inscription on the board is "Qianlong Imjin", which is the 37th year of Qianlong (1772 AD). The plaque of "Inaction" hangs on the board screen. "Inaction" must be the concept of inaction in the Tao Te Ching. This is Lao Tzu's warning to the monarch. It said that the monarch should not compete with the people and comply with public opinion and not act recklessly. That is,"for inaction, nothing cannot be ruled." This plaque was inscribed by Kangxi, and what we see now is a replica of the Hongli Dynasty in the sixty-second year of Qianlong. The Qianlong Dynasty didn't have sixty-two years, which was the second year of Jiaqing (1797 AD). This was a plaque rebuilt during the reconstruction of Jiaotai Hall after the fire in the second year of Jiaqing.

On both sides of the throne are placed an enamel fish tank, enamel ends, and gilded incense pavilions, and below is an enamel smoking stove. The most conspicuous thing is that there are many golden towers on both sides and behind the throne. These are all relics of the Qing Dynasty. There are a total of twenty-five golden towers, called the "Twenty-Five Treasures". Treasure: It is also a talisman seal; the royal seal of the court. There were seventeen treasures in the Ming Dynasty, and seven treasures were added in Jiajing, making a total of twenty-four treasures. In the Ming Dynasty, the twenty-four treasures were hidden by the female officials of the Bureau of Treasures, and there was also a treasure supervisor who carried out the etiquette of using treasures. The twenty-four treasures of the Ming Dynasty are now invisible. Although there are suspicious objects in the Forbidden City, they are not real objects. Now Jiaotai Hall contains the twenty-five treasures of the Qing Dynasty. The seemingly golden tower is a bright yellow satin cover with dragon patterns. Now, the satin cover cannot be easily opened, and no tourists know what is inside the satin cover. According to the official statement, the object inside this satin cover is called "Baoyu". After the cover is opened, there are several golden nanmu frames inside. On the shelves is a large golden nanmu box, and there are also small sandalwood boxes inside the big box. In the innermost small box is a seal known as "hand poke", which is called "royal treasure" in official terms, which is also the official seal. When the Book of Changes interpreted the number of days, it was said that "the number of days is twenty-five." Based on this, Qianlong picked out these 25 official seals from the 39 messy ones in the past, which represented the power and prestige of the court. It is generally difficult for us to see ancient texts stamped with these official seals. At most, we can only see the "Treasure of the Qianlong Imperial Brush". That is a private seal, and the corresponding official seal should be the "Emperor's Treasure". Among the twenty-five treasures are two official seals of the Manchu and Chinese bilingual "Emperor's Treasures". One is made of sapphire and is not commonly used. The other most commonly used royal treasure is the "Emperor's Treasure" of sandalwood, which is used to issue edict and anything. Emperors in the Qing Dynasty usually used private seals, but it was very troublesome to use official seals. The imperial treasure seal first asked the Imperial Palace to choose an auspicious day. When the auspicious day came, the leader of the Imperial Palace and the chief eunuch of Jiaotai Hall entered Jiaotai Hall. The eunuchs of Jiaotai Hall usually squat in the duty rooms under the base of Jiaotai Hall.

They set up pre-planned sacrifice tables in the hall. The offerings were not meat dishes such as pig's head and sheep's feet, but vegetarian dishes such as apple steamed buns. Of course, they also served good wine and high-quality roasted incense. Then these people must kneel down and bow their heads first, waiting for the auspicious time to come. When the auspicious time came, they opened the satin cover and took out the royal treasures and inkpad boxes from the boxes and placed them on the altar table. After arranging it, the eunuch went to the Qianqing Palace in front of him to ask the emperor to use the seal. When the emperor comes, he will first salute the royal treasure and put three incense sticks on it, then pick up the official seal, dip it in the ink clay, take three breaths, and stamp it hard on the imperial edict to ensure that the mark fits tightly. This is called a seal seal. After the seal was completed, the emperor left with his hands. The rest of the job was for the leader of the Imperial Tianjian and the eunuchs of Jiaotai Hall to clean up the tail and carry the royal treasure back into the box and cover it with a satin cover. When you encounter the imperial edict of the Qing Dynasty being displayed in the Forbidden City, you may be able to see the "Emperor's Treasure" seal on the edict.

On the left hand of the throne in Jiaotai Hall, which is the position of Dongci Room, there is a wooden pavilion. Inside is a copper pot dripping water for timing.

This was built in the tenth year of Qianlong. It was originally in the Huangji Hall. It was moved here after the fire in the second year of Jiaqing. Self-ringing bells were already used in the palace during the Qing Dynasty. This copper pot dripping water belongs to a ritual vessel, and no water has been added since it was moved. There used to be a Ming Dynasty self-ringing bell on the right hand side of the throne of Jiaotai Hall, which was also lost in the fire in the second year of Jiaqing. It was later rebuilt in the third year of Jiaqing according to the scale of dripping water from the copper pot opposite. In the Qing Dynasty, Jiaotai Hall was the time center of Beijing. After the self-ringing bell here told the time, the bells and drums of Shenwu Gate chimed in unison, and then the "seven bells and drums" of the Bell and Drum Tower outside Di 'anmen sounded one after another. Finally, people in the city wound the wind at home.

This self-ringing bell was made by the Qing Dynasty Manufacturing Office. It is covered with woodcuts and is very exquisite. Strangely enough, the pillar frame of the Great Bell reminds me of the bronze canopy in St. Peter's Basilica. It is one of the representative works of the famous Italian Baroque artist Benini, which is 150 years earlier than the large self-ringing bell in the Jiaotai Hall.

It was mentioned earlier that the memorial ceremony for the emperor's personal sacrifice ceremony would be reviewed by the emperor personally in Zhonghe Hall. Before going to Xiannongtan to farm, corn seeds and nine-toothed harrows would also be inspected in Zhonghe Hall. The only ceremony for the queen's personal sacrifice is the silkworm kiss ceremony, but the queen cannot go to the front hall, which is suspected of interfering with the government. In the Jiaotai Hall, which is equivalent to Zhonghe Hall in the Third Palaces, the Empress reviewed the manuscripts of the silkworm kissing ceremony and also inspected the utensils. Every year in mid-spring, the emperor led all his ministers out of the Meridian Gate and Tiananmen Square to pay homage to Shennong at Xiannong Altar, planting one acre and three fields of land on his land. In March every year, the queen leads all the women in the palace out of Shenwu Gate to the Beihai Xian Silkworm Altar to worship the silkworm god, which is called the silkworm kiss ceremony. In addition, on major festivals such as the first day and winter solstice, as well as the emperor's birthday and longevity festival, all ministers will go to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to congratulate. At this time, the women in the palace and the Fujin people from the palace would go to Jiaotai Hall to congratulate the queen sitting on the throne inside, especially the queen's birthday and the Thousand Years Festival. So you see, this queen is known as the mother of the world, but the queen of the Qing Dynasty did not show her mother's honor in the Kunning Palace of the Central Palace, but in the Hall of Jiaotai. Some people say that Jiaotai Hall is a place where the emperor and queen had sex, but it is actually wrong. In the Ming Dynasty, this was the corridor between the Qianqing Palace and the Kunning Palace. How to be intimate? In the Qing Dynasty, we couldn't live on a throne that was neither kang nor couch in front of the treasures of our ancestors, right?

Walk to the side of Jiaotai Hall.

You can see the Palace of Kunning in the back. If you pay attention, you will find that there is a door in the middle of the east and west sides of Jiaotai Hall, and both sides are closed by green brick walls. Moreover, since the Qianqing Palace, the foundation of the last three palaces has not been white marble handrails, but has been replaced with yellow-green glazed brick walls.

Behind the Hall of Jiaotai is the Palace of Kunning. Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace are a pair of palaces. Their names are derived from the "Heaven gets one to clear, and the earth gets one to calm" in the Tao De Jing, which means Qianqing Kunning Palace. The Emperor and Mother Earth lived in the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace respectively.

The Kunning Palace is similar in shape to the Baohe Hall in front, but it is much smaller in scale. It is only seven rooms wide and three rooms deep, and there are also eaves corridors around it. The top is also a double-arched and beam-lifting structure, with yellow glazed tiles on the roof of the hall and seven ridged beasts; the Baohe Hall is on the top of the mountain with double eaves and nine ridged beasts. The platform in front of the Kunning Palace is much smaller than the Baohe Hall, so the distance between it and the Jiaotai Hall is very close.

The Kunning Palace in the Ming Dynasty was the dormitory of the empress of the dynasty. It was a very formal hall with an open door in the middle and a warm pavilion in the east and west. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen finally wrote his edict in Qianqing Palace and gave each of the empresses a white silk. After receiving the white silk, Empress Zhou returned to the Kunning Palace to kill herself. After Shunzhi entered Beijing, the Kunning Palace was rebuilt in the twelfth year of Shunzhi, and the Kunning Palace was completely renovated in accordance with the style of Qingning Palace, the main palace of the Shenyang Forbidden City. In the Qing Dynasty, the gate of the Kunning Palace was opened in the Dongci Room, and the original four separate doors were changed into two board doors. The original partition windows have also been changed into mulled hanging windows.

The most important thing is to renovate the interior. The two rooms on the east side of the entrance are converted into sleeping halls, and the four rooms on the west side of the entrance are converted into sacrificial halls. The Manchu believe in shaman, a very ancient cult similar to Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism has a theory, but shamans do not; Zoroastrianism has gods, but shamans do not have; so Zoroastrianism is a religion, and shamans are not a religion. Shaman worship used to be popular in the cold regions of the north, at least north of the Great Wall, places like Mongolia, Jurchen, Eskimos, Siberia and northern Europe. The shamans we know are the jumping gods, which is a means for shamans to communicate with heaven. Shamans communicate with heaven through dancing gods, and then they can exorcise ghosts, eliminate diseases, and summon souls, etc. The Qing Emperor brought shaman sacrifices to the palace. In fact, he knew that shaman jumping into the gods would not solve anything. The emperor uses shaman worship to rule those people who worship shamans, just like the emperor adds incense to inscriptions on temples and halls.

The sacrificial activities of Kunning Palace are actually attended by shamans when offering sacrifices to gods. The gods sacrificed come from all over the world, including Buddha Sakyamuni, Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Great Demon Conquering Emperor Guan Gong, Changbai Mountain God, Mongolian God, and Earth God. There are sacrifices every day and every night in the Kunning Palace, and major sacrifices are held on the first and fifteenth days. There is a kitchen opposite the entrance, with three large pots in it, two for boiling meat and one for steaming cakes. Every night at twelve o'clock, the third-rank female official Shaman drove into the palace with two panting pigs. She had to rush into the palace from Shenwu Gate to the Palace of Kunning before the Yuquan Mountain Car. In the Palace of Kunning, there were ministers and security eunuchs who were sent to accompany the sacrifice to participate in the sacrifice. The empress usually had to be present on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar calendar. The emperor was not necessarily there. If he wanted to go to the morning court, he would not participate in the Palace of Kunning to worship the gods. Shaman danced like a god while singing. This is called a congratulatory speech. The shaman dances, sings, and accompanies herself. It's very hard. Look at her musical instrument, called the "waist bell".

After the congratulatory speech, the Shaman took a bowl of wine and poured it on the ears of the panting pig. The pig slapped its ears and the Shaman said that God had heard it. Push the pig to the stove to kill it, boil the meat in white water and steam the cake, and it will be cooked in a short time. Each person is given a piece of meat and a plate of cake. This is called "sharing of blessings", and the meat is called "zuo meat". Everyone took out knives and cut the piece of meat. Those with high skills could cut paper-like thin fat meat with skin. According to the rules, this meat should be eaten white, but it will kill people. Everyone secretly brings salt or brings a coffee-colored towel to wrap the meat and eat it. The coffee-color is actually a big sauce. Food is not allowed to be taken away at the court sacrifice. This group of ministers is the most pitiful. After eating this piece of meat, it is estimated that they will vomit after seeing the meat within a month, so it is not the same group of ministers who participate in the court sacrifice every day. The meat that cannot be eaten after the evening sacrifice can be taken home in your pockets, including cakes. Someone brought the meat home and circulated it among the neighbors. When the neighbors tasted it, the taste was extremely delicious. This neighbor went to Xisi Street to rent a shop, then built a stove and set up a pot to cook meat, and started a white meat cooking business. This was the origin of Beijing's time-honored casserole house.

During the Ming Dynasty, Qianqing Palace was the emperor's bedroom, called the "Main Palace"; Kunning Palace was the queen's bedroom, called the "Middle Palace". The emperor's wedding was in the main palace, and the wedding ceremony was also in the main palace. In the Qing Dynasty, after the Kunning Palace was initially repaired, it was occupied by the Empress of Emperor Shunzhi and was soon abolished; the successor Empress Xiaohuizhang lived in the Kunning Palace. The first two empresses of Kangxi once lived in the Palace of Kunning, namely Queen Xiao Chengren, Soni's granddaughter, and Queen Xiao Zhaoren, the daughter of She Bilong; the subsequent imperial concubine Tong Jiashi became queen on the last day of his life, but did not live in the Palace of Kunning. After Yongzheng, even the emperor lived in Yangxin Hall, and it was even more impossible for the queen to live in the Kunning Palace. The Kunning Palace became a new house for holding ceremonies. The emperor's wedding was the most distant ceremony in the palace. The potential queen sat in the phoenix carriage and walked from the Meridian Gate to the Palace of Kunning along the central axis. In the entire Qing Dynasty, only Shunzhi, Kangxi, Tongzhi and the Zhonggong empresses of Emperor Guangxu walked this path. The Palace of Kunntranquility has been used four times to make a new house, each time for three days, and it has become a royal shrine to worship. Although the Qianqing Palace in the Qing Dynasty was still called the main palace, it became the emperor's office; and the so-called "Empress of the Central Palace" did not live in the Kunning Palace of the Central Palace later on. The current Kunning Palace is decorated according to the appearance of the Qing Dynasty. The Dongnuan Pavilion is the new house, and the West Fourth Room is the Shrine of Sacrifice. In Manchu custom, the new house cannot be too far away from the god or too close to the god, so there is an east room between the new house of Kunning Palace and the Shrine of Sacrifice. The east and end rooms are a shared room, with a red carpet covered under the south window. On the north side of the tip room is the wedding kang, and on the north side of the tip room is the wooden couch bed for living.

There is a red curtain hanging on the wedding kang, and it is jubilant. There was only a pair of cushions and cushions on the wooden couch in the entire room. It must be the emperor sitting there and the queen sitting on the emperor's lap. The quilt on the emperor's wedding kang is very beautiful, and the brocade quilt is embroidered with hundreds of children. The earliest person to have hundreds of sons in Chinese written records is "King Wen Bai Zi". King Wen mentioned Ji Chang, King Wen of Zhou. This text comes from "The Book of Songs·Daya·Siqi". The original words say,"Da Si (Nian Si) inherits the sound of Hui, and then Bai Si is male", which means that Ji Chang's wife Tai Si inherited the good name of her predecessor and gave birth to a hundred sons. This must be a very exaggerated statement and violates the laws of nature. This is the originator of today's "rainbow fart". In fact, King Wen of Zhou had only twenty sons. The eldest son of Taisi died young, and the second son, Ji Fa, later became King Wu of Zhou. After King Wen, successive Chinese emperors prayed for more sons to continue the throne of the emperor. Therefore, there must be a quilt for hundreds of children in the royal wedding room. Nowadays, it has spread among the people that there are people who get married with a quilt for hundreds of children.

Look at the Shuangxi paper-cuts on the ceilings of the semi-enclosed eaves corridors on both sides of the Kunning Palace.

Look at the gold-plated coiled dragon and seal ceiling on the eaves of the Palace of Kunning.

In the past, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, there was a wooden shadow wall on the platform outside the Dongnuan Pavilion of Kunning Palace to prevent eunuchs and palace maids from spying on the emperor and queen's newlywed intimacy. There is also a sundial on the platform outside the Palace of Kunning, which is only used for decoration. No one lives there and of course no one watches the time.

There is also such a platform on the other side of the platform. It is empty and has no capacity.

There is also a white marble base on the platform, which looks like a flagpole base, which may be related to the worship of gods.

Although it was rebuilt in the third year of Jiaqing, the corners and corners have already become rotten.

Like the front three palaces, the back three palaces also have three courtyards. The Qianqing Palace and side halls on both sides, east and west corridors and Qianqing Gate are surrounded by the first entrance courtyard, which is the Qianqing Palace Square; the Kunning Palace also has side halls on the east and west, which together with the Qianqing Palace form the second entrance courtyard, which is the back three palaces; the Kunning Palace and the Kunning Gate behind it form the third entrance courtyard, which is Kunning Gate Square.

In the small courtyard on the east side of the Qianqing Palace, there is a hall called Hongde Hall, which was called Yongsu Hall in the Ming Dynasty, and renamed Hongde Hall in the Wanli Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty.

After the Jiaqing fire in the Qing Dynasty, it was rebuilt according to the Ming system. Yong means harmony; Su means courtesy and respect. Promote virtue, promote literature and promote virtue. During the Ming Dynasty, the emperor met with ministers privately here to avoid being too formal. In the Qing Dynasty, this was the emperor's lecture study room, where he and the emperor's teachers taught Confucius Theory, the Four Books and Five Classics. Especially those sons and emperors who ascended the throne in childhood, they must have an imperial teacher to teach them books. Although it is too late to read through tens of thousands of volumes, you still need to have literature in your mind and books in your heart to be in charge of politics.

The hall in the small courtyard on the west side of Qianqing Palace is called Zhaoren Hall, which was also rebuilt according to the Ming Dynasty system after the Jiaqing fire in the Qing Dynasty. Zhaoren also demonstrates benevolence. The function of this hall in the Ming Dynasty is unknown. Before Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he gave his queen and concubine white silk to supervise him. He also summoned Princess Zhaoren to Zhaoren Hall and killed her. This was the ultimate use of this hall in the Ming Dynasty and was extremely tragic. In the Qing Dynasty, the emperor used this hall as a private reading place for books. During the Qianlong period, the collection of books in this hall was classified and sorted out, and fake and inferior editions were thrown out. All the precious and precious editions were collected to compile the "Tianlu Linlang Biography", and a plaque titled "Tianlu Linlang" was hung in the room. After the fire in the second year of Jiaqing, this hall was turned to ashes, and many good books were lost. After three years of reconstruction, only more than 600 books were restored and "Tianlu Linlang Continuation" was recompiled.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were corridors on the east and west of the Qianqing Palace connecting Hongde Hall and Zhaoren Hall. The Qing Dynasty changed the corridor into a wall and built an independent courtyard, which is what we see now. Standing on the back moon platform of the Qianqing Palace and looking at the small courtyard of Hongde Hall. The main hall inside is a single eaves and Xie top, which is regular and accurate. But the hut behind it is a rolling shed on a hard mountain top, which means that the house is very small.

There are also several small and well-known halls in the verandah of the Qianqing Palace. One of them is the South Study Room. The South Study Room is the most westernmost end of the Nanzhu Hall in the Qianqing Gate, which sits south and north. It is the one with a hanging belt in front of the door in the picture below.

There is nothing special about this hall, and no one has verified what it was used for in the Ming Dynasty. When Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty was six years old, Emperor Shunzhi suddenly became seriously ill. Because his third son, Xuan Ye, had suffered smallpox as a child and was immune to it, he issued a will to make him the crown prince, ordering Soni, Suksaha, Sebilong and Obai to assist the government. Xuan Ye ascended the throne and became Emperor Kangxi. He gradually understood things, but he was influenced by the four auxiliary ministers and was not allowed to perform his duties. Especially Oboi, not only monopolized power, but also repeatedly monopolized power. In the sixth year of Kangxi, Sony passed away from illness and was buried in Suojia's tomb outside Xizhimen. Kangxi took the opportunity to jump out and climb to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to govern himself. I didn't expect that Obai dared to murder Suksaha ten days later. Wasn't this a "pure monarch"? He also arbitrarily granted himself and Sebelong a first-class official. Although Kangxi took classes in Hongde Hall when he was a child, he opened the south study room as a study room. After school, he often wrestled and practiced with several core guards, which secretly identified several considerate and powerful guards. On May 16, the eighth year of Kangxi (1662 AD), Kangxi was sitting in the south study room and writing when he suddenly remembered Oboi's many misdeeds, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he became. Life can be tolerated! He called the considerate guard into the south study room to accompany him in self-study, and then ordered the eunuch Xuan Ao to bow into the palace to face you. The eunuch led Obai to the south study room. As soon as he entered, Kangxi shouted,"This thief dares to see me with a sword, take him down!" Before Obai could clearly hear the dialect Kangxi had learned by borrowing guards from Southern Shaolin Temple in Fujian, he was put down and held down by several strong men behind the door. When he looked up on the ground and saw Kangxi's big riding boots in front of him, he shouted,"Your Majesty, what's in my waist is not a sword, but an itch." Kangxi angrily said,"How dare you talk back"? When Oboi heard this, he knew "it's over". Kangxi put Obai in prison without bail, and ordered his ministers to draw up his thirty major crimes and ask him to be executed. Kangxi pretended to be mindful of his old merits, sentenced him lightly to life and killed all his cronies. In another case, he removed all the famous princes of Pylon and transferred the position of first-class duke to his son. The following year, Kangxi restored his reputation in order to suppress Bilong, accepted his daughter as a concubine, and later granted him the second queen in the Jin Dynasty. From then on, Kangxi relaxed his mind, removed all shackles (thinking only), and truly became emperor. In the 16th year of Kangxi, during the pacification of Sanfan tribes, the war situation was chaotic, and the emperor was not only in his heart but also in his hands. That is really "there is no way to eliminate this worry, so I only frown, but it comes to my heart." In order to avoid the shackles of cabinet officials, Kangxi selected several capable ministers and let them walk into the south study room. When there is something wrong, these capable ministers can advise the emperor and draft an encyclical; when there is nothing wrong, they can accompany the emperor to advise the country and the country, or just chat with the emperor. This confidential secretariat in Nanshuyuan lasted until the Guangxu Period before being cancelled. In fact, when Yongzheng established the Military Aircraft Department after Kangxi, Nanshuyuan was basically abandoned.

Hongde Hall was the place where the emperor studied. Kangxi set up the study room in the south study room. He also opened a school for the princes and hired teachers to teach. Kangxi's children's school was originally set up in the Nantang Hall next to the east of Qianqing Gate, and was named the Upper Study Room. The advantages of putting it here are that you can walk out of the window at any time to check the classroom discipline, and the second is to prevent teachers from traveling thousands of miles in the inner palace from meeting the true monarch in details.

The boundary wall of the upper study room is the Qing Dynasty reverence room. It was established during the Kangxi Dynasty and was renamed the Palace Supervisor during the Yongzheng Dynasty. This is the Qing Dynasty Organ Affairs Administration Bureau, which is the institution that manages eunuchs in the palace.

There is a Yimao (Nianmao) Qin Hall on the west corridor of the Qianqing Palace. This is the place where the Qing Emperor collected calligraphy and paintings.

Mao diligence means "learning diligently". Learn hard to govern politics every day."Mao diligence" is often used in the study room. Last year, the Forbidden City once brought Su Shi's paintings and paintings collected in the Qing Dynasty to the Wenhua Hall for exhibition. There are also many calligraphy and carved stones collected in the Qing Dynasty. Kangxi once privately expanded and compiled a volume. The name is called "Maoqin Dian Fa Tie". He often took out calligraphy and played with it, but abandoned the carved stones in a distant hut. When New China sorted out the cultural relics of the Forbidden City and discovered these carved stones, most of them had been weathered and the handwriting was unclear. To say that there are really many ancient cultural relics wasted by the royal palaces of the past dynasties. The imperial jade seal of the imperial court has long been lost; Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Collection of Lanting" was also lost by the royal palace. In addition to practicing calligraphy in Maoqin Hall, the Qing Emperor also approved the autumn chop list sent by the ministers here, called "Goudao Yi". The Ministry of Punishment will take whoever's name is picked up by the emperor with a red pen to the vegetable market and eliminate it.

Take a look at the Rijing Gate in the east corridor of Qianqing Palace Square. This door is stomped up and down, not paved. Look, there are no red stones in the middle of the steps. This is not the royal road. The emperor does not walk here, but the emperor walks on the verandah. Nowadays, when the sun sets west every winter, there are many people standing here at Rijing Gate facing the east. It turned out that the setting sun at this time projected the spine beast on the ridge of the roof of Rijingmen onto the east wall. Those people were using cameras to collect the phantom of the spine beast on the wall.

The place opposite the East Corridor of Qianqing Palace and Maoqin Hall is Duanning Hall. Duanning means dignity and solemnity. The emperor's solemn clothes, hats, shoes and socks are all hung here, and the room is full of bright yellow.

The southernmost tip of the East Corridor of Qianqing Palace is the imperial pharmacy, which is the place where the imperial doctors are on duty.

The imperial doctors treated the emperor and the queen, and the imperial doctors treated other people in the palace. The imperial doctors sat in the outpatient department of the Imperial Hospital inside the Donghua Gate. Royal doctors are of course highly skilled people selected from the Imperial Hospital. If the emperor's beloved concubine falls ill, the emperor will ask the imperial doctor to see her. The imperial doctor also had to prescribe a prescription after seeing a doctor, and then an eunuch from the imperial pharmacy took the prescription and ran to the longevity pharmacy in the West Hall of Kunning Palace to get the medicine.

At the small door next to Shoushou Pharmacy, the medicine delivery truck enters the palace from Shenwu Gate, and then takes Xiyi Long Street to get here.

There were no imperial kitchens in the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty. At first, Guanglu Temple was responsible for cooking, and later, it was eunuchs of the Qianqing Palace who cooked for the emperor. In the early Qing Dynasty, the imperial dining room was located in the east corridor of Qianqing Palace. After Emperor Yongzheng moved to Yangxin Hall, he built an imperial dining room in the south of Yangxin Hall alone. The imperial dining room of the Qianqing Palace was moved outside the east corridor of Baohe Hall, which is located on the west side of the Arrow Pavilion opposite the gate of the Treasure Hall. It is called the Outer Imperial Dining Room. Now this is the Forbidden City restaurant. Because the Forbidden City is a top cultural relic, fires are prohibited. In the past, there were no restaurants. After Mr. Shan Jixiang took office as director of the Forbidden City, he walked around the palace and saw tourists eating cold bread or frozen steamed buns they brought with him. It was very tragic. He fully exercised his right to pity and collaborated with relevant leaders in Dongcheng Area to establish a restaurant in the Forbidden City that now has no open flames. Dean Shan finally saw tourists eating hot noodles in the Forbidden City restaurant, and he was extremely pleased.

There are many chefs in the imperial dining room because they cook when the emperor holds a banquet. You know, the big banquet cannot be compared to the emperor's private meal. The names of the dishes at the banquet are all very intimidating, but the taste is definitely not as good as those made for the emperor alone. Besides, you don't go to the emperor's banquet to eat vegetables, just to admire the names of the dishes. The emperor ate alone and ate a large table alone. There were many delicacies from mountains and seas, pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks in droves, bowls, cups, chopsticks, spoons, knives and forks. Occasionally, when the emperor was eating, a minister would come to report something. When the emperor heard the minister's words inconsistent, he looked up and saw that he was watching the dining table and swallowed saliva. At this time, the emperor would ask the ministers to eat together, but the ministers could only eat standing up and only eat the dishes that the emperor had cooked. Yongzheng, the one with the smallest lunch amount of the Qing Emperor, often only drank porridge and ate pickles. The one with the largest appetite was Qianlong. He was rich and ate at a large table. If he couldn't eat, he would reward others. Nowadays, some people who claim to be descendants of royal chefs open restaurants. I guess they are descendants of the chefs of this foreign imperial dining room. Anyway, Beihai imitates cuisine. The dishes cooked by the descendants of the imperial cuisine are all very neat. After you taste them, you will say to yourself,"I'd better save them for the emperor." The emperor's festive banquet is probably equivalent to the state banquet in the banquet hall of the Great Hall of the People today. The banquet hall of the National People's Congress Hall is now open to the public. One month before the Spring Festival, many enterprises and institutions held annual meetings in the banquet hall of the National People's Congress Hall. That grand banquet hall can accommodate almost 400 tables, which means nearly 4,000 people will eat a fake state banquet. I have also eaten this kind of dinner for enterprises and institutions, which is definitely not as delicious as the big dish that Premier Zhou invited Nixon to dinner. Premier Zhou often serves Huaiyang cuisine when he treats guests. Although he is from Shaoxing, he is from Huai 'an and is proficient in Huaiyang cuisine. Therefore, top-notch Huaiyang cuisine can be served at the state banquet in the Great Hall of the People.

There are also side halls on the east and west sides of the Palace of Kunning. Probably because the rear halls have not been of great use since the Palace of Kunning became a place of sacrifice, they have no serious names, and are called East Warm Hall and West Warm Hall. Look at the small courtyard of the West Warm Hall, which is the same as the small courtyard of the Zhaoren Hall on the west side of the Qianqing Palace.

Standing on the back platform of the Palace of Kunning and looking at the small courtyard of the West Warm Hall, there was actually a chimney behind the main hall. This reminds me of the chimney behind the Qingning Palace in the Forbidden City in Shenyang.

Turning around and looking, there was indeed a stove hole under the chimney.

Is this the boiler room of the Housangong Palace? Manchu people have to sleep on kang beds, and this boiler room should be a Qing Dynasty building. How did the royal family keep warm in winter in the Ming Dynasty? The Zhu family is from the south. They should use braziers to warm them in winter. However, the Qianqing Palace and the Kunning Palace are very large, and the horsepower of the brazier is estimated to be limited. Therefore, this boiler room may have existed in the Ming Dynasty, and it is not possible to guess without textual research. Anyway, this boiler room must be used to heat the three rear palaces, and there must be more than this boiler room in the Forbidden City. The main hall should be covered with floor heating.

Behind the Palace of Kunning, the handrail on the platform is facing Kunning Gate.

North of Kunning Palace and south of Kunning Gate is Kunning Gate Square. This square is very small and a long strip. Compared with Qianqingmen Square, this Kunningmen Square is not only narrower, but also shorter. However, similar to the east and west sides of Qianqing Gate Square, there are also two buildings on the east and west sides of Kunning Gate. Look at Kunning West Courtyard in the west.

There are Yi halls on both sides of Kunning Gate, and Kunning West Courtyard is a small courtyard in front of the West Yi Hall. Go into the courtyard and take a look. The halls on both sides of Kunning Gate must be facing north and south. The Yi Hall on the west side of this is called Jingyi (Nianqi) Zhai.

The temple on the east side is simply called the East Banfang, and there is also a small courtyard in front of it, which is of course the Kunning East Courtyard.

The Yan Hall in the East Courtyard of Kunning used to store the tea of the Qing Emperor, which was all kinds of tribute teas. Look at the sign in front of the door, it's still a teahouse.

When you reach Kunning Gate, you will have reached the end of the three palaces. Outside Kunning Gate is the Imperial Garden.

Standing on the Qianqing Palace Square at a dark dusk, you will find that this hall is very gloomy and terrifying.

Even the usually glittering cauldron stoves on the platform have lost their refreshing golden glow.

Days like this must be quite difficult for the emperor, so no matter what kind of cronies you are, it is best not to come to the emperor at this time to deliver memorials to the emperor, because such days are also the emperor's "day of murder and arson."

If it were sunset on the clear and clear day that day, this hall would look golden.

At this time, there will be passionate tourists dressed up as geeks standing in the square, and specialized talents will come to charge a fee to take pictures of them.

After taking pictures, they all walked into the shadow of the side porch.

It was dusk under the corridor of the main hall.

Of course, the eaves were also sprinkled with golden light.

The cauldron furnace is no longer gloomy.

The small golden hall of mountains, rivers and grains is interspersed with light and dark.

It's time to leave.

The eaves are wrong, the red pillars fall, and the palace and courtyard are shining in the dusk. There is no smoke in the stove and no immortals in the hall. A century of emperors and emperors have passed since then.

Evening is still night, night is still night, the ancient hall is rare for guests today. White jade railings, gold tiles, carved dragon thrones, phoenixes and Fangs, Ho.

Write a song "The Head Phoenix" to entertain yourself.

(To be continued)