My 2021 version of the Palace Museum cover post, serialized as "Viewing Red Walls and Golden Tiles, Appreciating Ming and Qing Imperial Palaces" with seventeen pieces, has received many readers' generous reading. Some readers have put forward some opinions and suggestions, pointing out some fallacies. This revised version has been reissued, incorporating the opinions and suggestions of previous readers, enriching some content, correcting typos, and updating and supplementing some images. Although I dare not say that I have corrected all the fallacies, most of them have been corrected. Detailed appreciation of the top ancient Chinese palace architectural art seen in the Ming and Qing imperial palaces, some royal cultural relics exhibited in the Forbidden City, and traces of royal life in the Qing palace. It is also associated with some stories and legends that occurred in the Ming and Qing imperial palaces, and I dare not say "to entertain readers", but I just hope to share them with readers. thank you.

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In the previous episode, it was said that the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square is very large. It is the largest square inside the building in the world, with a total area of over 30000 square meters. There is a circle of high terraced pavilions or halls around the square, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony is located on a higher three story podium, almost as high as the eaves of the adjacent pavilions. Standing on the platform in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, looking towards the square, it is a sunken square. The emperor was high above, and tens of thousands of people below were crouching in the deep pit, kowtowing to him. In order to prevent people from kowtowing too much and smashing various sizes of pits on the square floor, seven layers of plastered square bricks were laid. The imperial road is made of blue stones, with one on each side. When the royal honor guard arrives at the ceremony, they stand on the blue stone slabs on both sides of the road. At regular intervals, there is a mark where an honor guard stands, holding flags, umbrellas, halberds, axes, swords, and guns, all taken from the top of the Duanmen Tower. The civil and military officials lined up their positions on the square, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing three times with a thud; Stand up and brush the soil off your body, then kneel down and kowtow three heads with a thud; These three encounters are called "kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times".

There are two pavilions on the east and west corridors of Taihe Palace Square, each equivalent to a side hall. In the middle of the east corridor is the Tiren Pavilion.

In the middle of the western corridor is the Hongyi Pavilion.

You see, the plaques on these two pavilions are all in Chinese characters, which was also the mark destroyed by Yuan Shikai back then. Zhu Di's Tiren Pavilion is called Wenlou, and Hongyi Pavilion is called Wulou; In the 41st year of the Jiajing reign (1562 AD), when the Fengtian Hall was renamed as the Huangji Hall, these two buildings were renamed as the Wenzhao Pavilion and the Wucheng Pavilion, which were still one literary and one martial. In the early Qing Dynasty, when Shunzhi changed the Huangji Hall to the Taihe Hall, these two supporting buildings were renamed as the Tiren Pavilion and the Hongyi Pavilion, which are still in use today. These two pavilions were burned by the same fire as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and they also self ignited once again in the 48th year of the Qianlong reign (1783 AD) before being rebuilt. What we see now is the building renovated by Emperor Qianlong, which has been repainted in recent years.

This civil and military second floor stands opposite each other, with identical architectural forms. The pavilion is on the bluestone high platform, with White Marble handrails on the platform and White Marble handrails in front. This is the royal road. They are all two-story pavilions, with a width of nine rooms and a depth of three rooms. Above the lower level is the waist eaves, and above the waist eaves is a two-story flat seat with a circle of eaves supporting pillars. There is also a circle of wooden railing on the flat seat, which is the same as the White Marble railing below. On the second floor is the top of the yellow glazed tile single eave side hall, and there are seven roof figures on the vertical ridge. If you look carefully, you will find that there is a arch of wooden architecture structure behind a ring of yellow and green glazed ridges under the second floor flat railings, which indicates that there is a dark floor, and these two pavilions should be three floors pavilions.

Both floors have a width of nine rooms, with open doors in the open rooms, and threshold windows in the secondary and slightly lower rooms. The two ends of the first floor are sealed with bricks; The middle of the second floor is a wooden wall, which is beneficial for weight loss. The lower double-sided panel door, the window is called a three arrow vertical lattice partition. The second floor is a diagonal lattice flower partition fan. The beams and beams on the upper, lower, and hidden layers are adorned with golden double dragons and seals, which are very beautiful.

Because the Tiren Pavilion was originally a literary building, Kangxi recruited literati here to write poetry and praise like the Tang Emperor did, and even hung the standards of our ancestors here, which can be considered as a poetry and painting society. After the reconstruction by Emperor Qianlong, this became a warehouse called the Silk Warehouse, which stored silk embroidered wooden frames, including the one used by Empress Wei Yingluo. When Emperor Qianlong rebuilt the Tiren Pavilion, his consort had passed away less than ten years ago. Wei Yingluo's embroidery work was actually a joke, and this theory is not recorded in the Qing palace records. By the way, it is said that after Sun Dianying stole and dug up the Yuling of Emperor Qianlong in the Eastern Mausoleum, someone went to clean up the mess and found that the body of Empress Ling had not decayed for 1450 years and still had a smile on her face. It is unknown what medicine Emperor Qianlong had given her.

These two pavilions were called pavilions in the Ming Dynasty and pavilions in the Qing Dynasty. This modification is very important, there is a difference between the buildings and pavilions of ancient Chinese architecture. A building is a "heavy house", with several floors stacked together. The pavilion has a waist eave and a flat seat from the outside. This flat seat and waist eave form a hidden layer, and there is also a mezzanine here indoors. A pavilion with a waist and eaves and a flat seat is a distinctive feature that sets it apart from a building. The two buildings on the east and west corridors of the Hall of Supreme Harmony may have undergone changes in architectural form during the post fire reconstruction during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. Has anyone verified this?

On the north side of the Tiren Pavilion, there is a door on the east corridor called the Left Wing Gate.

According to the symmetry rule, there must be a right wing gate on the west corridor to the north of Hongyi Pavilion.

Outside the left wing gate is the Wenhua Hall, while outside the right wing gate is the Wuying Hall. These two gates were built in the third year of the Shunzhi reign and did not exist during the reign of Zhu Di. It's called the wing gate, but in fact, it's like being in the armpit, very cramped.

There are corridors to the east and west of Taihe Palace Square, and Taihe Gate to the south. There are palace walls on both sides of the Taihe Gate, with side doors leading to the Taihe Palace Square, also known as the Left Hand Zhaode Gate and the Right Hand Zhendu Gate, also known as the Front Left Gate and Front Right Gate.

There are also palace walls on both sides of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the palace walls correspond to the left and right front doors. Look at the middle right door.

Look at the middle left door.

Walking towards the back of the house on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there are two wall doors on both sides. There is a gilded copper cylinder in front of the door, which is very famous because the gilded gold on it was scraped away by the Eight Nation Alliance military bayonet in 1900.

These two cylinders each weigh one ton of copper and one hundred taels of gilded gold, both of which were made during the Qianlong period.

The foundation of the Taihe Hall leads directly to the Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall at the back, and the foundation of the first three halls is connected together. If this platform faces north and south, it is a "soil" character. You can say it's the word "gong" because you haven't seen the huge platform in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Why is it called "soil"? Because there can be something to say. In ancient times, soil represented "society", which is the society of "state". For the Chinese nation, land is fundamental and has been worshipped since ancient times. When Gongzi Chong'er wandered, he became extremely hungry when he arrived at Wulu Township, where he had old farmhouses and local food. Chong Er was angry, and his follower Hu Yan advised him that this was to send the Lord's land, which was very auspicious. Chong'er turns to joy, and eating it makes one full. If we talk about who "eats dirt" now, it means he is like Chong'er who will become a prince in the future. The main hall of the imperial palace stands on "soil", which is the meaning sung in the Book of Songs that "under the sky, there is nothing but royal soil".

Passing through the wall gate on the west side of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Ming and Qing emperors could look up and see different scenery. The Ming emperors could only see the palace walls and roofs, while the Qing emperors could also see the White Pagoda in Beihai Park and the tall Yuhua Pavilion on the west side of the palace.

That white pagoda was built on Qionghua Island in Beihai by Jinba Jiacuo, the Living Buddha of Naomu Khan, after Shunzhi entered Beijing. This is the first Tibetan style white pagoda in Beijing. Prior to the Yuan Dynasty, a Nepalese style white pagoda was built at Miaoying Temple in Fuchengmen. Although they are all Indian pagodas, their styles are different, with the most obvious difference being the wheel on top of the covered bowl. The thirteen layers of Tibetan style pagodas in the Qing Dynasty have slender rings, while those in the Yuan Dynasty are sturdy. That Yuhua Pavilion was built during the Qianlong period after the White Pagoda, and is a Buddhist temple.

Turning around, you can see the Zhonghe Hall in the middle.

This Zhonghe Hall was first called Huagai Hall when it was built by Zhu Di. It was rebuilt after the fire in the 41st year of Jiajing and renamed Zhongji Hall. In Shunzhi, it was renamed Zhonghe Hall and remains so until now. "Zhong" means the foundation of the world, "He" means the way of the world; Take the path of the mean and bring harmony to the world. The Zhonghe Hall is a square shaped hall with a width of three rooms and a depth of three rooms, surrounded by eaves and corridors. On the front, there are three hanging bands and stomping stones, and in the middle, there is an imperial road with cloud and dragon patterns on the Dan Emperor Stone. Look at its door.

This is also a six stroke partition door, with three intersecting six valonia lattice flowers, a Ruyi pattern skirt board, and a lead forged leaf on the frame. The horizontal drape above the door frame is also a three intersecting six valonia lattice flower. The lower part of the east and west sides of the Zhonghe Hall is a blue brick threshold wall, and the upper part is a three intersecting six eaved partition window.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's Nanjing Imperial Palace, this hall is called the Huagai Hall. Zhu Di copied the layout, shape, and name of the Nanjing Imperial Palace. Above the Hall of Harmony is the arch of wooden architecture beam lifting structure. The yellow glazed tiles with single eaves and four corners are gathered into a pointed roof, which seems to have the meaning of a canopy. There are seven roof figures on each of the four pendulous ridges. The Zhonghe Hall was the only building in the previous dynasty that had a ridge temple, which was very magnificent.

Below is a yellow glazed dew tray with floral patterns; Above it is a copper gilded bowl with eight flying dragons; Above the bowl is a dragon pillar, with a dragon head on all four sides; At the top is the precious pearl on the exposed plate, all made of copper gilded gold.

Standing under the hanging ridge, looking at the eaves of the Zhonghe Hall, the beams and beams are adorned with golden double dragons and colorful seals. It is said that the Zhonghe Hall has the words "Zhongji Hall" on the building materials in some dark corners, indicating that this hall is still a product of the 41st year of the Ming Jiajing reign. It can be said that although the King Chuang set fire to the Imperial Extreme Hall in front, it did not spread to the Zhongji Hall and Jianji Hall in the back. The rough and old colored paintings of the Zhonghe Hall that we see now should have been heavily polished during the Qianlong period, while the shiny ones are the result of recent repairs.

Above the Zhonghe Hall is the Panlong Pingqi ceiling, without any caisson. The emperor's throne is also placed on the floor in the middle of the hall, with a horizontal plaque written by Emperor Qianlong hanging above it, reading "Allow to hold onto the throne.".

"Allow to speak up", allow: integrity; Adhere to: uphold; Jue: Its. Allowing to adhere to it means acting in a moderate and impartial manner. The Book of Documents states that "the human heart is only in danger, the Dao heart is only small, the essence is unique, and one is willing to speak out.". The inscription on the Qianlong plaque not only cites scriptures, but also corresponds to the meaning of "Zhonghe" in the ancestral name of this hall, which can be considered as an explanation to the ancestors.

As mentioned earlier, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the grand hall of ceremony, and the emperor cannot help but feel a little excited when encountering such a grand ceremony. Although it's a sedan chair, bumping all the way from the main hall to the foundation of the three main halls can cause bone looseness, weak muscles, dizziness, and dizziness. The emperor is going to visit it in this Zhonghe Hall, change his clothes and take off his hands. There can be a toilet placed behind the throne. If you pay attention, you will find a small sedan chair called "Shoulder Yu" on each side of the wall of the throne, one in charge and one on standby, to prevent one of them from dislocating and preventing the emperor from going to the palace. The emperor put on the autumn pants that the eunuch had carried all the way behind the throne, and then turned out from behind the throne to climb onto the throne, which is known as "ascending the throne". At this moment, a person named "Whip Master" struck the whip three times outside the palace, indicating that the emperor had safely taken his seat. The deacons of the various departments of the grand ceremony knelt down in a row in the Zhonghe Hall. There were reports that "the military has been erected", reports that "the palace gate has been opened and the guards are on duty", reports that "cigarettes have curled up", and reports that "officials from various departments and representatives from all walks of life have arrived". They reported this effort, and the emperor had almost finished resting. He said, "Get up," got off the throne, and headed forward. In front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there were a few strokes of the whip three times. When entering the Hall of Supreme Harmony from the Hall of Harmony, the emperor would not walk through the wall doors on both sides and turn to the front door of the Hall of Supreme Harmony like I did. The emperor walked directly onto the imperial road in front of the Zhonghe Hall and entered the back door of the Taihe Hall, then slowly turned around the large screen behind the throne of the Taihe Hall. Why take a slow step? Because behind them, there will be two palace maids holding long handled peacock feather palm fans. They will hold the fans diagonally and make a fork behind the emperor's head. There will also be several eunuchs queuing up behind them to hold teapots, tea bowls, and imperial pens and hand pokes. If the emperor walks too fast, these palace maids and eunuchs will become disorganized and the team will be difficult to lead. During the Emperor's journey, the Royal Orchestra of the Hall of Supreme Harmony will play music called "Zhonghe Shao Music", with a gentle rhythm and melodious melody.

In addition to the prelude to the above-mentioned grand ceremony to be completed at the Zhonghe Hall, the emperor will also deliver a speech at the Zhonghe Hall correction ceremony, which is "Carrying the Emperor's Edict to Heaven...". Some of these speeches were recited at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, while others were to be delivered to the Meridian Gate for reading, so there should be no mistakes. If the royal grand ceremony is personally performed by the emperor, the sacrificial text must also be corrected by the emperor. These are all called imperial gazetteers, drafted by the Hanlin Academy and then respectfully presented to the Zhonghe Hall for imperial gazetteers.

So you see, the Zhonghe Hall is where the emperor handles private affairs such as resting, changing clothes, and going out to pay respects, occasionally editing documents here. In fact, the true significance of the Zhonghe Hall is for the emperor to sit quietly and reflect before major events. It is possible to summarize the achievements and demerits of previous rulers, officials, fathers, sons, and sons, as well as one's own experiences. It is also possible to look back at the ups and downs of one's emotional journey, either feeling proud or secretly shedding tears. Sigh at the rushing water of the Yellow River that never returns to the sea, and mourn the white hair in the mirror that turns into snow like green silk at dusk. The last bite of his teeth and a stomp of his foot, he shouted, "Cooking sheep and slaughtering cows is a pleasure. When you are about to drink, the cup should not stop. Throughout history, sages and sages have been lonely, and the bells, drums, and delicacies are not precious enough. To be proud of life, one must enjoy it to the fullest, and not let the golden cup empty to the moon.".

The main hall behind the Zhonghe Hall is called the Baohe Hall, and during the reign of Zhu Di, it was called the Jingshen Hall, which was also used in the Ming Palace of Nanjing. After being burned several times, the Jingshen Hall was rebuilt and converted into the Jianji Hall in the 41st year of the Jiajing reign. What we see now is still the original work of the rebuilt main hall. After Shunzhi entered the capital, he changed his name to Baohe Hall and has been living there ever since. Initially, Shunzhi lived in Baohe Hall and even called it Weiyu Palace. After Kangxi ascended the throne, he lived here for eight years and called it Qingning Palace. In the Shenyang Palace Museum, the central palace of Emperor Taiji and Empress Zhezhe is called Qingning Palace. Its left hand is the Guanju Palace of Empress Chen, Hai Lanzhu, and its right hand is the Yongfu Palace of Empress Zhuang. Empress Zhuang was the biological mother of Emperor Shunzhi and later the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

In the Qiangua of the Book of Changes, there is a saying that "protecting Taihe is promoting chastity". Taihe means peace in the world, so Shunzhi named Taihe Hall and Baohe Hall.

In front of the Baohe Hall is also a spacious platform that connects the three main halls. The main hall is nine bays wide and five bays deep, and there is a eaves gallery in front. The size of each room looks slightly smaller than that of the Taihe Hall, so it looks slightly smaller overall. Above is the top of the mountain with yellow glazed tiles and double eaves. There are nine roof figures on the ridge, which is also slightly lower than the Taihe Hall. From the perspective of architectural specifications, the Taihe Hall is the highest, followed by the Baohe Hall, and the Zhonghe Hall is the second highest. The Hall of Preserving Harmony is also a arch of wooden architecture beam lifting structure, and the colored paintings on the beam Fang are also gold affixed with the Double Dragon Seal, which seems to be a legacy of the Qing Dynasty.

The Baohe Hall has removed the six golden pillars in the middle, making the front of the throne very spacious. This is the regularized method of reducing pillars that began in the Song Dynasty. The hall is also paved with golden bricks, with a red painted and gilded platform facing south under the central pillar. On the platform is a throne. Everything is like the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and it has also been made into a warm pavilion. The ceiling, like the Zhonghe Hall, is a flat chess ceiling with a coiled dragon, without a sunken ceiling. These beam structures were all rebuilt after the fire in the 41st year of the Jiajing reign.

When there is a grand ceremony or banquet in the Baohe Hall and Taihe Hall, the ground will be covered with bright yellow plush carpets. In front of the throne is the largest piece with a green dragon pattern. During the ceremony, ministers can freely kneel on the ground without damaging their knees; "Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang. During the banquet, tables were placed on both sides of the carpet in front of the throne, one for each person, all of which were low tables. The person at the banquet sat cross legged behind a low table, eating meat and drinking alcohol in large bowls. This scene is exactly the same as Liu Bang's Hongmen banquet for Xiang Yu. These carpets are still hidden in the warehouse of the Forbidden City. They will be taken out to bask in the sun on sunny days, rolled up and put back after sunset, and you won't forget to put camphor balls. In the early years of the Republic of China, some notorious thieves forged several bright yellow carpets and labeled them as "for use in the Baohe Palace", which were then sold at high prices on the black market. Some of them are now being collected by overseas fools without authorization, and a few years ago, some even showed them off, which was sneered at by experts from the Forbidden City.

When will there be a grand ceremony at the Baohe Hall? In the Ming Dynasty, whenever there was a phoenix coming to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the emperor would first come to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to dress, wear a hat, and blush. When the Emperor conferred the title of Empress or Crown Prince in the Imperial Register, in addition to the Hall of Supreme Harmony ceremony, congratulations were also received here. So it can be said that the Baohe Hall was used in conjunction with the Taihe Hall in the Ming Dynasty.

In the Qing Dynasty, at the beginning, Emperor Shunzhi temporarily resided in the Baohe Hall. After Kangxi moved to the Qianqing Palace, it was not until then that the ceremonial function was restored. After Qianlong grew old, he felt that the Taihe Hall and the Wenhua Hall were too far away. At the age of 78, he moved every imperial examination to the Baohe Hall. From then on, the palace examinations for the three years of the Qing Dynasty were held at the Baohe Hall. During the palace examination, those candidates are called Gongshi. In the early morning, Honglu Temple sends a special person to lead them to line up on both sides of the Danchi outside the Baohe Hall, feeling uneasy. At sunrise, the whip master of Honglu Temple sounded three times, and the emperor slowly ascended to the throne of Baohe Hall amidst the sound of Shao music. These tribute scholars were trembling a hundred times outside the palace, kowtowing and bowing to the emperor three times. After the emperor was saluted, he said "moha moha" and then rode three whips to accompany Zhonghe Shaole back to the palace. During the exam, the emperor sent people to deliver meals to everyone. Each person had four Mantou for breakfast, so they could not eat them for lunch; Dinner consists of four pancakes, without meat or vegetables, but with cold water to drink. At sunset, the tribute soldiers must hand in their papers. The test paper is first evaluated by an expert committee, and the top ten are selected and sent to the emperor for final review. The emperor determines the top three. Four days later, the imperial edict will be released in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which is called Chuanlu. The top scorer, top scorer, and explorer were immediately promoted to official positions, while the others obtained candidates for the Ministry of Personnel with a jinshi background. The first palace examination in ancient China was held in the fourth year of Tang Xianqing (659 AD), when Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, personally initiated the imperial examination to select scholars. The last palace examination was in the 30th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1904 AD), with Liu Chunlin as the top scorer. This year is an additional exam called Encore. In the 31st year of the Guangxu reign, the Qing court abolished the imperial examination and established a new school, ending China's over a thousand year old imperial examination system.

There is a traditional screen behind the throne of the Baohe Hall, with a horizontal plaque hanging from the top and a pair of couplets on both sides, all inscribed by Emperor Qianlong.

The first couplet reads: "Zu Xun Zhao Chui, my descendants, Shang Keqin inherits forever."; The second couplet reads: "The heavenly heart sends a warning, but only a thousand subjects and commoners from all directions should consider and protect the boundless territory.". Shang: Still; K: Can; Qincheng: respectfully inherit. The couplet encourages oneself to earnestly inherit ancestral teachings and become a good emperor. The most important ancestral motto of the Qing Dynasty was "Respect the Heavenly Dharma Ancestor, Diligent Governance and Profound Virtue.". Heavenly Heart Descending Mirror: The Heavenly Heart is observing your actions; Xinjiang: Endless. The lower couplet is a warning to oneself that the heavens have eyes monitoring whether you are striving to ensure the well-being of the world and benefit the people. On the horizontal plaque, it reads "The Emperor Built His Extremities", and the classic inscription from the Book of Documents reads "The Emperor Built His Extremities". Pole: The main beam of a house, also known as the pillar. This means that the emperor wants to establish a government of governance.

The Taihe Hall, Zhonghe Hall, and Baohe Hall are built on a single foundation. There are White Marble handrails on the east and west sides of the platforms of Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall.

There are no courtyard walls on either side of the Zhonghe Hall, and one of the three main halls can be seen when passing through the walls of the Taihe Hall.

There are courtyard walls on both sides of the Baohe Hall. After passing through the wall doors, standing on the pedestal, one can see the roofs of the harem and the scenic mountains outside the palace. Many tourists have patrolled here to observe.

There are also staff members ready to pick up fallen tourists or unruly troublemakers at any time.

There are three handrails on the White Marble pedestal on the third floor of the rear of the Baohe Hall. You can walk down the stairs by stepping on them. The middle one is the Royal Pill.

There are a total of three sections of the Imperial Palace Dan Emperor, and the Dan Emperor Stone in the middle of the bottom section is the famous "Palace Museum Stone Carving".

Because there is no place to verify, it is inferred that this Dan Emperor Stone was already present in Zhu Di's early construction of the Forbidden City. Everyone knows that this stone is produced in the Dashiwa of Fangshan in the suburbs of Beijing. It is also known that when this stone was mined from the mountains, it had a net weight of 300 tons and was poured into ice in winter, then dragged into the city on an ice track. This stone is not White Marble, but the same bluestone as Yulu Stone. When it was transported back then, it must have been before the three main halls were built, and the stones were transported to the back of the Baohe Hall before spring began. The ice is gone, so of course we can't drag it to the Hall of Supreme Harmony anymore, so we used it behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The lower layer of the Dan Emperor stone in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the same size as this one, but it is a combination of three stones. So this large stone carving is the largest single stone carving in the Forbidden City. Zhu Di is a great person who enjoys playing with big stones. After he ascended the throne, he wanted to erect a large stone tablet in front of his father's Ming Xiaoling. He found a large stone in the mountains on the outskirts of Nanjing to carve into a monument. The monument was too large, much larger than the large stone carving behind the Baohe Hall, which was as big as the main hall of the Taihe Hall. You think, such a big stone is definitely too big for even a thousand cows and horses to pull, so we have to throw it in the mountains and don't want it anymore.

In the 18th year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1420 AD), the Dan Emperor stone behind the Baohe Palace was completed. The following 340 years were in the 25th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1760 AD). That year, Emperor Qianlong caused a stir in this Danshi stone and ordered the renovation of this Danshi stone. What exactly happened? There is no record in the Qing Palace archives. At the age of 39, Qianlong was in his prime. I guess he must have wanted to walk over the Danxi Stone and show off his leg and foot skills, but due to the weathering of the 340 year stone carving patterns, his feet slipped and flipped over. The records in the Qing Palace archives indicate that "the slaves followed orders" for renovation, and the slaves referred to this Dan Emperor stone as "the lower layer of the eaves behind the Baohe Hall as a cushion for the imperial road stone.". Qianlong asked them to remove the old patterns on the upper layer and carve them again. These servants were very ruthless in their actions, and they knocked off the upper layer one foot and two inches thick. According to the current metric system, the one foot and two inches of this clear ruler are 38cm. The file records that "the sun patterned standing dragon, fan grass, and seawater river cliff have been remade". Look, this is the same pattern as the Dan Emperor Stone in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. This fan grass is now called the tangled branch lotus. This renovation also re carved the two Danshi stones above. The three Danshi stones behind the Baohe Hall we see now are all the result of re carving in the 25th year of the Qianlong reign. Fortunately, these servants did not waste the layer of stones they had knocked down. They were used to make twenty-eight stepping stones on both sides. Take a look at the stomping stones on both sides. The patterns are different, are they new or old? The new one is the new one this time, and the old one is still Zhu Di's.

Look at the Baohe Hall under the sunset.

There is a side door on each side of the courtyard walls of the Baohe Hall. The side gates on both sides of the Taihe Gate, Zhendu Gate and Zhaode Gate, are called the Front Right Gate and Front Left Gate; The two sides of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are called the Middle Right Gate and the Middle Left Gate; The two sides of the Baohe Hall should be called the rear right gate and the rear left gate. Look at the right rear door.

These six gates have the same architectural form, with their courtyard walls and corridors on the high steps on the east and west sides, separating the front part of the palace into three courtyards. The first entrance is between the Meridian Gate and the Taihe Gate, which is the Taihe Gate Square. The second courtyard between Taihe Gate and Taihe Hall is the Taihe Hall Square. From the Hall of Supreme Harmony to the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the third entrance, which is the Three Great Halls.

After passing through the Baohe Hall, there is a square called Qianqingmen Square behind it. The Qianqingmen Square is a transitional area between the front court and the inner dormitory, with the emperor's office in front and the dormitory in the back. The east and west ends of this Qianqingmen Square extend along the front facing east and west corridors, with a distance of 200 meters between them. And to the north and south are the Baohe Hall and Qianqing Gate, which are relatively close, only fifty meters apart. This square is much smaller than the previous ones because it is too narrow, so it is also called Hengjie.

There is only one pair of buildings attached to the first three halls on this street, which is the Jingting in the northeast and northwest corners of the Baohe Hall.

As mentioned earlier, when there is a ceremony in the three main halls, carpets need to be laid. Before laying the carpets, the floor must be cleaned thoroughly, right? We need to fetch water from Jingting to wash the emperor's floor. The emperor will not drink the water brought up from this well, he will drink the spring water brought from Yuquan Mountain. The spring water of Yuquan Mountain is not as concave on the horizontal plane as other water in the tea bowl. It is convex on the horizontal plane because the spring water contains too many minerals.

There are other buildings on the street, which will be discussed in the next episode.

(To be continued)