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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Passing through the Gate of Supreme Harmony and standing at the top of the Imperial Stone under the rear eaves corridor, one can see the spacious Square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Step down from the platform of the Taihe Gate and stand at the square of the Taihe Hall to see the Taihe Hall.

The common people call this Jinluan Hall. In the Daming Palace of Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, there was a Jin Luan Hall, which is the origin of the term "Jin Luan Hall". The first three halls of the Daming Palace are the Outer Court Hanyuan Hall, the Central Court Xuanzheng Hall, and the Inner Court Main Hall Zichen Hall. The Jin Luan Hall is a garden sleeping hall in the Tang Emperor's Inner Palace, belonging to one of the temporary halls. Among these temporary halls, there is also a Hall of Supreme Harmony. The Tang Emperor often summoned foreign ministers at the Jin Luan Hall, and Li Bai was also summoned here by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. He even wrote a poem on the spot, called "Zuo Song," which is a hymn to the Mahjong people. The ending of the poem is "I offer my longevity to the southern mountains as a tribute, Your Majesty's name will be remembered for eternity." Do you think he is a mahjong? Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was truly renowned for eternity. Li Bai still asked Yang Guifei to grind ink for him in the Golden Luan Palace, which offended the Empress Dowager and forced him to resign and escape from Chang'an. To avoid being wanted by the Tang police, Li Bai fled everywhere, claiming to have traveled to the rivers and mountains of his motherland. In fact, because there were portraits of him wanted in the city posted next to the city gate, he could only walk to the mountains and rivers. Because the Tang Emperor summoned cultural figures like Li Bai in the Jin Luan Hall, Tang and Song literati often used "Jin Luan Hall" to refer to the imperial palace in their poetry. Later, the common people believed that the main hall of the imperial palace was called the Jin Luan Hall. Actually, this is a misunderstanding and quite distorted.

This Hall of Supreme Harmony was called the Fengtian Hall when it was used as the main hall in Zhu Di's palace. Since ancient emperors claimed to be appointed by heaven, of course they had to act in accordance with heaven. The slogan for the overthrow of Zhou recorded in the Book of Documents is "Only heaven can benefit the people, only heaven can be established.". After King Wu, it was Zhu Di's father, Zhu Yuanzhang, who brought up the term "Fengtian" to show off. Zhu Yuanzhang called the main hall of his palace the Fengtian Hall, and the jade pendant he held was engraved with "Fengtian Fazu". The first sentence of the edict read "Fengtian Carrying the Emperor". From then on, the imperial edicts began with "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor..." and continued to be written. In the previous chapter, it was said that in the 36th year of the Jiajing reign (1557 AD), a large fire burned down the Fengtian Temple. It was rebuilt and completed in the 40th year. In the 41st year, Yan Song was brought to justice. Emperor Jiajing renamed the Fengtian Gate to Huangji Gate and also renamed the Fengtian Temple to Huangji Hall. After Qing Shunzhi entered Beijing, in the second year of Shunzhi (1645 AD), Huangji Gate was renamed Taihe Gate, and Huangji Hall was also renamed Taihe Hall. The Fengtian Hall of Emperor Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang said "I am ordered by heaven", the Huangji Hall of Emperor Jiajing Zhu Houqian said "I am the best in the world", and the Taihe Hall of Emperor Shunzhi Fulin said "wash and sleep, have a good dream".

The foundation of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a two-story granite pedestal with three layers, which is two zhang and five high. Its shape is the same as the Gate of Supreme Harmony, but it has three layers, symbolizing the "third class of high people.".

There are more than N faucets on the platform foundation.

This is called "Chi Shou San Shui", pronounced as "Red Hand". Chi is the ninth son of the dragon, with a hornless belly that can hold water. Many ancient drainage outlets were made into Chi heads. The end beast of the roof ridge is also his, because it also has waterproof function. Before the Ming Palace, the drainage system of the Yuan Palace could not withstand heavy rain. There were records from the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty that "rain damaged the capital and sent 20000 soldiers to build it", and during the Zhizheng period, there was also a "heavy rain in the capital and the capital collapsed" (Nianyi). The Ming Palace has been built for 600 years, and although there is a record of "rain and rain soaking through the city, Chang'an Street is five feet deep, and some depressions are as deep as more than ten meters, and all the yamen gates have been flooded", there is no time when the palace is flooded with rain or the main hall is flooded. There is a powerful drainage system composed of open and hidden channels in the Forbidden City. The emperor is not only not afraid of accumulated water in the main hall, but also has no risk of being soaked in soup in the harem. A kind-hearted person turned around and counted, and there were a total of 1142 faucets in the Chi head scattered water of the three main halls. The largest dragon head is a horn, take a look.

There is a circle of White Marble handrails on each floor of the foundation of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Look at the railings.

The front is also a three way White Marble handrail with granite steps, and the middle is a royal road. Take a look under the imperial road.

The imperial road in the middle is also called Dan Emperor. Dan: Red; Your Majesty: The steps in the palace. It is said that this imperial staircase needs to be covered with a red carpet during the ceremony, so it is called the Dan Emperor. Why did you use to respectfully refer to the emperor as "Your Majesty" in the past? Because at that time, you couldn't directly talk to the emperor. If you had anything to say to the emperor, you had to first say it to the guards below the steps and let them convey it. Therefore, later on, His Majesty evolved into a respectful title for the Emperor. In the middle of the Dan Emperor is the Dan Emperor Stone, which can only be left by the Emperor himself; On both sides are steps. It is said that the emperor walked, but in fact, even if there are stone carvings pretending to be non slip, it is difficult to walk, and it still cannot slide. If the emperor really goes up and walks, I reckon he will often fall over. The imperial road does not allow anyone else to go up, so everyone can only watch the emperor roll down and stare, at most shouting "Your Majesty, slowly flip over". So, the emperor's journey on the imperial road is actually a sedan chair, and the sedan chair he is sitting in is called Yu, pronounced as "fish". When wheels are installed underneath, it is called a chariot, pronounced as "driving away". The emperor sat on the imperial palace, and the palace attendant walked along the steps on both sides of the Dan Emperor's stone, watching the emperor float over the imperial road and the Dan Emperor.

The Danshi stone in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is made of granite, with five mountains carved at the bottom. Some people say it symbolizes Mount Xumi, but I don't know what the relationship between the Chinese imperial palace and the Buddhist Mount Xumi is. If you talk nonsense about the Eight Paths, I think it's more reliable to say that they are the Five Sacred Mountains, symbolizing "the world under heaven". The Nine Dragons Playing with Pearls are carved on top of the Five Sacred Mountains, interspersed with cloud patterns and waves, symbolizing the dragon ascending from the sea and walking in the clouds. The Nine Dragons and Five Sacred Mountains also mean that this emperor has the Nine Five Sovereigns. In fact, the lower part of this Dan Emperor Stone is not the Five Sacred Mountains, but called the "Seawater River Cliff", which metaphorically refers to the danger of the martial arts world; Of course, the nine dragons dancing in the clouds above are the nine sons of dragons. I'm afraid the original intention was to say that the Dragon King himself did not step forward and asked the Nine Sons to assist the Emperor in eliminating all dangers in the martial arts world.

Take a look at the dragon head stone carving on the Dan Emperor Stone.

Each layer of the three-layer platform foundation also has handrails on the side to step up and down.

Ascend the three tiered platform foundation, with a spacious platform above and the vast Hall of Supreme Harmony in the center.

The two sides of the imperial road in the middle of the platform are called Danchi, pronounced as "Danchi", referring to the empty space above the platform. In the event of a major ceremony, not only should red carpets be laid on the steps of the imperial road, called Danxi, but red carpets should also be laid on both sides of the imperial road on the platform, called Danchi. At this time, the emperor and empress were bowing at the Imperial Palace, while other nobles and ministers were bowing inside the palace.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the largest existing wooden classical hall in the world, and also the highest level. The area is eleven bays wide and five bays deep, with a eaves gallery in front. In the Ming Dynasty, it was nine bays wide and five bays deep, symbolizing the Nine Five Supreme. It has a circle of eaves outside, with a bright corridor in front and a closed dark corridor on the other three sides during the reconstruction in the 34th year of the Kangxi reign (1696 AD). The middle room in the layout of a Chinese style house is called the Mingjian. There are secondary rooms on both sides of the Mingjian. The secondary room used to be a small room, and the small room used to be a complete room. In this way, there are seven rooms from Mingjian to Jijian. What about a nine room wide hall like the Hall of Supreme Harmony? When the surface is nine bays wide, the secondary bays are called primary bays and secondary bays.

The roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a double eaved yellow glazed tile roof, which is the highest standard roof model. The length of the main ridge is approximately one-third of the length of the eaves. Although the size of the chicks on the main ridge is huge, it does not appear out of proportion because the roof is too large. There is a treasure box in the tile tube in the middle of the main ridge, which is a treasure of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and cannot be seen from outside. In 2007, the Hall of Supreme Harmony underwent major repairs. According to the ceremony of restoring the treasure box, it was found to be made of copper gilded with dragon patterns. It contains firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, and money. The replay ceremony also included the record of the major overhaul of the oil print, which is the modern version of the merit monument. Take a look at the Zhengji Chick Kiss.

You see, there is a gold chain on the bird's beak, and the one on the sword handle is called the kiss hook. There is a kiss rope below, which is fixed on the tile surface with a rope nail, all of which are made of copper and gilded. Can this set of large gold chains have a fixing effect? Actually, it's just decoration. The main hall in the Forbidden City has large golden chains on the main ridge of the bird's beak. There are also the front and back halls of the front three halls, the front and back halls of the back three halls, the front and back halls of the Ning Shou Palace, and the front and back halls of the Ci Ning Palace. In addition to these halls, there are also the Wen Hua Hall on the east side of the Outer Court and the Wu Ying Hall on the west side of the Outer Court. In addition to the main hall of the palace, there are also large golden chains on the ridges of the four city gates of the palace, namely the Meridian Gate, Shenwu Gate, Donghua Gate, and Xihua Gate. There is also a large gold chain on the Qianqing Gate, the main gate of the harem, and on the Ningshou Gate, the main gate of the Qianlong Nursing Home. Are there Tiananmen and Duanmen outside the palace? No, The main hall of the royal building outside the palace also has a large golden chain, as well as the main hall of the Paiyun Hall in the Summer Palace and the supporting mountain halls on both sides. It is very rare to see an owl kiss decorated with a large gold chain in a folk building outside the imperial palace. I have only seen a large gold chain on the owl kiss in the the Shakya ManiHall of Tanzhe Temple in Beijing. Take a look at the Phoenix Kiss in the Paiyun Hall of the Summer Palace. There is a groove in the insertion hole of Xu Xun's sword, which is where the large gold chain is fixed.

In addition to the glazed tiles on the roof, there are also various types of glazed tiles in the palace. These beautiful components were first made in the Liuli Factory, which left the name "Liuli Factory" behind. The Liuli Factory fired glass components for the imperial palaces of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and various colors of smoke rose from there every day. At that time, Liuli Factory was outside Xuanwu Gate, which is also outside the city. During the reign of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, due to the construction of the outer city wall, the Liuli Factory became the inner gate of You'an. Opening a smoking factory in the city was almost impossible, so the emperor ordered the relocation of the Liuli Factory to a remote county, which is the Liuli Canal in Mentougou, where Liuli is still being burned. From then on, Liulichang gradually became a cultural street in the book market. To the east of the palace, there is now a place called "Taiji Factory" south of Wangfujing. When Zhu Di built the Beijing Imperial Palace, there used to be a workshop specialized in manufacturing stone for the main hall and platform bases, hence it was called the Taiji Factory. After the palace was built, the Taiji Factory was abandoned, but the place name remained. In addition to tiles and stones, Zhu Di also needed a large amount of wood to build the imperial palace, so there must be a wood factory. Zhu Di's wood factory is located near the current Beijing East Railway Station, called Shenmu Factory. Later on, it became the Beijing Piano Factory that produces "Star Sea" pianos, as well as the Beijing Beer Factory that produces "Beijing White Label" pianos.

Under the roof is a arch of wooden architecture beam lifting structure supported by columns. Because each bay is large, there are also many arch of wooden architecture. There are eight arch of wooden architecture in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and five on both sides. The arch of wooden architecture between the lower eaves shops that we can see from the outside is called single warping and heavy lifting and seven steps, and is formally called "patching". Look at the arch of wooden architecture under the eaves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The plaques in the Forbidden City have both Manchu and Chinese characters, as well as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which only has Chinese characters. In the past, during the Qing Dynasty, both Manchu and Han scripts were actually used. When Yuan Shikai became emperor, he removed all Manchu characters from the plaques of other dynasties and then translated the Chinese characters to the middle. He also took off the plaque of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which he wanted to ascend to the throne as emperor, and replaced it with a horizontal plaque of the "Hall of Rites". After the Republic of China, when it was renovated, the same Chinese plaques as other plaques from other dynasties were restored. This new Chinese plaques should have been copied from the inscriptions of the Qianlong period.

The beams and beams of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are adorned with gilded double dragons and colored seals, creating a magnificent and magnificent atmosphere. You can see the difference between the original Qing Dynasty and the recent renovation.

The lattice flowers on the doors and windows of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are all made of three intersecting six lotus, which is also a royal standard. They are not allowed to be used by the people, and whoever uses them will be ruined. The glazed brick pattern pasted on the outside of the threshold wall under the window is called turtle back pattern, and of course, the window above is called the threshold window.

Take a look at the skirt panels of the six separate doors in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. On the frame is a double headed flying dragon gilded lead forged leaf, on the skirt board is a gilded woodcut, with auspicious clouds at the four corners and double dragons playing with pearls in the middle. There is also a flying dragon gilded woodcut between the two top and bottom trowels, and the "trowel" should read "mom's head" instead of "demon head". This door is the highest specification partition door. There are also high-end folk skirts with wood carvings, but at most they are painted. Shanxi Pingyao Bank has gold pasted on wooden door covers and wooden couplets, but they are all used as embellishments and dare not have such large-scale gold pasted.

The gilded lead forged leaves on the frames of the doors and windows of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are designed to reinforce the frame, make it more stable, and prevent it from easily falling apart. This type of leaf is also called "lock", and doors and windows like the Hall of Supreme Harmony are called "golden lock doors and windows".

The main hall is paved with golden bricks, and during the epidemic, it is not possible to approach the hall door. The 2381 square meters of ground with a length and width of 9:5 cannot be seen, so there are no pictures. This Zhu Yuanzhang imperial kiln golden brick from Suzhou is very famous, with complex craftsmanship and high quality, which is well-known to the world. I don't need to say much. In the Ming Dynasty, the Fengtian Temple was burned several times, and this type of gold brick was used for reconstruction after the fire. The gold bricks on the ground of the Hall of Supreme Harmony were laid during the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It is still a Ming Dynasty gold brick factory or a Ming Dynasty craftsmanship, so it can be said that they are still Ming Dynasty gold bricks. This factory and this set of craftsmanship are still in use, but most wealthy families use porcelain floor tiles for decoration. In addition to the floor tiles, there are also many golden dragons on the beams and beams of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, all of which are pasted with gold foil. The golden dragons on the Liang Fang are the face of the emperor, so the ancient saying goes, "gild the face.". You can see that the golden dragon and seal on Liang Fang are both old and new, but regardless of whether they are old or new, the gold foil was made by the Ming Dynasty factory using Ming Dynasty techniques, so you can still call it the Ming Dynasty Golden Dragon. In recent years, the Palace Museum still uses Ming and Qing architectural materials and techniques for major renovations, and those nanomaterials, no matter how advanced, are not needed. Even the scaffolding used for repairing the roof is still made of cedar poles, with only the outermost fence using an iron frame. Shangao is pronounced as "silly tall" and is used as a nickname for a thin and tall boy in Beijing dialect. Also, the putty floor mats used for decorating wooden components still use Ming Dynasty formulas, Ming Dynasty craftsmanship, and Ming Dynasty flavors. Of course, the pig blood inside is not from Ming Dynasty pigs.

In the middle of the main hall, there is a seven tiered rosewood pedestal, which is the tallest pedestal in all the main halls of the palace. On the platform is the emperor's throne, called the carved dragon gilded throne, with thirteen dragons carved on it. If we look at furniture, this is called the carved dragon painted golden chair (commemorating the resting day), which is the only chair in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square. The throne currently placed is the original artifact of Ming Jiajing, gilded with nanmu wood. I don't know how it managed to escape the great fire of Chuang Wang. Yuan Shikai prepared to move this precious throne away when he became emperor, and it was not until 1959 that he retrieved it from the warehouse and restored it in 1964. Behind the throne is a seven leaf screen carved from rosewood. The screen was designed by the Zhou system for the emperor's throne, standing behind the throne. It is called "axe and spear" and is pronounced as "serving". In the Han Dynasty, axes and hats began to be called "screens". Sima Qian said, "The emperor stands on the screen," symbolizing the emperor's authority. There are six rows and twelve columns in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, totaling seventy-two pillars. In front of the throne, there are six large gold pillars with cloud dragon patterns, coated with powder and gold. Six golden pillars and six golden dragons. When the Book of Changes says "Qian", there is a saying: "When the six positions are formed, they ride on the six dragons to control the sky.". The interior of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is decorated with dragons everywhere. Experts with good knowledge of numbers have counted these walking dragons, surrounding dragons, and coiled dragons three times, and then announced that there are a total of 13844 dragons inside and outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Underneath the throne lay a huge handmade pure new wool carpet, an original piece from the Kangxi period. In front of the throne are several pairs of treasures, including elephants, Luduan, cranes, and Xiangting. In the 600 year exhibition of the Forbidden City at the Meridian Gate, there is a palace seat for nourishing the heart, and there are also a few pairs of treasures in front of it, but there are no cranes. The enamel crane in the Hall of Supreme Harmony is very magical. It has a set of winding driven mechanisms in its belly, which can make the crane open its mouth and make a drum sound. It started in the middle of the night, as if a fairy had come to visit, it was chilling, and the thieves dared not approach. This enamel crane is believed to be an honorary product of the Manufacturing Office during the mid Qianlong period.

Above the throne of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a coiled dragon caisson, which is the largest existing coiled dragon caisson in the world. The structure of the caisson is said to have originated from the Han Dynasty, and the existing wooden caissons of the Han Dynasty are definitely gone. The earliest surviving stone carved caisson can be seen in the grottoes of the Northern Wei Dynasty, including the Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes, and Longmen Grottoes. Lotus flowers are more common in the grottoes, and the people of Luoyang say that the lotus lamp group on the roof of the Great Hall of the People is designed based on the lotus flower wells in the Lotus Cave of the Longmen Grottoes. The earliest surviving wooden caisson in ancient architecture may be the Guanyin Pavilion caisson in Dule Temple, Jizhou, Tianjin, which is a two-story douba caisson. According to research, the Guanyin Pavilion of Dule Temple was built in the first year of the Tang Dynasty's Shangyuan era (760 AD), which was the year of the An Lushan Rebellion. However, there was a major renovation in the second year of the Liao Dynasty's unification (984 AD). The diatom well in the Taihe Hall of the Forbidden City is also known as the Douba diatom well, because there is a coiled dragon in the center, also known as the coiled dragon diatom well. I am not allowed to go to the door now. I can only stand under the steps in front of the door and look inside, which is not very clear.

A douba caisson is an octagonal shape formed by two square shaped "dou" rotating 45 degrees and staggered together. The Taihe Hall has three layers of seaweed wells, with the lower layer being square, the middle being octagonal, and the upper layer being circular, symbolizing the roundness of the sky and the earth. The wooden structure of the whole caisson is covered with carvings, including dragons, phoenixes, clouds, lotus, and arch of wooden architecture, all of which are gilded. In the middle of the dome is a high relief of a coiled dragon, which is also gilded. The dragon held a golden pearl in its beak, one big and six small, resembling a chandelier. These pearls are called "Xuan Yuan Mirrors". In ancient China, it was said that the "mirror" could drive away demons and ward off evil spirits. If a demon minister came, this Xuan Yuan mirror could make him appear in his original form on the spot. The palace maids screamed and rushed forward to scratch it, while the eunuchs cheered and cheered behind them. The courtiers hid behind the pillars, trembling and trembling. The emperor sat still on the throne. However, this kind of monster taking its original form has never occurred in the 600 year history of the Forbidden City.

There are also divine objects above this caisson. A few years ago, during the major renovation of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, experts saw these divine objects above the caisson in the rooftop ceiling. There are five plaques called "Fuban", one in the east, west, north, south, and central regions. There are five offerings in front of each talisman, including incense burners, vases, and candlesticks. The talisman board is engraved with characters, in addition to the sacred names of various parties, there are also Buddhist scriptures and Taoist mantras, all of which are good stories about home control. This town and house talisman board is a double insurance of Buddhism and Taoism, and no matter which way the monsters come, there is a divine control. According to the records of the Qing Palace, these talismans were placed in the eighth year of the Yongzheng reign (1730 AD) when Yin Zhen fell seriously ill. Later, under the imperial decree, these talismans were ordered to be placed on the caisson of the Taihe Palace, Qianqing Palace, and Yangxin Palace.

Behind the throne is a large Nanmu gilded carved dragon screen, with a couplet and horizontal plaque on the screen. The handwriting of Emperor Qianlong was also lost by Yuan Shikai. I couldn't find the original couplets and horizontal plaques this time, so I had to redo a set based on old photos of the Hall of Supreme Harmony from 1900 during the 2002 major renovation. The one hanging there now is.

The first couplet reads, "The emperor's order is to surround the nine corners, but it is extremely difficult. How can we not show respect?". "The imperial edict on the Nine Enclosures" comes from the "Book of Songs, Shang Song". The emperor is the Heavenly Emperor, the style is legislative governance, and the Nine Enclosures are the Nine Provinces; This is Shang Tang's theory that he was appointed by heaven to govern the Nine Provinces. "This is the most difficult thing" comes from the Book of Shang in the Book of Shangshu. After the death of Shang Tang, Prime Minister Yi Yin taught Taijia to ascend to the throne, saying "Shang Tang's career is so difficult.". "Nahe Fujing" comes from the "Book of Xia" in the Book of Shangshu, meaning "how can one not respect others?". This sentence means that it is not easy for the late emperor to conquer the country and govern the world, and we must respect him.

The second couplet reads: "Heaven's heart blesses one's husband with one virtue, always speaking to protect him, never seeking peace and tranquility.". "Tianxin Youfu Yide" comes from the Book of Commerce in the Book of Shangshu, which was also taught by Yiyin to Taijia, meaning that heaven only protects those with pure moral conduct. "Yongyan Baozhi" comes from the Zhou Song in the Book of Songs, meaning to bless forever. "Seeking Jue Ning" comes from the Book of Songs, Da Ya. "Nian Yu" is to follow, meaning to make the people peaceful and peaceful. This means that heaven will always bless those with virtue and ensure the safety of the people.

The horizontal plaque reads "Jianji Suiyou", and "Jianji" comes from the "Book of Zhou" in the Book of Shangshu, which states that the emperor should have a way of governing the country. "Suiyou (Nianyou)" also comes from the "Book of Zhou" in the Book of Shangshu, which states that "if there is constancy, the only one who overcomes Sui Jueyou" means to abide by the law. This means that the emperor needs to legislate and ensure that the people always abide by the law.

Qianlong wrote a lot of this and cited classics, at least indicating that he had read poetry and books proficiently when he was a child. Even though he has read so many poems and books, he is still much less than the mathematical, physical, cultural, historical, and philosophical knowledge we are currently reading. However, don't be fooled by the fact that Qianlong was a Manchu, this Chinese character is written much better than most Han people nowadays. Qianlong was fond of tampering with strokes when writing Chinese characters. Look at the stroke errors in both the characters "Jian" and "You". He is intentional, and no one can control him.

The warm pavilion was made by adding a space between the eastern and western branches of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The interior of the main hall is spacious, with front and rear doors, allowing for smooth air circulation. It's not good inside the warm pavilions on both sides, not to mention the limited space and lack of air circulation. The warm pavilion inevitably exudes a sour and refreshing atmosphere. Therefore, some leaky bricks have been installed on the side walls of the Hall of Supreme Harmony for ventilation. In fact, as the old saying goes, "clear air rises, turbid air decreases." The position of the leaking brick is so high that all the air that goes out is clear air, and the turbid air still stays in the warm pavilion.

Take a look at the base of the eaves columns in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it is very simple. But that curve is very beautiful, the same as the curve on the top of Egyptian temple columns, a circular involute. This is called the Ō - shaped column base. The main hall in the Forbidden City often uses this type of pillar foundation. I have seen a similar square shaped pillar foundation under the main hall of Hualin Temple in Fuzhou, which is original from the Tang Dynasty and more ancient.

Decoration is indispensable on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The largest number of these furnishings is a cast copper tripod furnace, with a White Marble exposed below.

These cauldrons and furnaces were made by people hired by Emperor Qianlong, totaling eighteen, symbolizing the eighteen provinces at that time. At the grand ceremony, the Ministry of Rites will arrange for people to fill it with pine branches picked from the black pine forest and sandalwood brought back from Honolulu, and then light a fire. The top of the top will smoke everywhere, you can call it cigarette curling. Therefore, people would rather call these cauldrons "incense burners".

On both ends of the platform, there is a pair of turtles and a pair of cranes, both made of bronze, placed on the exposed pedestal. Turtles represent boundless life, while cranes represent the attainment of enlightenment and immortality, right? In fact, this is just a symbol, but Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty really practiced alchemy himself. That bronze turtle has a dragon head and is one of the nine sons of the dragon. It is called "Bixi (Nian Bi Xie)" and is the usual assistant who carries the tombstone. The copper crane looks up to the sky and sounds like it's singing. In the Book of Songs, it says, "The crane crows at Jiugao and its voice is heard in the sky." So this copper crane is the medium of communication between the emperor and the Heavenly Emperor, or is it that the emperor is ordered by the heavens.

On the platform, besides turtles and cranes, there are also two treasures. One of them is the well-known sundial, which is a Chinese style clock used for timing, located to the left of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The sundial in the palace is only a symbol of timing and has no practical function. Even in the early Ming Dynasty, at least a hourglass was used for timing.

There is also a slightly less knowledgeable person called Jialiang. In the picture of the tripod furnace above, you can see that there is a White Marble pavilion house on the far right side of the hall, which is the Jialiang below.

The ancient volumetric measuring instruments include Hu (Nian Hu), Dou, Sheng, He, and Yue (Nian Yue). One Hu ten dou (now five dou), one dou ten liter (drinking 10 liters of beer is equivalent to drinking one dou, probably no one can drink one dou of Maotai, and even Erguotou cannot), one liter ten times, one in two. How to convert those who say "three dou red sorghum" and those who say "one dan of rice"? I can't convert it! "Dan" is a unit of weight, and one dan is one hundred pounds.

In ancient times, in order to unify measurement and balance, a set of standard measuring instruments was made, which was called "Jialiang". This set of standard measuring instruments was first seen in the Book of Rites of Zhou. Legend has it that Emperor Wu of Han obtained a cauldron in the Yin of the Fenshui River. King Shou of Wuqiu said, "Heaven has virtue, and the precious cauldron comes out of it.". During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, someone obtained a "New Mang Jialiang" from the Mojin Xiaowei, which was made by Wang Mang and is circular in shape. This person presented Xin Mang Jialiang to Qianlong in order to pursue his official career. This gentleman is unknown in history and is probably wiped out by Emperor Qianlong. Emperor Qianlong was overjoyed by this great quantity, thinking that the heavens had bestowed upon him a great weapon. He then made several quantities according to the regulations of this Han artifact and the Tang Dynasty diagram in his hand, and provided them in different places. The Jialiang on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a replica of Qianlong, square, and Tang Dynasty. The original artifact of Xinmang Jialiang is now the Forbidden City in Taipei. The actual capacity of the Qianlong imitated Jialiang is different from that of Xinmang and Tang Tu, mainly as a symbol of measurement and balance. It is unclear whether it is the actual standard of the Qing Dynasty. The outermost part of Jialiang is Hu, with Dousheng and Heyue inside.

The placement of sundials and measuring instruments in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is to symbolize the emperor's power. The whole world follows his schedule and trades according to his measurement standards. The sundial and Jialiang are placed in pairs, and the first pair in the palace is not the one on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but the one in front of the Meridian Gate. Jialiang is located at the left gate of the eastern gate, and the sundial is located at the right gate of the western gate, opposite to the exact position inside the palace.

The first function of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was the grand ceremony for the emperor's ascension to the throne. The ancient French kings also had a special place to hold their enthronement ceremony, which was the Reims Cathedral. Their coronation ceremony was too religious, called the coronation ceremony, where the bishop wore a high hat on the king. Napoleon was an exception, he had his coronation ceremony held at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, and he coerced the Pope from Rome to Paris to crown him. In the end, he didn't wait for the Pope to put a high hat on him, so he snatched it over and put it on his head.

The sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty all ascended to the throne at the Fengtian Palace, while Emperor Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen, and Emperor Yongle Zhu Di ascended to the throne at the Fengtian Palace of the Ming Palace in Nanjing; Starting from Emperor Hongxi Zhu Gaozhi, eight emperors ascended the throne in the Fengtian Hall of the Beijing Imperial Palace, while Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne twice; Five emperors ascended to the throne in the Huangji Hall after Emperor Longqing Zhu Zaiyuan (recitation). Since the establishment of Nurhaci in the Qing Dynasty, there have been twelve emperors since the Later Jin Dynasty. The ten emperors who began with Emperor Shunzhi Fulin ascended the throne at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Shunzhi first ascended a small foundation at the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Shenyang Imperial Palace, and then ascended a large foundation at the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Beijing Imperial Palace after entering the border. By this calculation, a total of 23 emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties held a grand coronation ceremony in this Hall of Supreme Harmony. With the addition of Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di, there were twenty-four emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties residing in the palace. In fact, after Shunzhi entered the capital in October of the first year, he established an imperial throne at the Huangji Gate instead of the Huangji Hall, and then held a ceremony completely in accordance with the procedures of the Ming Dynasty Emperor's enthronement ceremony. Because his son has already ascended the throne once in Shengjing, this ceremony of the Huangji Gate is officially known as "receiving congratulations from civil and military officials.". The second year's New Year's Day celebration ceremony was held on the empty platform of the Huangji Hall, where a tent was built called the Imperial Palace. In that tent, officials paid their respects. The reconstruction of Huangji Hall was completed in the second year of Shunzhi and renamed Taihe Hall in the third year. So, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty who truly ascended the throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony was Emperor Kangxi. The first enthronement ceremony of the Qing Emperor followed the process of the previous dynasty, which is recorded in the Da Ming Huidian. Afterwards, the Manchus also compiled a copy of the Qing Huidian. After the Xinhai Revolution, Yuan Shikai proclaimed himself emperor in 1915. He had planned to ascend to the throne at the Hall of Supreme Harmony on January 1, 1916, but ended up hastily attending a ceremony at the Juren Hall in Zhongnanhai. In the end, the game was ruined, and six months later, the onset of uremia was painful to death. Yuan Shikai's Hong Xian was just a farce. He did not enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and he was not included in the history of the Forbidden City. After Yuan Shikai, in 1917, Zhang Xun, together with Kang Youwei, carried out another restoration of the Dingsi Temple, and held the twelve year old Puyi onto the Dragon Chair of the Heart Nourishing Hall. Everyone knocked their heads on the ground. This time it's even worse. After twelve days of restoration, it will go bankrupt, and the restoration of Dingsi cannot be recorded in the official history of the Forbidden City.

Apart from ascending the throne, the emperor's wedding must have been at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. If the empress is absent for some reason, the emperor's continuation of the string will also be held here, which is to confer the title of empress. If the emperor had already married and had children before ascending to the throne, then he would bring his wife and son to become emperor, and also hold a coronation of the empress here. If encountering a major enemy, the emperor will personally march to resist the enemy and hold a ceremony at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The matter of the imperial expedition was quite suspenseful. In the 14th year of the Ming Zhengtong reign, Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen's imperial expedition to the northern Walla suffered a defeat and was imprisoned for several days. The auspicious word for it is "Beishou". The Qing Emperor Kangxi's personal expedition to Galdan must have been held here as a graduation ceremony. Yongzheng sent troops to the Junggar tribe and appointed two expeditionary generals. He also poured three bowls of wine into each of them here.

In addition to the ceremonies above, the emperor's birthday is also at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. First, he happily asked the ministers to shout "Long live", because there were too many ministers, so he called it "Shan Hu", which actually means similar to "Fan Hu". There is a wedding banquet for the emperor's grand wedding, and there is also a birthday banquet for the emperor's birthday, all of which are held at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The range of guests at the wedding banquet is not large, only relatives. A birthday banquet is different. Anyone who shouts "long live" has a share, but of course, they must first be qualified to enter the palace to shout. After the autumn harvest every year, when the emperor finishes collecting rent, it's time to spend it. On the winter solstice, the people eat dumplings, and the emperor also invites ministers at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In fact, ministers are still willing to eat dumplings at home, because even if it is vegetarian filling, it is still freshly cooked and hot. Going to the imperial banquet at the Hall of Supreme Harmony is different. On a cold day, when the chicken, duck, fish, and meat brought from the imperial kitchen arrive at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, those ministers must have eaten cold rice. The ministers have another chance to have the emperor's cold meal, which is New Year's Day. This New Year's Day is not the current January 1st day in the Gregorian calendar, but the first day of the first lunar month. We now use "New Year" and "Spring Festival" to distinguish them. The Western solar calendar is the solar calendar, while the Chinese lunar calendar is the Tai lunar calendar, also known as the lunar calendar; The Islamic calendar is also the lunar calendar.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony also has a very important function, which is the highest academic hall. The highest level palace examination in China's imperial examination system, which started from the Tang Dynasty, was held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Ming Dynasty palace examination was sometimes held in the Wenhua Hall. Although it was later changed to the Baohe Hall after the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the palace examination was still held in the Taihe Hall, called "Chuanlu". Lu (Nianlu) means to state, while Chuanlu means to state the results of the palace examination.

During the 544 years of the Ming and Qing dynasties, a major ceremony was held only once in the Fengtian Hall, Huangji Hall, or Taihe Hall. On January 1, 1796, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty held a grand ceremony to return to power at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, attributing the throne to his fifteenth son, Yongyan, and bestowing the imperial seal "the treasure of the emperor" on Yongyan.

The last major ceremony on the Taihe Palace Square was the surrender ceremony of the Japanese army in the North China Theater Command held at 10:10 am on October 10, 1945.

So you see, although this Hall of Supreme Harmony is very tall, very large, and top-notch, it is not used many times a year. Even if you don't use it a few times, you still need to make it magnificent. The Fengtian Hall of Zhu Di Gai is made of golden nanmu. During the Ming Dynasty, China was extremely rich in materials, and the emperor's family could keep good things for themselves. These nanmu trees are produced in Guizhou and transported to Beijing by shipping through the Chishui River, Yangtze River, and the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal. It was completed in the 18th year of Yongle (1420 AD) and was burned down by fire that year, with the first three halls all burned down. I don't know if it was Emperor Jianwen's revenge, but Zhu Di set fire to drive Emperor Jianwen out while he was on the side of the Qing Emperor in Nanjing. Zhu Di dared not build again, afraid of being caught in fire. Twenty years later, in the fifth year of the Zhengtong reign (1440 AD), Zhu Di's great grandson, Emperor Yingzong of Ming, rebuilt the three main halls in Zhuqi Town, still using golden silk nanmu. In the 36th year of the Jiajing reign (1557 AD), fire broke out again, and the three main halls were burned down. In the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, they were rebuilt, and Emperor Jiajing renamed the main hall the Huangji Hall. The last time the Ming Dynasty burned down the imperial palace was in the 25th year of the Wanli reign (1597 AD), and the reconstruction project was not completed until the 7th year of the Tianqi reign (1627 AD). The Hall of Supreme Harmony was always made of golden nanmu during the Ming Dynasty. The golden silk nanmu of the Ming Dynasty was used for imperial purposes and cannot be used by others. In the temple next to the imperial palace, the front hall of the Xiang Hall is also made of golden nanmu structure. Jinsi Nanmu is not only used in the imperial palace and temple, but also in the imperial tomb. The Changling Renen Hall of Emperor Yongle Zhu Di that we see now is all made of Jinsi Nanmu, and most of the Renen Halls in the later imperial tombs are also made of Jinsi Nanmu. Chuang Wang's entry into the capital not only caused Emperor Chongzhen to find his own shortcomings, but also set fire to the imperial palace. After Shunzhi entered the border, although he began to rebuild the imperial palace, the level of craftsmanship was not good. After half a day of renovation, he still boasted because the Manchus did not even have a superficial understanding of Han architectural culture. It was not until the 34th year of the Kangxi reign (1895 AD) that a small sample of the reconstruction of the Huangji Hall during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty was retrieved from the Ministry of Works warehouse, which fully understood the architectural structure of the Huangji Hall. It was not until the 36th year of the Kangxi reign that the reconstruction of the Taihe Hall was officially completed. Although this reconstruction is based on the Ming Dynasty proportions, it is still one circle smaller than the original Ming Dynasty. According to the size recorded in Ming Dynasty texts, the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Qing Dynasty was about one-third smaller. Normally, it shouldn't be so small. I suspect that the actual length of the clear ruler is different from that of the clear ruler. At this point, domestically produced golden silk nanmu, like the current domestically produced hairtail, only has a small amount left, called secondary wood. The original wood that can be used as building materials for the Taihe Palace is gone. Although Kangxi grew up in Guannei, he was still a pure Northeasterner. He used the red pine from his hometown to make the building materials for the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In recent years, during the major renovation of the Forbidden City, ancient red pine from the Greater Khingan Mountains was also used. Red pine is also very good, although it cannot compare to golden nanmu, it is also very durable. Red pine is tall and upright, rich in resin, not afraid of water, so it is durable. Southern red pine is rare, and they mostly use cedar (Nianshan tree). The cedar (Nianshan tree) is also tall and upright, and the cedar is also very durable. During the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Kangxi had a complete engineering record made, which became the blueprint for future generations to rebuild. As a result, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty learned the luxury of the Han people, and from the Qianlong period onwards, they also learned that the Ming Dynasty wanted to use golden silk nanmu to build houses. The Qing Emperor respected the Ming Emperor in order to rule over the Han people, and the Qing Dynasty law stipulated that "those who dig the Ming tomb will die.". Although the Qing emperors did not dig open graves, it did not prevent them from demolishing the buildings on the ground. Qianlong demolished several halls of the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum, stole all the golden nanmu, and built his house. The ones I have seen include the Danbo Jingcheng Hall in the Summer Resort, the Da Ci Zhen Ru Bao Hall in the Western Heavenly Brahma Realm in Beihai Park, and the main hall of the three courtyards in the Quick Snow Hall, the Quick Snow Hall. Later, Emperor Daoguang also stole the golden silk nanmu from the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum and built his Mu Long En Hall. There are basically no golden silk nanmu buildings in the folk, and it is said that there is an old house in the Enshi Mountain Gully in Hubei Province, which is made of golden silk nanmu and is a whole house. This should be the only time in the country, during the Wanli period, it was already the late Ming Dynasty, and Huang Wei no longer entered the mountains.

Take a look at the Hall of Supreme Harmony under the morning sun.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony at sunset.

Ten roof figures on the roof in the setting sun.

The lotus on the White Marble railing looks at the column head.

The newcomers on the square were overjoyed.

The first task of the new recruits in the security forces is to visit the palace, and the handsome young men are also a scenic spot.

The Taihe Palace Square is extremely spacious, and there must be supporting buildings. Let's take a look at the next episode.

(To be continued)