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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When Zhu Yuanzhang built the Ming Palace in Nanjing, he built the Qianqing Palace for himself to sleep in, and also built the Kunning Palace for the Empress to sleep in. Where do the three thousand beauties in the harem live? He built the Six Palaces of the East and West, but the total of the Six Palaces of the East and West is only twelve courtyards. Can't he live in a weak water of three thousand? Let's arrange for the concubines first, after all, although the water is weak at three thousand, I only need to take a ladle of ears at night.

The layout of the harem built by Zhu Di in Beijing in the 18th year of Yongle's reign was also copied and pasted from the Ming Palace in Nanjing. The inner bedroom consists of three paths, including the middle road, the back three palaces, and the east-west two paths. The total east-west width of the three paths combined is only slightly wider than the front three courtyards. So, it sounds like the harem is quite crowded, right?

The twelve courtyards of the Eastern and Western Six Palaces in the Ming Dynasty were all of the same size, and their structural layout was also the same. Wait a moment, there are exceptions to Jingyang Palace in the northeast corner of Dongliu Palace and Xianfu Palace in the northwest corner of Xiliu Palace. There are long streets running through the six palaces of the east and west, and alleys connecting the east and west. Is there a difference between a street and an alley? Of course there is, the street is definitely very wide, so it is generally called a street; The alley is relatively narrow, so it is generally called a small alley. Streets have street gates, and alleys also have alley gates, which follows the layout of the neighborhood system in Chinese cities. The layout of the Ming Palace also continues the "six palaces and six bedrooms" system of the imperial palace since the Western Zhou Dynasty, and has a serious "well field system" and "nine palace grid" flavor. The Ming Dynasty did not make any changes to the imperial harem until the Jiajing period, which was just a change in the names of each palace, without any major changes.

In the Qing Dynasty, Shunzhi renovated the East and West three palaces near the Back three palaces and allowed his concubines to live there. Kangxi had more than six concubines, so he also renovated the other eastern and western palaces in the far end. At the peak of the Qing Dynasty, the country was quite strong, and there were many concubines in the harem who enjoyed daily blessings. In the late Qing Dynasty, after Emperor Xianfeng, the country's strength was weak, and the emperor's family's surplus food gradually ran out, making it difficult to support many concubines. The direct consequence of the reduction of concubines in the harem is that the palace rooms are becoming increasingly empty, and the houses in the imperial palace cannot be rented out, so some people are renovating the uninhabited courtyard for other purposes. One is to merge the front and back yards, allowing the owner to live in a large house; Another type of renovation is to demolish the old and build a new one, which not only greatly changes the architectural layout, but also the architectural style is no longer Chinese. This will be discussed later.

Is there no hierarchy between the six palaces of East and West? To be divided, wherever there are people, there are three, six, nine levels, with the east being the top and the west being the bottom. Let me start by looking at the subtle details of the Eastern Six Palaces.

The tourist entrance of Dongliu Palace is the inner left gate to the east of Qianqing Gate.

As the name suggests, the inner left door is the left door of the inner bedroom, and this name has no cultural connotations. It is a glazed door that follows the wall, with a solid door leaf and two forked corners on the door pillar instead of one at each corner. The plaque is a bilingual "Inner Left Gate" in Manchu and Chinese. The plaques inside the Forbidden City must have been in Chinese characters during the Ming Dynasty, so there is no problem with that. After the arrival of the Manchu Dynasty, the earliest plaques were in Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese, because Emperor Shunzhi had several Mongolian empresses and concubines, and even Queen Mother his mother Xiaozhuang was Mongolian. We know that the earliest Manchu people did not have a unified writing system, and Nurhaci organized the creation of Old Manchu by borrowing Mongolian script. After being reformed by Huang Taiji, the old Manchu script became the new Manchu script. So, those Mongolians also recognize Manchu. Since the Mongols were all familiar with Manchu, in the thirteenth year of the Shunzhi reign (1656 AD), most of the plaques in the imperial palace were changed to bilingual Manchu and Chinese. In 1915, Yuan Shikai removed all Manchu characters from the plaques of the previous dynasty in the palace. At that time, Puyi was still living in the inner palace according to the "Conditions for Preferential Treatment in the Qing Dynasty", so the plaques in the inner palace remained unchanged and bilingual Manchu and Chinese were retained. In recent years, the Palace Museum has renovated the plaques of the harem, which look shiny and new. Most of these Manchu characters are transliterated from Chinese, with only a few being free translations. Speaking of which, whether it's transliteration or free translation, I can't understand those Manchu characters. Let it be.

Entering through the inner left gate leads to Dongyi Changjie, and heading north from here leads to Changkang Left Gate.

Along the way, illusions and longings can be seen on the palace walls from time to time.

The left gate of Changkang leads west to the east gate of Qiongyuan in the Imperial Garden. To the west of Dongyi Long Street is the Back Three Palaces, and there is another door not far from the inner left door, which is the low beam left door. The door plaque has been taken for maintenance, and there is an official apology sticker from the Palace Museum in front of the door.

The left gate of the near light belongs to the inner court, but it is outside the east six palaces of the concubines, and the east six palaces are inside the left gate of the near light. There is a Renxiang Gate on the east side of the left side of the low beam gate, and the people inside the Renxiang Gate are not the concubines of the harem. This was a part of the Fengxian Hall during the early Ming Dynasty under Zhu Di.

Entering the Renxiang Gate to the east is a small square, with a duty room behind the door and a white pine tree planted in front of it.

To the north of the small square is the Zhai Palace. Zhai Palace was a part of the Ming Dynasty Fengci Hall, later known as the Shenxiao Hall. Take a look at its glazed gate, because the emperor is coming. Its gate is very formal, and there are boxes and forks on the door pillars.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the ancestral tablets were enshrined in the Fengxian Hall inside the palace and the Imperial Temple outside the palace. Each dynasty was limited to one emperor and one empress, that is, the former emperor and his central palace empress. At the time of Emperor Chenghua Zhu Jianshen, his birth mother was Empress Zhou, and according to regulations, she was not allowed to enter the ancestral temple. Zhu Jianshen's son Zhu Youjiang (Nian Dun) was also a commoner. After Zhu Youjiang ascended to the throne, he also wanted to worship his mother, Lady Ji. Therefore, in the first year of the Hongzhi reign (1487 AD), he built the Fengci Hall on the right side of the Fengxian Hall to worship Lady Shu. After the death of Zhou Guifei, the grandmother of Zhu Youjiang, the memorial tablet was also worshipped in the Fengci Hall. The mother of Emperor Jiajing Zhu Hougui was the main wife, so he abandoned the Fengci Hall in the fifteenth year of Jiajing (1536 AD). Later renamed as Shenxiao Hall, it was abandoned in the early Qing Dynasty.

As usual, the Ming and Qing emperors fasting for three days during their sacrificial offerings to heaven and earth. Both the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth have dedicated fasting palaces for this purpose. Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty offended many people and made many enemies. He often heard that someone wanted to take a part of his life or body, and it is said that the body in the coffin of his tomb was missing that part. Therefore, starting from the ninth year of the Yongzheng reign (1731 AD), in order to ensure safety, he changed to fasting in the palace and rebuilt this place as the Zhai Palace.

During the epidemic period, the Zhai Palace was not open. After the epidemic eased, one day I walked to the entrance of Renxiang, where a young man stood at the crack of the door. I asked him what he was doing there? He said he was preparing for the exhibition and it will open soon. A few days later, I will come back and see. It turned out that the Palace Museum and China Post jointly held an exhibition in Zhai Palace, called the Palace Museum Theme Stamp Special Exhibition. I have no access to philatelic on this road, but it doesn't prevent me from entering to see the Zhai Palace. I'll go in now.

Upon entering through the side door, one can see that the buildings inside the Zhai Palace have not been repaired for a long time and appear very dilapidated. In order to block the light, there is a screen door standing inside the Zhai Palace Gate, which means a shadow wall.

Standing behind the screen door, you can see the main hall of the Zhai Palace.

This main hall is called Zhai Palace. It is five rooms wide and two rooms deep. It is of arch of wooden architecture beam lifting structure, with yellow glazed tiles and single eaves resting on the top of the mountain. There is an eaves gallery in front of it. Open the doors between the bright and the east-west secondary rooms, and support the windows on the edge guard walls. There are three open rooms in front, and yellow glazed tile ound ridge roof hangs on the top of the mountain. There is a two foot high blue brick pedestal and a white stone platform below the main hall. There are hanging straps and stomping on both the front and east and west sides of the platform. On the front is the imperial road, and there are twin dragons playing with pearls, flying clouds, and Danshi stones.

There are two copper jars on each side of the imperial road, with bronze cauldrons and furnaces on the exposed Chen seats on both sides of the jars, used for burning incense. When the fire in the incense burner is too hot, you can scoop water from the cylinder and extinguish it.

Stand in the spacious pavilion in front of the door and take a look.

The colored paintings on Liang Fang have been severely weathered, and the appearance of Shuanglong and Xi can also be seen. The plaque on the front of the Zhai Palace was inscribed by Yongzheng. This dou plaque is not gilded and is very simple.

Look at the door of the second room.

This is called a partition door, with a total of four doors and six lintels. There are lead forged leaves on the border, those with stamped cloud dragon patterns are called lead forged leaves, and the general ones are called face leaves. Gold plated Ruyi skirt board, step by step brocade lattice flowers. Look under the eaves of the open pavilion.

There is a hollow wooden board called Huaban between the two horizontal beams of the outdoor building Xuan Ting, which has been seen in the imperial garden. The colored paintings on those wooden components have almost fallen off, and it can be seen that iron straps have been used to reinforce the horizontal beams and columns. There are reinforced iron hooks everywhere, which are temporary measures, indicating that the wooden components have decayed and decayed.

The glazed tiles on the roof look good in condition. I wonder when the last maintenance was done? The tiles on the corner corridor are quite old.

There are side halls on both sides of the main hall, take a look at the west side hall.

It is three rooms wide, with arch of wooden architecture lifting beams, and yellow glazed tiles with single eaves hanging from the top of the mountain. There is an eaves gallery in front of it. The hanging straps and stomps in front of the eaves porch are new.

There is another courtyard behind the main hall, which is not open. Walk to the door and take a look. It looks like there is a circle of hand copying corridors in the backyard, and the hanging straps and stomping at the door are also newly made.

Go inside the main hall and take a look.

The main hall is connected between the Ming Dynasty and the East West, with the original emperor's throne in the middle. The distance between the branches forms the Warm Pavilion, the West Warm Pavilion serves as a Buddhist hall, and the East Warm Pavilion serves as a study. During the fasting period of the Qing Emperor, one can work in this hall. Take a look at the Pilu hat on the top door, carved from yellow sandalwood.

Look at the ceiling.

Panlong gilded flat chess ceiling, Hun Jin Panlong Dou Ba Diao Jing. Behind the main hall is a corridor that leads directly to the back hall, which turns out to be an I-shaped front and rear hall.

Looking at the back hall, it was initially called the Fuyong Hall (Nian Shi Hall), but later renamed the Chengsu Hall to avoid Emperor Jiaqing's taboo.

This is the sleeping hall, with a width of seven rooms and a depth of one room. The back hall is the ceiling of Tuan He Ping Chess.

A special exhibition of stamps in the Zhai Palace, where China Post takes out stamps related to the Forbidden City, and the Forbidden City displays the cultural relics mentioned on the stamps.

In the stamp Hotan Jade in 2012, the Eastern Han Dynasty "Jade Changle Valley tattoo". The grain pattern is those small dots on the wall, carved by the method of reducing the ground.

This is even older, with the Warring States period "White Jade Carved Dragon and Phoenix Wall" on the special stamp of the Palace Museum in 2015.

In 2004, there were two stamps on the "Chicken Blood Stone Seal": one was the "Qianlong Chenhan" seal of Qing Qianlong, and the other was the "Weiji Weikang" seal of his son Jiaqing.

Take a look at the "Qianlong Chenhan" seal inside.

The "Qianlong Chenhan" seal in this set of stamps is stamped on imperial calligraphy and painting, and I have also seen this seal on a plaque. Initially, this was a Changhua chicken blood stone carving, and the author is unknown. The flowers on the cliff are engraved on it, and there are two small poems by the author on the cliff, which is quite artistic. After wandering into the palace, this seal was made in the 24th year of the Qianlong reign (1759 AD). It is said that Qianlong had more than twenty imperial treasures known as "Qianlong Chenhan", and there is still one area of Tianhuang in the Forbidden City, totaling nine. In 2017, a piece of Shoushan frozen stone "Qianlong Chenhan" seal was auctioned off in France and was sold by someone for 1.22 million euros. Initially, China Post obtained a photo of the "Qianlong Chenhan" seal from the Forbidden City and printed a stamp based on the photo. This chicken blood stone "Qianlong Chenhan" imperial treasure is Qianlong's favorite and was exhibited to the public for the first time. It was not even exhibited at last year's Palace Museum 600 year exhibition, making it the most rare exhibit in this special exhibition. We often see this seal on the calligraphy and painting of the imperial brush, and this exhibition saw the physical object of this imperial treasure.

Taiwan, China, China, once issued two stamps of "Tianji Zun with silk enamel", both of which were collected in the Palace Museum in Taipei during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. At this special exhibition, a "Qianlong style cloisonn é enamel heavenly chicken statue" from the Palace Museum was exhibited, which is one of the six special stamps of China Post's "Cloisonne" in 2013.

In 2003, China Post issued a special set of stamps titled "Eastern Zhou Bronze Ware". Take a look at the "Bronze Turtle and Fish Pattern Square Plate" in this set of stamps.

There are also calligraphy, painting, and stamps. Take a look at Han Huang's "Five Bulls" stamp.

Partial replica of Han Huang's "Five Bulls" painting.

Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection" has also been stamped, and the 2010 "Ancient Chinese Calligraphy - Running Script". Take a look at Feng Chengsu's replica.

Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection has long been lost, and the Tang Dynasty copy by Feng Chengsu is considered the best copy. This book is covered with various appreciation seals and inscriptions, with clear inheritance records, but some have verified that this book may not necessarily be copied by Feng Chengsu.

This exhibition is very interesting. On one side are special stamps of ancient cultural relics, and on the other side are physical artifacts from the stamps, perfectly matched. There is also a stamp production process displayed by the stamp company, including templates and design drawings for each stage. After watching the exhibition, I walked out of the Zhai Palace. To the east of the small square in front of the Zhai Palace gate, there was a gray partition.

There is an unopened palace gate behind the baffle, which is the Yangyao Gate.

Within the Yangyao Gate is the Yuqing Palace, which is another part of the Ming Dynasty Fengci Hall. This Yangyao Gate is not the main entrance of Yuqing Palace. The main entrance of Yuqing Palace should face south. It is on the north wall of Jingyunmen Square and is called Qianxing Gate.

In the 14th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1675 AD), the emperor appointed his eldest son Yin Ren as the crown prince and built a palace called Yuqing Palace here to accommodate him. After the abandonment of the Yinren, this place was no longer called the Taiyu, and most princes also lived here. After the prince gets married, the emperor will give him a house to live in outside the palace. At that time, Yin Zhen moved out and lived in the Yongqin Prince's Mansion, which is now the Yonghe Palace, located at the root of the city wall in the distance. After Yongzheng came to power, he did not appoint a crown prince anymore, and the prince lived in Yuqing Palace. Before Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne, he had lived here, and later Emperor Jiaqing also lived here when he was young. Yuqing Palace is a pure Qing Dynasty architecture, but it was still built in the style of an illuminated imperial palace. It was renovated and expanded during the Qianlong period. When Jiaqing first ascended to power, he did not live in the Heart Nourishing Hall, but continued to live here until the death of Emperor Qianlong before moving to the Heart Nourishing Hall. Afterwards, Jiaqing no longer allowed the princes to live here, and the Yuqing Palace became a hidden memorial hall. Jiaqing instructed Lei to renovate the Yuqing Palace. In the late Qing Dynasty, Yuqing Palace was the place where the prince went to school, and Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Xuantong all studied here.

On the tall palace wall opposite Renxiang Gate, there is a house style gate, which is the Rijing Gate we saw earlier on the east corridor of Qianqing Palace Square.

The Rijing Gate is the main entrance from the Qianqing Palace to the Dongliu Palace. The emperor can walk directly along the east corridor to this place and then go to play somewhere in the Dongliu Palace; The concubines in the Dongliu Palace can also go to the Qianqing Palace from here. "Shang" means the emperor; "Yu" is not to control or defend, but to serve.

How does the emperor choose which queen to crown tonight? There is a slight record in the Qing Dynasty that during the emperor's dinner, all the concubines gathered outside the Yanxi Hall in the west ear of the Heart Nourishing Hall, waiting for the emperor to choose. After the eunuch had eaten and drunk enough for the emperor, he handed the green headshot with the names of the concubines written on it to the emperor on a tray. The emperor picked a name from the tray, then thought about the person's appearance and looked up at the women in the courtyard. Once you have thought it over and looked at it carefully, the emperor will flip over the green label and consider it a good choice. Don't watch the emperor sing and sing all night, but there are many concubines who stay alone in the lamp. If the emperor cannot recall the appearance of this concubine, and cannot find a face corresponding to this name among the women in the courtyard, this concubine will definitely stand alone by the solitary lamp tonight, gazing at the sunset. After being selected by the emperor, those who were not selected would bow their heads and scatter. The selected concubines stayed in Yanxi Hall to rest. After the night emperor entered the kang, she bathed in fragrant soup in Yanxi Hall, and then the eunuch rolled the jade body into a large bed like a pancake and scallions. The eunuch carried the large pancake rolls and scallions onto the imperial kang in the rear hall of the Heart Nourishing Hall, and then waited outside the window. When it was time, he pretended to cough and reminded the emperor to rest. You see, this emperor has turned the love between children into such a mechanical process. Where else is there such a thing as men enjoying women's love? The whole thing is a man-made project.

Passing through the left gate of the low beam along Dongyi Long Street leads to the area of Dongliu Palace. There is also a gate on the first side street east of Dongyi Long Street, called Xianhe Left Gate. Turn around and walk east along Dongyi Alley. The first courtyard is Jingren Palace, and the main gate is Jingren Gate.

This is also a glazed door that follows the wall, with a glazed imitation wooden roof on top. Look at the wall pillars on both sides, there is no middle box, but there are forks at all four corners. The gates of these courtyards in the harem are slightly different from the streets and alleys like the inner left gate, reflecting a change.

The White Marble inlaid marble screen wall at the door is said to be a relic of the Imperial Palace of the Yuan Dynasty. The pattern on the marble is very beautiful, so Zhu Di left it to move into his palace. Please pay attention to the four corners of the screen wall base, each with a stone carved squatting dragon. This squatting dragon is different from the dragon we remember, it has long and flowing hair. Remember the appearance of this squatting dragon and first recognize it as the style of the Yuan Dynasty dragon.

Only by bypassing the marble screen wall can one see the essence of the courtyard.

Xuanye, the third son of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, was born in this Jingren Palace in the eleventh year of Shunzhi (1654 AD), and later became Emperor Kangxi. Since this Jingren Palace was born in Kangxi, it can be considered as a Dragon Palace. Take a look at the architecture of the Dragon Palace. This courtyard has a total of two entrances, and the main hall in front is the living room Jingren Palace.

The Jingren Palace has a width of five rooms, and the Mingjian is a hall house with four doors separated by four plasters, with four lotus edges and flowers intersecting in pairs, and a Ruyi skirt board. Below the secondary and top compartments are blue brick sills, and above are partition windows. The roof is a arch of wooden architecture lifting beam structure, with yellow glazed tile single eaves resting on the top of the mountain, and five roof figures. On the horizontal beam are dragons, phoenixes, and seals. There is a two foot platform in front of the main hall, and there are vertical treads on three sides. In the middle of the front treads is the Dandi Stone, which is surrounded by White Marble railings added in recent years.

There are side halls on the east and west sides of the main hall, three rooms wide, yellow glazed tile single eave gable roof, and a foot high platform. There is an ear room to the north of the side hall.

The main hall of the second courtyard is the bedroom, and there are also side halls on both sides.

The back hall is also five rooms wide, but the top is a yellow glazed tile with a single eave gable roof, and the bottom is a two foot high platform.

There are no trees in the front three halls and back three palaces of the Forbidden City. Some people say that they are for fire prevention, theft prevention, and secret schemes. Some people say it is a feng shui technique, where the first three palaces and the last three palaces occupy the "earth" position in the imperial palace, and wood can conquer the earth. Some people say that planting trees inside the palace walls is like having wood in your mouth, which is considered "sleepy" and unlucky. But there are trees in the imperial garden, there are many trees, and there are also trees in the harem. There are trees in Jingren Palace and a very beautiful octagonal glazed Sumeru tree pond.

Jingren Palace is a typical two courtyard house. Let's see how many rooms it has. There are ten main rooms in the front yard, three east and west wing rooms, and four east and west ear rooms, totaling twenty-four rooms. There are five main rooms in the backyard, three east and west wing rooms, and two east and west ear rooms, totaling fifteen rooms. How about a total of 39 rooms in the front and back courtyards? Is it more impressive than the eight or eighteen rooms in folk culture?

The interior of Jingren Palace was not restored to Qing Dynasty decoration, but instead an exhibition hall was built. With the help of admiring benevolence and virtue, when I came here, the exhibition showcased the donated cultural relics received by the Forbidden City, becoming a special museum for commemorating the donated cultural relics of the Forbidden City. The earliest exhibition of cultural relics donated by Mr. Ma Heng was held in 2005. Mr. Ma Heng was the director of the Palace Museum during the establishment of New China. The Palace Museum has set up a "Jingren List" for these donors in Jingren Palace.

Take a look at Mr. Zhang Boju's donation of Huang Tingjian's "Zhu Shang Zuo Tie", Kuangcao.

Jingren Palace was called Chang'an Palace in the early Ming Dynasty. It is said that there were originally two pavilions here called "Weihe" and "Congshan", which have long been lost. In the 14th year of the Jiajing reign (1535 AD), it was renamed Jingren Palace, which was the first palace of the Eastern Six Palaces. This place was renovated several times during the Qing Dynasty, with the last one being during the Guangxu period. Jing Renyi means to admire benevolence and virtue, taken from the Analects of Confucius. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di married a relative to his grandson Zhu Zhanji and conferred the title of Empress Dowager Sun Fei, who was Hu Shanxiang. When Zhu Di's son Zhu Gaozhi became emperor, he conferred the title of Crown Princess on Hu Shanxiang. After Zhu Zhanji ascended the throne himself, Hu Shanxiang naturally became the queen. Within two years, Zhu Zhanji said that Empress Hu would not have a son, so he deposed her and drove her from Kunning Palace to Jingren Palace, which became a cold palace.

In the early Qing Dynasty, Consort Tong of Emperor Shunzhi lived in Jingren Palace and gave birth to a prince named Xuanye, who later became Emperor Kangxi. During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, the resident here was Empress Xi (Nianxi), who was the mother of Emperor Hongli. Later, a decree was issued to confer the title of Noble Consort, and Emperor Hongli later became Emperor Qianlong. This Empress Xi is the Empress Zhen in the TV drama. After Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne, Empress Dowager Chongqing was conferred the title of Empress Dowager Xi, enjoying all the glory, wealth, and glory. At first, she moved out of Jingren Palace and moved into Yongshou Palace, which is closest to the Heart Nourishing Hall in the West Sixth Palace. Subsequently, Emperor Qianlong specially built the Shoukang Palace for the Empress Dowager. After the palace was erected, Empress Dowager Chongqing moved to live in the Shoukang Palace. Qianlong spent 4.5 million taels of silver to build the Summer Palace to celebrate the Empress Dowager's 60th birthday. Empress Dowager Chongqing ultimately lived to the age of 84, making her the longest lived Empress Dowager in Chinese history. After Empress Dowager Chongqing moved away, Empress Dowager Chunfei of Qianlong lived here, followed by Empress Yingfei. Starting from the Yongzheng Dynasty, Empresses of the Qing Dynasty did not live in Kunning Palace. Empresses who gave birth to their son Min (Nianmin) Ning lived in Jingren Palace. Min Ning later became Emperor Daoguang. Minning is the prince who led his troops to resist the Dali militia at Longzongmen. The noble consort of Emperor Guangxu, Ke (Nianke) Shun, also lived here, which was Empress Zhen.

After leaving Jingren Palace, continue eastward along a side alley and pass through a gate called Jingyao Gate. There is also a long north-south street outside. This is Dong'er Changjie. Its southern end is Yihengxiang here, and its northern end is Qianyinmen, leading to Beiwusuo, also known as Qiandong Wusuo. After passing through Dong'er Changjie and continuing eastward along a side alley, here is another courtyard, and the plaque on the glazed courtyard door has also been sent for major repairs. This is the Yanxi Gate.

The Yanxi Gate, like the Jingren Gate, is also a glazed wall gate. Yanxi Palace was called Changshou Palace in the early Ming Dynasty, and its architectural layout was the same as Jingren Palace. In the 14th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, it was renamed Yanqi Palace, and in the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Yanxi Palace. In the late Qing Dynasty, a crystal palace called Shuidian was built here. Go inside and take a look at that crystal palace.

In the middle is a pool, with a granite wall and a granite bottom, which is solid and durable. There must be fish farming in the pond, so pull the fish to the side and put a building in the middle of the fish pond. According to the original design, this building is a copper frame structure, which was changed to a granite structure during construction. Since the building is sitting in the pool, of course there will be one floor underwater, which can also be called a basement or an underwater room. The original glass walls in the basement have been replaced with granite walls and granite support buttresses, retaining arched windows for underwater fish watching. The first floor is also made of granite structure, with Western arches, arches, and all the reliefs on the walls in Chinese style. This reminds me of the Grand Marshal's Mansion in Fengtian, which was built during the Republic of China period and later than this Crystal Palace. It is also a Western style building with Chinese style reliefs. The original design of the first floor of the Crystal Palace was a double-layer glass wall with a copper beam frame, and water was filled between the double-layer glass for fish farming. Western style buildings do not have eaves or corridors, but their current appearance appears to be a steel frame with a south facing entrance and surrounding corridors. The floor plan of this first floor is a square hall with hexagonal halls extending at the four corners. Look at the corners.

The second floor of the Crystal Palace is a terrace with five pavilions on it. In the middle, there is a two-story eight sided pavilion that combines Chinese and Western elements. From a Chinese perspective, it looks like an octagonal pavilion; From a Western perspective, it feels like Tanbiaido. On the four corners of the terrace, there are hexagonal pavilions that come up along the hexagonal hall on the first floor, neither central nor foreign. The hexagonal pavilions and octagonal pavilions on the second floor terrace only have frames. These frames were originally designed to be made of copper, but they were changed during construction. What we see now is all steel, and the metal structure of the entire building has been changed to steel. The framework of the two-story pavilion should be filled with glass walls, which is probably the only remaining glass structure. Although it was a design change, the cost of this crystal palace may still be too high, so the construction project has been ongoing for three years without completion. After the Xinhai Revolution, the royal family went bankrupt and it was impossible to continue building this crystal palace. A hundred years later, when I came here, what I saw was still this abandoned building, the same as it was a hundred years ago. Don't say, if this building is completed, it is very likely to look like the Diamond Throne Tower. There is a Diamond Throne Pagoda located at the Five Pagoda Temple outside the north gate of the zoo.

There are also trees in the Yanxi Palace, which are ginkgo trees that shine with golden light during the golden autumn season.

The Yanxi Palace is located in the corner of the Eastern Six Palaces, and during the Ming Dynasty, it was inhabited by unpopular concubines. During the reign of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty, there were not many concubines, so they were vacant for a period of time. In the 25th year of the Kangxi reign (1686 AD), a major renovation was carried out, and the newly appointed Empress Hui moved in. Consort Hui was the first among the four concubines of Kangxi at that time, with a high status. During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, he left the palace according to the will of Emperor Kangxi and stayed at the residence of his adopted son, Prince Lian Yinsi (Nian Yin Si). In the fourth year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign, Yinsi was convicted, and Consort Hui returned to the palace to reside in the Ningshou Palace. During the Qianlong period, Empress Wan lived here. In the early years of Qianlong, she was Chen Guiren. In the fourteenth year (1749 AD), she was granted the title of Concubine Wan, and in the fifty ninth year, she was granted the title of Concubine Wan at the age of seventy-eight. In the sixth year of Jiaqing (1801 AD), she was granted the title of Empress Dowager Wangui at the age of 85. Empress Dowager Wangui passed away in the twelfth year of the Jiaqing reign at the age of ninety-two. She was the longest lived concubine in the Qing Dynasty, longer than both the mother and son of Emperor Qianlong. It seems that the family of Emperor Qianlong had a longevity gene. At that time, not only the palace, but even the city of Beijing did not have a gym or swimming pool. They did not exercise and lived a long life. Qianlong's father Yongzheng lived to be 58 years old, almost; But the his mother Empress Dowager Chongqing lived to 84 years old, the longest lived empress dowager in the Qing Dynasty. Qianlong's grandma and grandpa both lived to be over 80 years old, and his longevity gene came from his mother's line. It is strange that Emperor Qianlong did not pass on the longevity gene to Empress Ling, but passed it on to Empress Wan, allowing Empress Wan to live to 92 years old, while Empress Ling only lived to 49 years old. Qianlong and Lingfei's son Jiaqing lived to the age of 61 and did not live long with his father. Later emperors followed their concubines, and no one lived a long life. Daoguang was 69 years old; Xianfeng is 31 years old; Tongzhi was even worse and only lived to be nineteen years old. The later Guangxu Emperor Zaitian and Xuantong Emperor Puyi, although not from a prince's background, also carry the bloodline of cooperation between Qianlong and Lingfei. Do you think Ling Fei is powerful? Her lineage continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The highly favored "Yanxi Palace Strategy" states that the Empress Dowager resides in Yanxi Palace, but in fact, this is a joke and there is no textual research to support it. Empress Ling is a popular figure in the eyes of Emperor Qianlong. How could she live in such a remote place? Lingfei lives in the Chu Xiu Palace of the Western Six Palaces, close to the Hall of Nurturing the Heart. When Lingfei fell ill in the end, she even moved into the east ear room of the Heart Nourishing Hall and lived with Qianlong.

During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, the grandson of Emperor Qianlong, Empress Dowager Tianfei of the Fucha family lived with Cheng Guiren and Chang Guiren in the Yanxi Palace. Before the second prince of Emperor Jiaqing, Minning, ascended to the throne of Emperor Daoguang, the Fucha clan was already Minning's top ranked side Fujin. During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, Minning promoted (Nian Huosheng) and granted the Fucha family the title of Tianpin in the fifth year of Daoguang (1825 AD), residing in the Yanxi Palace. Daoguang is fond of the new and dislikes the old, and does not like to see his concubines. But the empress and Tianpin are good friends, and Daoguang occasionally refers to Tianpin as Tianpin. In the 25th year of the Daoguang reign, a large fire broke out in the Yanxi Palace, and all the houses were burned down, leaving only one palace gate. This pitiful Empress Tian suffered a heavy blow in the great fire. In May, the fire broke out and she passed away in July.

In the eleventh year of the Tongzhi reign (1872 AD), an order was issued to rebuild the Yanxi Palace. At that time, Lei had already started to survey the style and had made hot stamping samples for approval, following the order to follow the style of Changchun Palace. The imperial decree for reconstruction has been issued, the survey has been completed, the site has been cleaned up, and even the hot stamping samples have been prepared. The second year was the twelfth year of the Tongzhi reign, and according to the almanac, there was an obstruction in the direction, so construction did not begin. In the third year, which was the thirteenth year of the Tongzhi reign, construction began at the beginning of the year to rebuild the Summer Palace. In order to celebrate the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, the silver used for repairing the Yanxi Palace was misappropriated. In December of that year, the smallpox epidemic broke out, and Emperor Tongzhi was diagnosed with infection because he had not been vaccinated. He passed away at the Heart Nourishing Hall. As a result, the reconstruction of the Yanxi Palace, which was burned down during the Daoguang period, delayed the Xianfeng and Tongzhi dynasties. During the Tongzhi period, the domestic situation was extremely similar to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a Yellow Turban Uprising, and during the Tongzhi period, there was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Sun and Liu were defeated by wearing yellow scarves, and during the reign of Tongzhi, Zeng Li and Zuo were defeated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Eastern Han Dynasty was defeated by Cao Sunliu, and Emperor Tongzhi was also afraid of a repeat of history. At that time, both the East and the West were constantly threatening outside China. Tongzhi did not have time to deal with domestic crises and overseas threats, leaving it to Emperor Guangxu. Emperor Guangxu knew in this situation that the Qing Dynasty was not secure, and had no choice but to initiate a reform. If not caught, the Qing Dynasty would collapse.

During the late Qing Dynasty, the amount of silver in the treasury gradually decreased, and it was always in a tight situation. Moreover, Tongzhi and Guangxu have no financial brains and will not issue treasury bond. Rebuilding the Yanxi Palace, money is not a problem, the problem is that there is no money. Until Emperor Xuantong ascended to power, Empress Longyu, who had been married by Guangxu while stepping on the scorched earth of the Taihe Gate, finally took the throne. Empress Longyu, who had never been seen in front of Emperor Guangxu, became the Empress Dowager, and she also learned from her aunt Empress Dowager Cixi to engage in the practice of hanging the curtain to listen to politics. As soon as she came up, she had to walk through all parts of the harem, and then she saw the vacant Yanxi Palace, which she used as a playground and let the three-year-old Puyi run wild inside. Longyu became the leader and definitely wanted to do some basic construction, so she thought of Yanxi Palace. Don't be fooled by the limited appearance of Longyu, but his mind is still strong enough. In the past, he often eavesdropped on the Guangxu Restoration and praised the foreigners for their good looks in the east and west. This time, he will build a western-style house in the Yanxi Palace. Empress Dowager Longyu dispatched Empress Jin of Guangxu as the project manager to build the "Water Palace" in the Yanxi Palace, commonly known as the "Crystal Palace". The name of the Crystal Palace is Lingnuo Xuan, located in the front hall of the former Yanxi Palace. This architectural design must have been done by someone from a foreign country, and only descendants of Lei style would not do such a rare thing. Traditional Chinese royal architecture is constructed with wooden frames and walls filled with bricks; This crystal palace is constructed with a copper frame structure and filled with glass as walls. At that time, the glass was considered inferior crystal. Although the construction of the Crystal Palace has started, the original design estimate was not enough, so the design team kept applying for adjustments. However, the first party, Empress Dowager Longyu, repeatedly rejected the proposal, leaving her with no money in her treasury. As a result, the design team had to constantly change the design.

In the first year of Xuantong (1909 AD), the Crystal Palace began construction, and two years later, a major event occurred. At that time, the Qing court could no longer continue to govern, and revolutionary movements were surging outside. In addition to the Qing court itself, the Mongolian nobles outside the border also intended to retain the Qing court and establish constitutional government like in English; The reformists in Guannei wanted to overthrow the Qing court and establish a republic like France did. The two sides did not reach an agreement, and eventually went their separate ways. The Mongolian nobles in the northern desert became a substantial separatist regime and eventually became constitutional; The reformists in Guannei overthrew the Qing court and established the Republic of China. On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month in the third year of the Xuantong reign (February 12, 1912), Empress Dowager Longyu held the last heart nourishing palace of Emperor Xuantong and issued the "Edict of Emperor Qing's abdication" in the early morning. There was an important sentence in the edict: "The territory of the five ethnic groups of Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui, and Tibetan is still fully integrated, forming a great Republic of China.". This edict, according to the ancestral tradition of the Qing Dynasty, should be stamped with the "Emperor's Treasure" or "Imperial Treasure of Zhengwan People" from the 25 treasures of the Jiaotai Hall. However, the edict is actually engraved by Empress Dowager Cixi with the words "Dharma Heaven and Way". The seal is not in compliance, and the name of the edict is not correct and the wording is not smooth, indicating that Longyu intended to leave a foreshadowing for future restoration. Sure enough, in the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917 AD), Zhang Xun and Kang Youwei launched the short-lived restoration of Dingsi, which lasted only ten days.

As soon as the Qing court went bankrupt, the half construction of the Yanxi Palace Water Hall was completely halted. In 1931, the Palace Museum built a building in the Yanxi Palace, which was not high and became a cultural relic warehouse. The People's Republic of China built a more advanced constant temperature and humidity cultural relics warehouse, and turned the Yanxi Palace building into a ceramic research center and a calligraphy and painting research center. In 2010, the opening of the Yanxi Palace to the public caused a sensation, and even provoked literati to film "A Brief History of the Yanxi Palace". In fact, in history, the imperial concubines had nothing to do with the Yanxi Palace.

After seeing the Yanxi Palace, walk outside the wall. Suddenly, it was discovered that the exterior wall of the Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Research Center in the hospital was decorated with glass, which is a typical lifting beam structure used in demonstrating Chinese architecture. This building should have this lifting beam structure.

Return to Dongyi Long Street from Yanxi Palace and continue north.

(To be continued)