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

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The imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties runs north from the Meridian Gate to the north, including the front three halls; the north of the Qianqing Gate is the inner court, including the back three palaces and the six palaces of the east and west in the middle road. This is called the former court and the latter bed. In addition to the front three halls in the middle road, there are also east and west buildings, all with their own functions and history.

Exit from Xiehe Gate in the middle of the corridor on the east side of Taihemen Square, this is Waichao East Road. You will reach Donghua Gate by walking east after exiting Xiehe Gate. There is a large building on the south of this road. It is the cabinet warehouse and is now the office of the Forbidden City Association. That sign looks like Mr. Qigong's characters, which is very distinctive.

This building was also built in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, this was the cabinet's copy warehouse. There are various files, documents, etc. In it, those with red letters are called red books, and there is a single-door red book library. Many documents from the Shunzhi, Kangxi and Qianlong periods in the early Qing Dynasty are in Manchu. There are also Ming Dynasty documents secretly collected by the Qing Dynasty, including daily notes of the Ming emperors, all of which are collected in the record library. After the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the Pass, it compiled the last of the twenty-four histories of China,"History of the Ming", based on the Ming Dynasty documents in the record library and the official views of the Qing Dynasty. The Manchu people have no laws and regulations, and most of all laws and regulations are based on the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, these Ming Dynasty archives must be carefully studied. In Chinese history, the later dynasties wrote history for the previous dynasties. The Qing Dynasty archives are kept in the cabinet vault. The Republic of China originally planned to compile a "History of the Qing Dynasty" that was no worse than the "History of the Ming Dynasty". The Beiyang government organized people to compile a set of "Manuscripts of the History of the Qing Dynasty". Due to the rush, only the first draft was completed and not a book was completed. In 2004, New China reorganized people to compile "History of the Qing Dynasty", including experts on the other side of the Taiwan Strait who studied Qing history.

The archives of the Ming Dynasty are located at the south entrance of Nanchizi Street in the imperial city outside the palace. They were not from the Yongle period, but were built during the Jiajing period. In the Qing Dynasty, it was called the table chapter library.

Entering from the entrance of the Forbidden City Society, between the west side of the cabinet warehouse and the palace wall is the cabinet office, called the cabinet lobby, where the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty worked. The courtyard of the cabinet lobby faces north to south. Its door cannot be seen on the road outside Xiehe Gate. Only a toilet behind the lobby can be seen. The Forbidden City Association is closed, so no guests are allowed to enter. I could only follow the path next to the west toilet to the south of it, wanting to go and see what was going on. As a result, the door on this side of the cabinet lobby was also locked, and the lane became a garage and a bicycle garage for the staff.

He had to step out and stand on the base of the Xiehe Gate and look into the cabinet hall. You can't even see the back, only the roof.

During the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet ministers and the eunuchs of the ceremony supervisors were two groups, competing for power with each other. Because eunuchs are closer to the emperor and because they know more disgusting things about the emperor, they will gain more trust from the emperor and often have greater power than cabinet ministers. The famous Wang Zhen, Wang Zhi and Wei Zhongxian in the Ming Dynasty were all eunuchs with great power. Memorials from all over the Ming Dynasty were first sent to the cabinet in the courtyard above. The cabinet members wrote the suggestions after reading on paper and posted them on the memorials, called ticket drafting. The written memorial was sent to the emperor. The emperor suggested that the cabinet should be annotated with red pen to form an encyclical. This was a red endorsement. The emperor often only approved a few copies, and the remaining cabinet tickets were approved by the chief eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor. On the surface, it was eunuchs who criticized the emperor on behalf of the emperor, but in fact it had the role of internal eunuchs in restraining the cabinet of external dynasties. At its peak during the Jiajing period, there was fierce fighting between the ceremony supervisor and the cabinet. After Jiajing's death, the emperor's third son, King Yu, Zhu Zai (Nian Ji), succeeded to the throne as Emperor Longqing. Six years later, Zhu Zai's eldest son, Zhu Yijun, succeeded to the throne as Emperor Wanli. Emperor Wanli was only ten years old when he ascended the throne. Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant to the cabinet, organized the drafting of the vote, and Feng Bao, the chief eunuch of the ceremony supervisor, acted as the representative to approve the vote. Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao both came from Prince Yu, and they had an intimate relationship. The first ten years of Emperor Wanli were the time when the cooperation between the Ming Dynasty cabinet and eunuchs was most tacit. Zhang Juzheng's N-many reform policies were implemented and the national strength increased greatly. The Ming Dynasty's political system was very complete and had a great influence on the West. The Western cabinet also learned from the Ming Dynasty, and the Western prime minister was the chief assistant to the Ming Dynasty's cabinet.

On the south side of the road out of Xiehe Gate is the cabinet warehouse, and on the north side of the road is a forest, but it is not a "Ji Forest (Nianqi Forest)". You will find a road in the woods leading to a palace gate.

This is Wenhua Gate, and inside Wenhua Gate is Wenhua Hall. Wenhua Gate is a house-style gate facing south. It has a width of five rooms and a depth of two rooms. The bright and east-west rooms in the middle are open, one large and two small. The top room is closed, with a sill wall below and a partition window above. A door leaf is arranged between the center pillar. This kind of gate can also be called the palace gate with five rooms and three doors. When the door leaf is between the center pillars, it is also called the center pillar gate. The roof is a mountain top with yellow glazed tiles with single eaves, and the horizontal and vertical beams are painted with double dragons and seals. There is a five-foot-high green brick base under the gate, a white stone platform, three roads on the front, a Danbi stone in the middle, and the royal road in the middle.

Stand at the door and take a look.

The structure is made in the open way, and the arch and beam are lifted. Standing in the gate hall and looking inside, there is a platform that leads directly to the Wenhua Hall of the main hall.

The Wenhua Hall is an I-shaped plane. The front hall Wenhua Hall is five rooms wide and three rooms deep. There is a platform in front of it, and there is a mountain top with yellow glazed tiles and single eaves. There are six doors with six stripes in the bright room, and the second room and the top room are sill walls and sill windows. The lattice flowers on doors and windows are all of the highest specifications in three crosses and six squares.

The front and rear halls are connected by corridors.

The back hall is the main hall of reverence, with a width of five rooms and two rooms in depth. The plaque in the back hall hangs in the corridor.

There are east and west auxiliary halls on both sides of the front hall. Look at the plaque on the east auxiliary hall. It is called Benren Hall, which is now one of the sales departments of the Forbidden City Bookstore.

Wenhua Hall was built by Zhu Di in the early Ming Dynasty. The I-shaped plan reminds me of the layout of the Later Three Palaces. As I said last time, there was no middle Jiaotai Hall in the last three palaces in the early Ming Dynasty. There was also a corridor connecting the Qianqing Palace in front and the Kunning Palace in the back. In the twenty-first year of Jiajing (1542 AD), a riot occurred in Renyin Palace. The palace ladies crowded into the Qianqing Palace late at night to strangle the snoring and drooling Emperor Jiajing, but they were in a hurry and unable to do so. In the end, someone ran down the corridor from the back door of Qianqing Palace to the Kunning Palace to wake up the sleeping Queen Fang. The queen still followed this corridor from the Kunning Palace to the Qianqing Palace to rescue her. As mentioned earlier, when the Qianqing Palace was rebuilt after the fire in the 36th year of Jiajing, the rear hall was changed into Jiaotai Hall. Therefore, Wenhua Hall was built in the early Ming Dynasty in accordance with the format of the Second Palace of the Inner Court of the Empress and continues to this day. When you see the Hall of Wenhua, you can almost know what the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace looked like in the early Ming Dynasty. However, now display boards are hung in the corridor, and the windows cannot be seen from the inside.

During the Ming Dynasty, this Wenhua Hall was the emperor's resort hall, a place like the Golden Throne Hall in the Daming Palace in the Tang Dynasty. The emperor came here to hide and relax quietly. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a Grand Scholar of Wenhua Hall, whose function was to guide the Prince in reading. After the prince came of age, the emperor's father asked him to participate in some political affairs, and the prince handled the matters assigned by the emperor here. This is called "fulfilling the throne", and the throne is the throne. Starting from Zhuqi Town, Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor opened a training center in this Wenhua Hall. The emperor regularly announced that scholars from the Hanlin Academy or presidents of the Imperial College would come to talk about books or history, and also asked cabinet members, ministers of the six departments and other senior cadres to listen to the lectures together. This is called a scripture feast. This is a bit like our current Politburo collective learning. The "feast" of the scripture feast means that teachers who give lectures after class will be served with wine and meat at Xiehe Gate. At that time, the Xiehe Gate was called Zuoshun Gate. The Hanlin Academy also held court examinations here to judge papers. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, King Chuang entered the palace and set fire, and Wenhua Hall was burned down.

More than 20 years after Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, Wenhua Hall was rebuilt according to the Ming Dynasty system to study for Prince Yinren, and the Grand Scholar of Wenhua Hall was appointed. Kangxi consulted Wenhua Hall in the archives of the Ming Dynasty, and then handled it as usual. He also held Buddhist feasts in Wenhua Hall. The Crown Prince of the Qing Dynasty did not take office in Wenhua Hall because Kangxi ascended the throne when he was a child; Yin Reng's rebellion led to Yongzheng's termination of the public establishment of the Crown Prince. After that, there was no Crown Prince of the Qing Dynasty, and Yin Reng became the only Crown Prince of the Qing Dynasty. The Grand Scholar of Wenhua Hall in the Qing Dynasty was comparable to Niu in the Ming Dynasty. He was one of the Grand Scholars of the Three Districts and Three Cabinets. He was a first-class scholar and assisted the emperor in managing court affairs. The Grand Scholar of Wenhua Hall seems to be the highest-ranking among the few people. He Shen once hung this name, and Li Hongzhang also served as a Grand Scholar of Wenhua Hall. These three halls and three pavilions are Baohe Hall, Wuying Hall, Wenhua Hall, Tiren Pavilion, Wenyuan Pavilion and East Pavilion. The Wuying Hall is located on the West Side Road corresponding to the Wenhua Hall, the Tiren Pavilion is the east hall of the Taihe Hall, the Wenyuan Pavilion is behind the Wenhua Hall, and the east Pavilion should be the cabinet lobby. The cabinet lobby is also called the Grand Scholar Hall, which is the Grand Scholar of the East Pavilion.

Wenhua Hall is now an exhibition hall, once a ceramics museum, and now a calligraphy and painting museum. There are countless collections of calligraphy and paintings in the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of which came into the palace during the Qing Dynasty, and most of them were during the Qianlong Dynasty. The calligraphy and paintings seized from the Yuan Palace in the Ming Dynasty were only regarded as trophies. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were quite literary and had little interest in calligraphy and painting. Basically all Ming Palace calligraphy and paintings were seized, including those seized from ministers. Just after the death of his teacher Zhang Juzheng, Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun seized a large number of calligraphy and paintings from his home and hid them in the deep palace. He neither admired himself nor showed them to others. In the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu people had a fanatical admiration for Han culture and collected most of the world's Ming books and expensive paintings in the palace. Emperor Qianlong not only collected it, but also often took it out and stared into death. He placed three famous historical manuscripts next to his pillow and titled the corner "Sanxitang", which were Wang Xizhi's "Clear Snow" in the Jin Dynasty, Wang Xianzhi's "Mid-Autumn Festival" and Wang Xun's "Bo Yuan Post". However, when the emperor's appreciation was low in the early Qing Dynasty, he was often deceived. During the Kangxi Dynasty, there was a Han minister Gao Shiqi who was later promoted to the first grade. He taught Han culture to Kangxi and often contributed ancient calligraphy and paintings. These calligraphy and paintings are often full of fakes, but they are all high-quality imitations. He has a book "Jiangcun Painting and Calligraphy", which records the calligraphy and paintings he has done. Some are marked "Not true, given to others"; some are marked "Wonderful products, secret items"; and some are marked "Authentic works, magic items, secret items". There is also the label "The fake and good can be cleaned up", which is a high imitation intended for Kangxi. In the end, these paintings by Gao Shiqi were all entered after his death. Emperor Qianlong was also severely deceived. Someone sold him a fake Ziming Volume of "The Painting of Residence in Fuchun Mountain" for 2,000 taels of silver. It was a world-shaking masterpiece by Huang Gongwang of the Yuan Dynasty, equivalent to Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Orchid Pavilion". He didn't distinguish between true and false and thought it was authentic. Later, after obtaining the authentic work of this painting,"Useless Master Scroll", he insisted that Zi Ming's scroll was an authentic work, and the ministers laughed at it. Both authentic and authentic copies of this painting are now in the Forbidden City in Taipei. After Qianlong searched all the world's calligraphy and paintings, the last famous painting collected in the Qing Dynasty was Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song Dynasty's "Riverside Painting at the Qingming Festival". It was obtained from the house of Heshen's lackey in the fourth year of Jiaqing (AD 1799). At present, the earliest painting in the collection of the Forbidden City is "Spring Tour" by Zhan Ziqian of the Sui Dynasty. It is written on silk, colored, and has a thin gold inscription and postscript of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. The famous ancient Chinese calligraphy and paintings that have been passed down to this day are extremely precious, and many of them have been destroyed by the royal family. In the third year of Chengsheng in the Southern Dynasties (555 AD), Yuwen Tai of the Western Wei Dynasty sent troops to surround Jiangling. Before the fall of Xiao Yicheng, Emperor Yuan of Liang burned 140,000 calligraphy and painting classics in the Dongge on fire. This was due to the "Jiangling Book Burning" incident. There are countless calligraphy and painting treasures destroyed by war in history.

When I came during the epidemic, a "Special Exhibition of Su Shi's Themed Painting and Calligraphy" was being held in the Wenhua Hall, called "Heroes of the Past."

Take a look at the original version of Su Shi's running script "Wang Jinqing's Tie". Su Shi is a upright and upright person and never hides anything. His handwriting is also sharp.

Copy version of "Dinghui Yuan Residence Occasionally Appears on a Moonlight Night".

Song Tuo Su Shi wrote Ouyang Xiu's "The Story of Fengle Pavilion" in regular script.

Su Shi's "Remembering the Past in Red Cliff" written by Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty.

After the Su Shi calligraphy and painting exhibition ended, the Wenhua Hall was closed, saying that it was to decorate a new exhibition. After the peak of the epidemic passed, a new piece was launched, called "Temple Manners", which showed everyone the figure paintings collected in the Forbidden City. Since it is a figure painting, it must have a portrait of the emperor. Look at Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

There are two handsome portraits of Zhu Yuanzhang hidden in the palace, one full body and the other half body. The one above is full body. There are also eleven ugly portraits hidden in the palace, shoe-shaped faces with chins in front, and hooks on their faces. It is said that the ugly portrait has a higher degree of portrait. In the historical record, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty has the face of "Five Mountains Facing the Sky". It is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang signed up to join Guo Zixing's uprising army, Guo Zixing saw him as "extraordinary and unusual." Even the linen warlock said that he was "extremely valuable in public affairs."

Take a look at the statue of Qianlong in court clothes.

This is a portrait of him when he was young, carefully written and extremely delicate. If you look closely at his dragon robe, you will find that it is completely different from Zhu Yuanzhang's dragon robe, the gap between the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Take a look at the Qing Dynasty Chen book "Three Sides of the Interpretation of the Tang Dynasty", which has the seal of "Qianlong Imperial Mirror Treasure".

This is a story. Cheng Tang, the founding monarch who destroyed the Xia Dynasty and established the Shang Dynasty, had a heart of benevolence and righteousness. When he was still Marquis of the Shang Dynasty, he saw bird people forming a net to trap birds on an outing, and the net surrounded them on all sides. The birdman also prayed: All birds and birds in the east, west, north, south, sky and earth, enter my net. Seeing that he was so extinct, Cheng Tang also formed a net, but opened it on three sides. Ye also prayed: Run to those three directions quickly. Those who don't want to live can enter my net. Seeing that Cheng Tang was so benevolent, everyone came to vote one after another. Tang gradually became a general trend and won the world.

After turning around the Hall of Wenhua and walking back, there is another building behind it.

In the 17th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1538 AD), a Shengji Hall was built behind Wenhua Hall. "Ji" refers to Ji that uses a pot to help the world, and holy Ji generally refers to medicine or medicine. Previously, the royal pharmacy was called the Imperial Pharmacy. After the construction of Shengji Temple, the Imperial Pharmacy was renamed Shengji Temple. Shengji Hall is also a place where famous doctors of past dynasties are sacrificed. After King Chuang set fire to the palace, Shengji Hall was also destroyed by a torch. The royal pharmacy of the Qing Dynasty was moved to the Inner Palace, which is the Shoushou Pharmacy at the northern end of the Xiyu Hall of Kunning Palace; the royal pharmacy is located in the Dongyu Hall of Qianqing Palace. The superior authority of the Imperial Pharmacy is the Imperial Hospital. The Imperial Hospital of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was located at the west entrance of Min Lane in the Eastern suburbs, probably where the current Tiananmen Police Station is. The Imperial Hospital has an outpatient department in the palace, under the inner wall of Donghua Gate, north of Shangsi Courtyard, next to the edge of the Inner Jinshui River. Shangsiyuan is the royal stable, and Zuma Wen should work here. The Imperial Hospital has experts who specialize in treating the emperor and his family. They are on duty at the imperial pharmacy in the East Corridor of Qianqing Palace. Look at the outpatient department of Shangsi Hospital and Taiji Hospital.

In the first year of Yongle in the early Ming Dynasty (AD 1403), Zhu Di entrusted Xie Jin, the chief assistant to the cabinet, to recruit people to compile a complete collection of Chinese classics. A year later, he obtained "Literature Dacheng". Zhu Di flipped through it and felt that it was too thin, so he announced that Taoist monk Yao Guangxiao would be responsible for supervising Xie Jin's revision and expansion. In the fifth year of Yongle, Zhu Di personally reviewed the final version and named it "Yongle Grand Ceremony." There is only one set of more than 10,000 volumes of the original of this grand ceremony. Zhu Di brought the original of Yongle to Beijing and hid it in the Wenlou, which is now the Tiren Pavilion in the East Side of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. After the fire in the palace in the 36th year of Jiajing (1557 AD), Emperor Jiajing was afraid that the ceremony would be missed, so he hired someone to copy a set of Jiajing copies. Then hide the original Tibetan language building and the copy in the Imperial History Museum. It is said that Emperor Jiajing enthusiastically loved the "Yongle Ceremony" and strongly requested that the original be buried with his Yongling Tomb. As a result, the transcription project was not completed when Emperor Jiajing was buried, and only 8,000 volumes were completed. When the Qing Dynasty took over it, it was found that there were no original Yongle in the Mingwen Building, and there were only 8,000 Jiajing copies in the Emperor's History. The Jiajing copy of "Yongle Grand Ceremony" was lost in the Qing Dynasty. There are now about 400 volumes left in eight countries, and there are only 160 volumes in the National Library in Beijing.

Don't look at the huge masterpiece of the Ming Dynasty's Yongle Ceremony, but Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty still disagreed with it. In the 38th year of Qianlong (1773 AD), the emperor ordered the establishment of Siku Quanshu Museum, appointing Yongrong, the sixth son of the emperor, as president and Liang Guozhi, the scholar of Dongge, as vice president. The Internet celebrity He Shen also served as the president of Siku Quanshu Museum in the 45th year of Qianlong, when he was the chief scholar of the cabinet. Another Internet celebrity, Ji Xiaolan, serves as the chief editor of "Siku Quanshu" from beginning to end. The president is the management position and the chief editor is the professional leader. In order to compile "Siku Quanshu", in the 39th year of Qianlong, an order was issued to build a library building. I chose a place to take a fancy to the ruins of Shengji Hall behind Wenhua Hall. In 1941, a building was built here, titled "Wenyuan Pavilion". These four libraries talk about the four parts: classics, history, Zi and Ji. The scriptures are not the scriptures retrieved by the Tang Priest, but Confucian classics, including the Book of Changes and the Book of Songs. History is history books and general lessons, including twenty-four histories. Zi is an article written by hundreds of schools of philosophers. It is very miscellaneous, including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, fortune-telling, piano and chess recipes, etc. The collection is a collection of works, including poems, songs, and novels. The scriptures retrieved by Tang Priest are in this part.

Wenyuan Pavilion is a two-story building on a five-foot-high green brick base. From the outside, it is a two-story building. In fact, there must be a dark layer on the waist eaves, which means that there are actually three floors inside. The surface is five and a half rooms wide and two rooms deep. It has a double-arched beam structure. The upper floor is a black glazed tile single-eave mountain top with green trimmed edges, and the lower floor is a single-eave hard mountain top front eaves corridor. The one under the eaves corridor is not called a railing, but is called a back lintel. There is an upside down lintel above and below the horizontal beams. There is no bucket arch structure seen above the green glazed waist above the waist eaves, and there is no flat rail outside the second floor above. The structure of this Wenyuan Pavilion is completely different from that of Tiren Pavilion and Hongyi Pavilion. It is more like a building than a pavilion. There are hanging belts and stomps in front of the bright space on the front, and no red stone. This building is very special. It has a width of five and a half rooms. The bright room is not in the middle, and the extra half room on the west is the end room. In order for Qianlong to sit on the throne in the Ming Dynasty, it was in the middle of the hall, a wall was added between the West End Room and the End Room, and behind the wall was a staircase. Some people say that there are 9,999 half-rooms in the Forbidden City, and that half-room is the half of Wenyuan Pavilion. But Wenyuan Pavilion is two rooms deep, so these two and a half rooms add up to one room. In fact, four pillars and a roof should be one room. That half room is a legend. During a survey of the Forbidden City in the 1970s, a total of 8,707 rooms were counted. The entire wooden structure of this Wenyuan Pavilion has been painted green, and the horizontal beams are painted with Soviet-style twirls instead of harmony seals. This building does not look like a palace building, but more like a garden building. There is a pool in front of the building, surrounded by a circle of white marble railings, and a stone arch bridge in the center of the pool. According to the saying of round pond and square swamp, this pool should be called fish swamp.

Qianlong learned the name Wenyuan Pavilion from the Ming Dynasty. There was also a Wenyuan Pavilion in the Ming Palace, which was also used for collecting books. It is not known from all walks of life whether the Wenyuan Pavilion in the Ming Dynasty is just an elegant name or there is such a building. After archaeological experts dug deep into the Wenhua Hall area, it was basically confirmed that the Wenyuan Pavilion in the Ming Dynasty was the building south of Wenhua Hall and now the cabinet warehouse. Wenyuan Pavilion in the Ming Dynasty was actually a library building. It was a two-story masonry building similar to the one at the intersection of Nanchizi Road. It had iron doors and windows, no wood, and could not be attacked by fire. The actual Wenyuan Pavilion in the Ming Dynasty was only a library warehouse, not a real pavilion, which caused many mistakes in writing and writing among people from all walks of life. Therefore, it is not a myth that Qianlong built the library and named it Wenyuan Pavilion. It is based on the library of the Ming Dynasty. Qianlong built Wenyuan Pavilion, the royal library of the Ming Dynasty, into a real library.

In addition to building Wenyuan Pavilion here to store the "Siku Quanshu", Qianlong also built library buildings in many places, including Wenjin Pavilion in Chengde Summer Resort, Wenyuan Pavilion in Yuanmingyuan and Wensu Pavilion in Shenyang Forbidden City. In addition, Wenyuan Pavilion is called the Four Northern Grounds. Library buildings have also been built in the south, including Wenhui Pavilion in Yangzhou Palace, Wenzong Pavilion in Jinshan, Zhenjiang, and Wenyi Pavilion on the West Lake in Hangzhou. They are called Jiangnan Three Pavilions. This is the so-called Siku and Qige in the Qing Dynasty, the seven library pavilions where "Siku Quanshu" is stored. In addition to "Wen", the names of these seven library pavilions all have a word with three points of water, which was also what Qianlong wanted to avoid fire. Don't say it, Lao Qian's move is quite effective. These library halls have never been hit by lightning. Those who were burned were all bad people who set fire manually, and they were bad people who had no knowledge and no skills.

These seven library pavilions are all Tianyi Pavilion imitating the collection of books from the Fan family in Ningbo. In the eleventh year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty (1532 AD), a Jinshi named Fan Qin appeared in Ningbo. Fan Qin must have been admitted to the Jinshi because he loved reading. His family was rich. He did not steal books like Kong Yiji. Fan Qin only bought books. When he bought too many books, he collected books, and Fan Qin built three large tiled houses called Dongming Cottage. As an official everywhere, he continued to collect all kinds of books everywhere. This Fan Qin loves reading, but doesn't like being an official very much. In the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing, he was promoted to the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War when he was appointed as deputy censor of Nangan. Instead of taking up the post, he resigned his official position and went home to collect his books. He brought home many books he had received in various places for many years as an official. Two years ago, I went to Handan to visit the ancient city of Guangfu. In my travel notes, I mentioned the local local chronicle "Records of Guangping Prefecture". "Guangping Prefecture Annals" was compiled by Qin Minyue, the prefect of Guangping during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, and was later published in a supplementary edition during the Jiajing period. When Fan Qin resigned and returned to his hometown, he brought back this Jiajing version of "Guangping Prefecture Annals", which is the earliest existing version of the local prefecture Annals. After Fan Qin returned to his hometown, Dongming Cottage could not accommodate it because there were too many books, so he built another library called Tianyi Pavilion in his home, with a collection of more than 70,000 volumes. Fan Qin's descendants have always continued the family tradition of collecting books. Tianyi Pavilion is a private library and in a private house, so it is not open to the public. It was not until the twelfth year of Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1673 AD) that Mr. Huang Zongxi (Nianxi) of Lishan, who proposed that "the world is the lord and the guest", entered Tianyi Pavilion to read books. This was the first time that a person with a foreign surname entered Tianyi Pavilion. As a result, Tianyi Pavilion became famous and was known by Qianlong. Qianlong heard that this Tianyi Pavilion had books for more than a hundred years, and expected that this building would be suitable for books. He sent people to measure and map, and when he came back, he built four warehouses and seven pavilions everywhere. Tianyi Pavilion contributed six to seven hundred volumes of books to "Siku Quanshu" and also allowed Ji Xiaolan to enter the pavilion to read books. In the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou once had the Ma Brothers Library, called the Xiaolinglong Mountain Library. It is larger than Tianyi Pavilion, with more than 100,000 books, and donated more books to Qianlong's "Siku Quan Shu" than Tianyi Pavilion. After Erma, the Ma family was dilapidated, and the library was sold to Huang Zhiyun (Nianyun), a neighbor salt gang boss. Huang Zhiyun moved the library building of the Little Linglong Mountain Museum to his own house and built a library building. This building still exists, and it is the book collection building in Yangzhou Geyuan. This is the story of the library.

Qianlong had his reasons for choosing the site of Shengji Temple to build Wenyuan Pavilion. Firstly, it was because Wenhua Temple was in front of it, which was very cultural; secondly, there was a river in front of the site of Shengji Temple. There is a pond in front of Tianyi Pavilion, and there is also water in front of Wenyuan Pavilion. The fish marsh in front of Wenyuan Pavilion is part of the Inner Jinshui River. The Inner Jinshui River flows east from Taihe Gate and flows out of Xiehe Gate and turns north. Then it turns west and east at Wenyuan Pavilion, flows in front of Wenyuan Pavilion, and finally turns south and flows into Tongzi River. I think this river should have flowed through Wenhua Gate, but Lao Qian changed its course to Wenyuan Pavilion.

The exterior decoration of Wenyuan Pavilion is cool, and the roof is also made of black glazed tiles. Black represents the water in the five elements. Water is used to suppress it on the roof, which means to suppress fire and prevent disaster. On the east side of the cool-toned building of Wenyuan Pavilion, there is a pavilion with warm-toned red walls and gold tiles. Go and have a look.

This is a stele pavilion with a double-arched beam structure, and a solid wall is filled outside the columns. On top of it is a four-corner helmet top and a covering bowl ridge brake. It is very special. The houses in the royal palace have various roofs, including single eaves and double eaves, wooden halls with closed mountains, and hard mountains with suspended mountains. Each type of roof has more than one room. Even the uncommon hollow roof is used in all wells and pavilions. This helmet top alone is not only uncommon, but also the only place in the palace. The stone tablet in the pavilion is engraved with Qianlong's "Wenyuan Pavilion Notes", with many words.

Stand in front of the stele pavilion of Wenyuan Pavilion and look at the side gable walls of Wenyuan Pavilion. You can see white brick joints. This gray white joint is called silk wall and is often used in garden buildings.

The cultural project "Siku Quanshu" began planning in the 37th year of Qianlong, and the first draft was completed in the 47th year. It was not completed until 57th year. The entire construction period lasted for 20 years. Qianlong was very proud of the compilation of "Siku Quanshu". It was much larger in scale than "Yongle Dadian" and had compiled nearly 80,000 volumes of Chinese cultural classics as of that time. Qianlong hired a large number of copywriters to copy seven sets and stored them in four warehouses and seven pavilions. After the first set was completed, it was hidden in this Wenyuan Pavilion. Qianlong not only made the imperial edition of "Wenyuan Pavilion Notes", but also invited all participating editors and copywriters to have a big meal in Wenyuan Pavilion. During the meal, a bowl of wontons was served to each of the diners. After returning to their hometowns, the Sichuan-born diners strongly praised their extraordinary taste. From then on, Shu people called wontons "hanshou". This is a joke. When people in Hunan make wonton, place the wonton skin on the center of their left hand, hold a chopstick in their right hand and dip it in the stuffing bowl with the meat filling, spread the chopstick on the wonton skin on their left hand, hold the chopsticks in their right hand with their left hand, and then hold the two sides. Squeeze one wonton. Because you make wontons with your hands, Hunan also calls wontons a wonton.

Although Qianlong compiled "Siku Quan Shu" for everything, it also destroyed many words that he did not like. The banned books were definitely not here. Moreover, many words have been tampered with, so it is said that "Siku Quanshu" also has the dark side of compiling books and destroying history. In this regard, Ji Xiaolan was Qianlong's accomplice. Among the editions of the Siku and Qige, the Wenyuan Pavilion edition is now in Taiwan; all the original Wenjin Pavilion edition is in the North Map, containing additions from the early years of Jiaqing, which is the treasure of the current national map; the Wensu Pavilion edition is in Gansu Province; and the Wenzhi Pavilion edition is in Zhejiang Province. Other versions were destroyed by war.

After seeing Wenyuan Pavilion, you have to come out from Wenhua Gate the same way.

The emperor of the Qing Dynasty had many etiquette and always told his ancestors about everything. When the Qing Emperor held a Buddhist feast in Wenhua Hall, he first asked everyone to walk from the corner gate to the Heart Hall on the east side of Wenhua Hall to salute the ancestors. This was called a sacrificial ceremony. Chuanxin Hall is a courtyard to the east of Wenhua Hall. Of course, there must be several rooms in it. The most powerful room is called Chuanxin Hall. Chuanxin Hall has a width of five rooms and a depth of three rooms, just like Wenhua Hall, but with a much smaller opening. There are some memorial tablets inside, all of which are role models for the emperor, called the emperor's teacher, the emperor's teacher and the king's teacher. There were three imperial teachers: Fuxi, Shennong and Xuanyuan; there were two imperial teachers: Yao and Shun; there were four royal teachers: Dayu, Cheng Tang and Wenwu King of Zhou; and there were also Duke Dan, brother of King Wu; Confucius followed the sacrifice. The emperor presided over the ceremony mainly to tell the first teachers: I will govern the country and be a wise king according to your example. The people behind me are the gentlemen I invited to preach your theories to me. If I do anything wrong in the future, it will be their fault. You must punish them and don't blame me. The "heart-to-heart" of the Hall of Chuanxin is derived from the book "Shangshu","The people's hearts are in danger, but the Tao's heart is only weak." Only the only one, and persevere in his words."This is the sixteen-character spiritual biography of Shun in the time of Yu.

There is a well in the courtyard of Chuanxin Hall called "Dapao Well". The water in Dapaojing is said to be very sweet, close to Qiongjiang. Therefore, there is a saying in the palace that "Yuquan comes first and Dapao comes second", which shows that the sweetness of its water is second only to Yuquan mountains and rivers. The well pavilions in Dapao Jing are very special. All the well pavilions in the palace are basically made of yellow glazed tiles with four corners. The east and west well pavilions in the Imperial Garden are made of yellow glazed tiles with octagonal peaks. On the other hand, the Daojing Pavilion is a rolling shed of yellow glazed tiles hanging from the top of the mountain with a skylight in the middle. There is another well pavilion of this style in the Forbidden City. We will talk about it later. Since Dapao Well is so special, the royal families of the Ming and Qing Dynasties sacrificed to the well god here every October. The people regarded Liu Yi as the well god, and the original well was on the shores of Dongting Lake.

Chuanxin Hall is now the office space of the Palace Museum. Visitors are easily refused to approach it for fear of shocking the staff when doing official business. He could only stand in the distance and take a look at the outer wall and courtyard doors.

(To be continued)