Why didn't the Ming Palace Museum in Nanjing survive?
Today, the Ming Palace Museum in Nanjing has only gates and columns. Why hasn't it been preserved?
Three reasons why the Palace Museum failed to survive in Ming Dynasty.
Reason one: Judy moved to the capital.
After Judy became emperor, she always felt a little uncomfortable in Nanjing, because his accession to the throne was really disgraceful and her stay in Nanjing was not so satisfactory. So soon, in the name of protecting the country, he moved the capital from Nanjing to his base camp, Beijing. Now the Forbidden City in Beijing is still well preserved, but the Ming Palace in Nanjing has basically disappeared.
This is because the ancient buildings in China are mainly wooden structures, so they often need a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain. Palace buildings are generally very large in scale, and the maintenance manpower and material resources needed are very huge.
Judy settled in Beijing after leaving Nanjing, and basically ignored the old palace in Nanjing, which led to the neglect of the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, it has a certain relationship with the geographical environment of the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty, and the last point is the cause of the war.
Reason 2: It was the wars in the past dynasties that led to the failure to preserve the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty.
There are four famous wars here.
The first one: after the Qing army entered the customs, it carried out a large-scale cleaning of the Ming Dynasty, including the ancient capital Nanjing. At that time, in order to strengthen the rule of the south, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty specially stationed a large number of troops in the south and set the headquarters of the army in the old capital of the Ming Dynasty at that time. You know, the Forbidden City in Nanjing has been very dilapidated because it was not repaired in time, and the wanton destruction of the Qing army is even less.
Second, the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. First, it was burned and robbed in Nanjing. Later, the heavenly king built a new palace for himself and demolished almost everything that could be used in the Ming palace.
Third: After the war of aggression, the Japanese army swept Nanjing, and the whole city was shrouded in the smoke of war, like hell, not to mention the imperial city.
Fourth, when Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Nanjing, because Nanjing was in ruins at that time, in order to build the Nanjing government as soon as possible, he ordered people to build roads and bridges with what was left over from the Ming Palace Museum. Finally, the Ming Palace Museum disappeared from history.
Reason 3: It has a lot to do with the environment of the Forbidden City in the Ming Dynasty.
Everyone knows that Nanjing belongs to the south. The weather in the south is humid and there is plenty of rainfall. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't think too much about Feng Shui for the environment of his palace and the comfort of his own living. He chose to build his city by the lake, when most of the buildings were made of wood.
With frequent rainfall and humid weather, wooden buildings are easily damaged and difficult to preserve. In addition, Judy moved the capital to Beijing after she ascended the throne, and the Nanjing Forbidden City was basically useless, and no effort was made to repair it. Day after day, the Ming Palace Museum is almost empty.
Summary: A generation of ancient capitals ended in misery. The Ming Palace was once called a magnificent palace, and it took a lot of energy and financial resources to build it. If it can be preserved to this day, it will certainly compete with the Forbidden City in Beijing, but it disappeared after repeated wars and defeats because of poor site selection. That's a real pity.