The second episode of "The Forbidden City", "The Roof of the Prosperous Age", is urgently needed ............
The thrilling war has been known. The regime change is under way.
in August of the lunar calendar in 1644, accompanied by a vast entourage, a six-year-old boy and his mother went to Beijing from their hometown in Shengjing. The boy's name is Fu Lin, the emperor shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty. The destination of this trip is their new home in Beijing: the Forbidden City.
For six-year-old the emperor shunzhi, this tall city gate he has never seen before must have left him a novel and profound impression.
This is the largest gate in the Forbidden City, with a height of 37.95 meters.
According to China's theory of Yin and Yang, due north is called Zi, and due south is called Noon, so this gate located at the southern end of the central axis of the Forbidden City is called "Noon Gate".
Passing through the Noon Gate, the true meaning of the Forbidden City appears in front of the emperor shunzhi.
This is their new home, and the possession of this palace will also be a symbol of their becoming the new rulers of China.
The crimson palace walls and golden glazed tiles are the most striking features of this palace, and this stretch of red and gold completely distinguishes the Forbidden City from the surrounding buildings.
The architecture of the Forbidden City is divided into two parts, the front part is a place for dealing with government affairs and holding important ceremonial activities, which is called the former dynasty. The second half is the place where the emperor handles daily government affairs and concubines' living, which is called the imperial palace.
Jin Hongkui, vice president of the Palace Museum:
The overall layout of the Forbidden City is like this. So many buildings are arranged with several deep axes, so these buildings are all developed in the form of courtyards. There are groups of buildings in each courtyard. Every building has a master and a slave, and there is a right match between them. This is how it uses architectural means to express the hierarchy and order expressed by feudal society and feudal etiquette.
According to legend, the number of Ziwei palaces of the Jade Emperor is 1,, while the Forbidden City on earth has always been said that there are 9,999 and a half palaces. In fact, the Forbidden City has been changing for more than 5 years. According to the survey of experts in the Forbidden City in 1973, there are 8,74 existing palaces in the Forbidden City.
Some people think that the Forbidden City that Emperor Shunzhi first saw in those days may not be complete, because Regent Dourgen, who went to Beijing several months earlier than him, wrote in a report to the emperor shunzhi that Li Zicheng burned down the palace and fled.
Li Xieping, deputy research librarian of the Palace Museum:
Li Zicheng did set fire to it, so what damage did the whole Forbidden City suffer? In fact, people in the Qing Dynasty had their own position. The Textual Research on the Old News in the Sun, revised by the Qianlong Dynasty, clearly stated that the Palace of the Forbidden City was weighed for its gains and losses because it was superior to the old one. What does it mean? That is to say, my renovation of the Forbidden City is based on the architecture of the Ming Dynasty. This, in turn, explains what the problem is, that is to say, the Forbidden City Palace has not been damaged on such a large scale because of Li Zicheng as the legend has it.
According to Records of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor shunzhi, who was six years old, ascended the pole at the Imperial Gate, which is now the Taihe Gate.
In the second year of Shunzhi, the palaces on the central axis were restored and renamed. This is the most direct embodiment of dynasty change in architecture. The Emperor Hall was renamed the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Zhongji Hall was renamed the Hall of Zhonghe, and the Jianji Hall was renamed the Hall of Baohe. For the new regime, which was not yet stable at that time, the word "harmony" contained their most urgent expectations for the future of world peace and harmony between the monarch and the people.
Since then, Manchu characters have appeared on the plaques in the Forbidden City.
the emperor shunzhi died at the age of 24 without waiting for the peaceful and prosperous times he hoped for. The year was 1661.
eighteen years later, it was a cold winter night. The imperial kitchen on the west side of the Hall of Supreme Harmony suddenly burst into flames, and the fire spread all the way, burning the Hall of Supreme Harmony two hours later. A few days later, six eunuchs who caused the fire were hanged. Since then, the Hall of Supreme Harmony has been in ruins for 18 years.
During this period, the young Emperor Kangxi was busy directing campaigns and stabilizing his rule in the incomplete Forbidden City. In sixteen years, he successively put down the rebellion in San Francisco led by Wu Sangui, recovered Taiwan Province, defeated the invading Russia, and signed the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar, the only foreign equal treaty of the Qing Dynasty.
until the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi, the world was at peace. At this time, Emperor Kangxi was finally able to rebuild the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
but this time, the repair has encountered the biggest problem. The last reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was in the Apocalypse of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, 69 years have passed, and people don't know the exact proportion and data of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. At that time, Emperor Kangxi, who loved reading, personally searched books, which made him very disappointed.
A man named Liang Jiu made a great turn for the better. Liang Jiu, who was over 4 years old at that time, entered the Ministry of Industry from the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty and has worked in the Ministry of Industry for more than 4 years.
According to the Biography of Liang Jiu, Liang Jiu made a wooden model of the Hall of Supreme Harmony at that time according to the ratio of ten to one, and completed the structural construction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony by enlarging the model components. It is amazing that every piece of wood that has been enlarged can be installed perfectly.
Fortunately for future generations, all the materials and dimensions of the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi were recorded in detail in the book Chronicle of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which is the only detailed record about the construction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. For the upcoming overhaul of the Hall of Supreme Harmony today, this book still has important reference value.
in the thirty-sixth year of Kangxi, the Hall of Supreme Harmony was completed, and a grand ceremony was under way. This is not only a celebration of a palace, but also the beginning of a new prosperous time.
This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony that we saw today.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, located on the white marble platform more than eight meters high, is the core of the Forbidden City and the climax of the whole architectural movement of the Forbidden City. All its designs are for one purpose, which is to set off the supreme imperial power to the extreme.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony used to be the tallest building in Beijing, with a height of 36.57 meters from the courtyard to the main ridge, which is equivalent to the height of a 12-story building.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is also the largest building in the Forbidden City. It covers an area of 2,381 square meters, which is equivalent to half the size of a football field. Its length-width ratio is exactly nine to five, representing the ninth five-year plan.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, together with the Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall behind it, formed the main body of the former dynasty, and people used to call it the Three Great Halls.
The architecture of the Forbidden City is related to the number nine in many places, and nine is the largest, which embodies the supreme meaning. Like nine rows of nine-way doornails on the gate, nine beasts on the eaves and so on.
However, for the Hall of Supreme Harmony, even the maximum number of nine is not enough to express its dignity, so there are ten wild animals on its roof. This extra one is called Hangshi, which is the only one among all the ancient buildings in China.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the largest wooden structure building in the world at present.
In this hall, which is called the world's largest, the layout is quite simple.
Against the backdrop of the pedestal, the emperor's throne is the only protagonist. Everywhere you look, the majesty of imperial power radiates to every corner.
There are seventy-two pillars in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Six pillars around the throne are covered with gold, and each pillar has a dragon, which is a symbol of imperial power.
Looking up from these six gold pillars, there is a dragon on the algae well, and the orb hanging upside down from the dragon's mouth is also called Xuanyuan mirror.
The reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony by Emperor Kangxi changed its original nine-bay shape into eleven-bay. It can be said that this is the most practical transformation in this reconstruction.
Zhou Suqin, deputy director of the Ancient Architecture Department of the Palace Museum:
When Kangxi rebuilt the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the thirty-fourth year, considering the fire prevention factor, he changed the wooden sloping corridors into brick walls, and at the same time changed the verandahs on both sides of the Hall of Supreme Harmony into sandwiched rooms, thus forming the pattern of eleven rooms in width that we see now. In fact, it has not changed the original pattern of nine surrounding corridors.
In June, 24, the survey before the overhaul of the Forbidden City entered the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and we followed them to shoot.
This is the beam frame of the largest wooden building in the world.
The color painting of Ji 'ao was painted during the thirty-fourth reconstruction of Kangxi. It is the highest-level color painting of Hexi, and it has been more than 3 years since.
Our camera lens also captured a mysterious object here.
it is at the center of the top of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, directly above the algae well.
This is the board that yongzheng emperor ordered to be placed here.
We found such a passage in the archives of the Palace in the First Historical Archives: In the ninth year of Yongzheng, on August 12th, yongzheng emperor ordered three tablets to be placed in hall of mental cultivation, Hall of Supreme Harmony and Ganqing Palace respectively.
Li Guorong, director of the editing and research department of the First Historical Archives:
Placement of fu ban was originally a very particular content in geomantic omen in ancient architecture, in order to keep the house in order to ward off evil spirits and protect peace. In addition to the traditional Taoist Eight Diagrams, these tablets of Yongzheng (the emperor) also added Tibetan Buddhist spells, which reflected that he was used by various religions to protect his peace.
yongzheng emperor's placement of the symbol board undoubtedly made it clear that the three palaces, namely Hall of Supreme Harmony, Ganqing Palace and hall of mental cultivation, are the most important places in the Forbidden City, while the other two palaces are located in the imperial palace except Hall of Supreme Harmony.
in contrast to the previous dynasty, the second half of the Forbidden City is collectively called the imperial palace, which includes the last three palaces where the emperor and queen lived, the sixth palace where the concubines lived and the five dry things where the princes lived. At this point, the movement of the Forbidden City architecture changed from masculine climax to feminine adagio.
Ganqing Palace, Kunning Palace and Jiaotai Palace are collectively called the last three palaces.
Ganqing Palace was the emperor's living room before yongzheng emperor. The palace used by the same emperor is 11 meters lower than the hall of supreme harmony in the previous dynasty, and its area is more than 1 square meters smaller. People will feel relaxed when they are in it.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were nine back heating pavilions in the Palace of Ganqing, which were divided into two floors, similar to today's duplex building, with 27 beds arranged up and down, which the emperor could choose at will. In the Qing Dynasty, the East-West Warm Pavilion was changed into a study.
In the Ming Dynasty, Kunning Palace was the queen's bedroom. By the Qing Dynasty, the interior decoration of this palace had changed greatly, and it became the palace with the most Manchu characteristics on the central axis.
it runs through the room, and there are fire kang on the west, north and south sides. The west kang is for worshipping the gods in the morning, the north kang is for worshipping the gods in the evening, and the northeast corner is the kitchen used by cook the meat during the sacrifice. This layout comes from the living customs of Manchu folk "pocket room" and "Wan Zi Kang".
It can be seen from the inscription of Kunning Palace hanging in the East Warm Pavilion of Kunning Palace that the layout of Kunning Palace was copied from the Qingning Palace where the Empress lived in Shenyang Forbidden City before entering the customs.
In addition to the queen, there are many concubines of emperors in the harem, who live in the palaces on both sides of the last three palaces, which are always called the East, West and Six Palaces.
Wang Zilin, deputy research librarian of the Palace Museum:
The six palaces in the East and West are taken from the six bedrooms and six palaces system in the Book of Rites, but they are more integrated with the philosophy of Yin and Yang in the Book of Changes formed since the Han Dynasty. From a plane view, its architectural layout is a divinatory image of Kun Gua, symbolizing Yin, which means that this place is inhabited by concubines. Its function can be reflected in the naming of the palace. For example, Chenggan Palace, why is it called Chenggan Palace? That is to say, the concubines who live in this place should inherit the emperor, so the architecture of the East, West and Six Palaces embodies the ethical thoughts of the Three Cardinal Principles and the Five Permanent Principles, especially the husband as the wife.
The architectural form of the six palaces in the East and West is much lower than that of the last three palaces, which reflects the subordinate position of the concubines who live here.
This is a beautiful picture drawn by yongzheng emperor. Every emperor hopes that Long Mai will continue and his descendants will flourish, so that the dynasty will flourish and the country will be forever solid.
in 1856, with a baby crying, a woman's life's fate was changed. She was the Empress Dowager Cixi who later ruled China for 48 years.
Palace of Gathered Elegance was her residence when she first entered the palace, but the interior decoration we see now was renovated and decorated with 632, silver on her 5th birthday.
The ancient people in China thought that orchids had the fragrance of kings and the symbol of giving birth to boys. The pattern combined with Shoushi implied that men should live longer, so this kind of painting was widely used in partition fans in Palace of Gathered Elegance.
Perhaps coincidentally, Empress Dowager Cixi was made an aristocrat when she first entered the palace, and soon gave birth to the later Tongzhi Emperor. The mother is more expensive than the child, with her status becoming more and more prominent, her bedroom decoration is also luxurious, and dragons have appeared in the courtyard furnishings in Palace of Gathered Elegance, which is the only example among the six eastern and western palaces.
hall of mental cultivation in the imperial palace was originally an ordinary palace before yongzheng emperor.
yongzheng emperor didn't live in Ganqing Palace as usual after he ascended the throne. He said: His father Emperor Kangxi lived in Ganqing Palace for more than 6 years, and he really couldn't bear to live in it again. He decided to move to hall of mental cultivation outside Yuehua Gate, and asked that the hall be slightly repaired and must be simple.
yongzheng emperor's decision changed the pattern of the imperial palace in the Forbidden City. Since then, hall of mental cultivation has become more and more important in the Forbidden City.
after hall of mental cultivation's sudden rise in status, it has not always been simple, and the supporting decoration has quickly followed. In the Forbidden City, the quality of lighting is one of the important symbols to measure the status of the palace. In order to improve the lighting in hall of mental cultivation, it became the first palace with glass in the Forbidden City. In the first year of Yongzheng, the Qing Palace Office Office "Work File? "Woodwork" records that "on the first day of October, there was a decree that hall of mental cultivation should be the back bedroom, and two pieces of glass should be installed in the east and west windows in the north of the hall".
At that time, glass was a very rare thing, and it was all imported from overseas.
hall of mental cultivation is located near the former dynasty, which combined the emperor's rest and office space. The second half of the palace is the bedroom, where the emperor rests. If he wants to handle government affairs, he can go to the front hall for work in less than a minute by crossing this aisle, which greatly improves the efficiency.
from yongzheng emperor to the demise of the Qing dynasty, eight emperors in the Qing dynasty used hall of mental cultivation as a place to live and deal with government affairs. Here, they left their different life marks.
A small palace witnessed the history of a dynasty from prosperity to decline.
In the hierarchical and solemn Forbidden City, there is a building with different styles that reveals a smart and romantic atmosphere. This is Ningshou Palace Garden, commonly known as Qianlong Garden. It is the masterpiece of Emperor Qianlong, who is natural and unrestrained and likes to travel.
This garden is built in the northeast corner of the Forbidden City. Narrow and slender, winding paths lead to secluded places, four courtyards are connected, and the scenery is different.
Emperor Qianlong enjoyed the most beautiful scenery of Jiangnan when he visited it six times.
The garden also shows the profound influence of Han traditional culture on Emperor Qianlong.
In ancient China, there was a ritual activity of praying for blessings called reward, which later evolved into the custom of people's outing in late spring. At this time, the literati also invited parties, the most famous of which was recorded in Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion.