Why is it said in history that "a Prince Gong's Mansion is half the history of the Qing Dynasty"? Just like the title. Thank you.

Why is it said that "a Prince Gong's Mansion is half the history of the Qing Dynasty"? This is inseparable from its three owners. His first master was Heshen, who was not only a prime minister and a bachelor in the late Qianlong period, but also a famous corrupt official in history. He was very eye-catching in Qing history, and there were countless legends about him. In the forty-first year of Qianlong's reign, that is, in 1776, Heshen began to build his luxurious residence, which was called "Hedi" at this location with Qianhai in the east and Houhai in the back. It is recorded in the history books that "the Crescent River surrounds the house like a dragon and a pan, and the western mountains look like a tiger crouching in the distance." In terms of its location, it occupies an excellent location in the capital. The ancients paid great attention to Feng Shui when building houses and gardens. It is said that there are two dragon veins in Beijing. One is the earth dragon, which is the dragon vein of the Forbidden City; the other is the water dragon, which refers to the line between Houhai and Beihai. Prince Gong's Mansion is right on the connecting line between Houhai and Beihai. , that is, on the dragon vein, so the feng shui is very good. The ancients used water as a source of wealth, and "water can be seen everywhere" in Prince Gong's Mansion. The water in the largest lake-centre pavilion was imported from Yuquan Lake, and it only flows in but not out, so it is more in line with the Feng Shui theory of making money. The top ten marshals of our country, Guo Moruo and others all live near Prince Gong's Mansion, and they all live very long lives. It is said that the place with the most long-lived elderly people in Beijing is near Prince Gong’s Mansion. Various evidences show that this place is a geomantic treasure. Heshen's son Fengshen Yinde later married Emperor Qianlong's youngest daughter, Princess Gu Lun and Princess Xiao, making this mansion a de facto princess mansion for a while. I have to mention Princess Guolun and Xiao here. Princess Hexiao is the most legendary princess in the entire history of the Qing Dynasty. Her biological mother is Wang, Emperor Qianlong's favorite concubine in his later years. In the first month of the fortieth year of Qianlong's reign, when this "youngest daughter", whose temperament and appearance all resembled that of her father, came into the world, the emperor was already sixty-five years old. Although the tenth princess was a woman, she was gifted with supernatural powers and could shoot a ten-strength hard bow. She often accompanied her father on horseback and hunted. Therefore, Qianlong loved her more than all his children. He sighed more than once: "If you were an elder brother, this The throne belongs to you in the future!" Indeed, the tenth princess was not only outstanding in martial arts, but also had an extraordinary mind. When Heshen was proud of his success, the prince-in-law relied on his father's power and acted indulgently. The princess once reprimanded him seriously: "You are under the influence of my father. The emperor is so kind, but he only wants to accept bribes. I am worried about you. When the day comes that my fortune will be ruined, even I will be affected by you!" Although the words of the tenth princess were unfortunately true, Emperor Jiaqing finally succeeded. Still thinking of the brother-sister relationship, he did not deprive his younger brother-in-law of his title, and the princess and his wife still lived in their original home. Therefore, the mansion was divided into two, with Prince Qing's Mansion in the west and Princess Mansion in the east. It was not until the death of the tenth princess in September of the third year of Daoguang (1823) that the entire mansion came under the name of Prince Qing. At that time, Yonglin had been dead for more than three years... This is about his second master - Prince Yonglin of Jiaqing, who "loved the mansion but not the country". Speaking of Yonglin, many people may not be familiar with it, but when it comes to his grandson, Prince Qing Yikuang, who signed the "Xinchou Treaty" with the Eight-Power Allied Forces together with Li Hongzhang, probably everyone is familiar with it. Yikuang is also a famous corrupt official in modern Chinese history, but compared with the group of cowardly and incompetent princes Beile in the late Qing Dynasty, he is still a person who dares to take responsibility and can be entrusted with important tasks. Therefore, since the Tongzhi Dynasty, Yikuang has been favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi. Before Xianfeng gave the mansion to Prince Gong, he had been living here as a general of the auxiliary state. On the third day of the first lunar month of the fourth year of Jiaqing, Emperor Hongli passed away. The next day, Jiaqing deprived Heshen of his positions as Minister of Military Affairs and Admiral of the Nine Gates, and ransacked his home. It is estimated that the total wealth was worth about 20 million taels of silver, equivalent to half the Qing government's finances. Income, so there is a saying that "Heshen fell, Jiaqing was full". On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month of the same year, that is, February 22, 1799, He Shen was "ordered to commit suicide." As early as when Heshen was in power, the princes of Qianlong got together to discuss that no matter who became emperor in the future, Heshen would be "dealt with". However, the seventeenth prince Yonglin said: "No matter which brother becomes emperor in the future, Heshen will be killed." Emperor, as long as you reward me with this mansion in Heshen, I will be satisfied!" And this mansion will eventually be owned by Lin. At the same time, Qianlong's daughter Princess Hexiao, who was married to Heshen's son, still lived in half of the mansion. In the first year of Xianfeng, that is, 1851, Prince Gong Yixin became the third generation owner of the house and renamed it Prince Gong's Mansion. The name of Prince Gong's Mansion is still used today.

Prince Gong Yixin is one of the most important political figures in modern Chinese history. He participated in the Second Opium War and almost all major political activities thereafter (between 1853 and 1898). During the "Xinyou Coup" , it was he who helped Cixi to the throne of "listening to politics behind the curtain"... It is no exaggeration to say that without Yi Xin, the entire modern history of China, and even later Chinese history, would have been rewritten. In the early years of the Republic of China, in order to raise funds for the restoration, Prince Gong Puwei, the grandson of Prince Gong, pledged the "dragon ticket" of Prince Gong's residence to the Xishiku Church of Beijing Catholic Church for a low price of 80,000 silver dollars. More than ten years later, as interest increased, the original mortgage of 80,000 silver dollars had grown to nearly 200,000. Pu Wei, who was at the end of his rope, was no longer able to repay this huge debt. In 1932, Fu Jen Catholic University, founded by the Roman Church, used 108 gold bars to repay the loan due to the relationship between the churches, and the property rights were transferred to the university. In 1937, Fu Jen Catholic University took back the property to expand the female dormitory, turned part of the mansion into a women's college, and blocked the passage from the back building to Cuijin Garden. In this way, the mansion and the garden began to be separated. In the same year, Pu Wei's second brother Pu Ru, who originally lived in Diyuan, sold the garden to Fu Jen Catholic University for 100,000 silver dollars. In 1949, the garden of Prince Kung's Mansion was converted into a dormitory for a state agency; the mansion was used by the Art Normal College, the China Conservatory of Music, and the Art Research Institute of the Ministry of Culture. In 1952, the China Conservatory of Music demolished the front part of the mansion and built a "modern style" dining hall into the courtyard. In 1959, it demolished all the houses outside the original gate of the mansion and built a ruler-shaped piano tower and a courtyard. Glyph painting building. During the "Cultural Revolution", the Changqiao Air Conditioner Factory occupied "half of the area" in the eastern part of the garden such as the Grand Theater; the State Administration Kindergarten occupied the West Road building. Due to improper use and earthquake damage, by the mid-to-late 1970s, part of the verandah in the garden and the main building and the east and west wings of the courtyard at the south of Fudi East Road collapsed successively, and other buildings were also damaged to varying degrees. But fortunately, The overall layout of the palace has not been damaged