In the 1980s, all departments of the Forbidden City worked together to create a set of classics with first-class commentary teams and precious first-hand materials, including "Forbidden City Palace", "100 National Treasures of the Forbidden City" and "Qing Dynasty Court Life". The book has been reprinted several times, and the Douban score remains high.
40 years later, the publisher Guangxi Normal University Press and the planner Movable Type International reached a consensus on the direction of the reprint, using a younger way to rearrange the design, and reshaped this set of classic books into a new generation of "Heirloom Books of the Forbidden City". After a year-long editing, this set of classic books appeared for the first time under the name of "Three Books of the Forbidden City". Publisher Wang Jiaming said: "A book manuscript, after so many years, is still being reprinted, and it is grandly launched, which cannot but be said to be a miracle. ”
In 1982, the forbidden city palace, the first comprehensive and systematic, complete and accurate introduction and theoretical exposition of the forbidden city in the history of the Forbidden City, was first published, which comprehensively unveiled the hidden corners of the 600-year-old Forbidden City architecture, and almost all the ancient architectural forms in China, from the whole to the part, detailed illustration of the details of the construction of public opinion feng shui, construction materials, process principles and so on, can be described as an encyclopedia of ancient Chinese architecture.
In 1984, "National Treasure" was published, with 60 years of experience in the Forbidden City cultural relics expert Zhu Jiayun, led the expert team from the Forbidden City at that time treasured more than 900,000 pieces of cultural relics selected 100 treasures, from the Shang Zhou to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, letters including bronze, calligraphy and painting, ceramics, arts and crafts, weaving and embroidery five categories, with a unique perspective to explain the national treasures, both the age, material, size and other basic information of cultural relics, but also the artifacts, meanings and other scientific popularization, there are more wonderful local illustrations, each section of the information intuitive and exquisite, Through the national treasure, it shows the artistic flow of China over thousands of years, as well as the appreciation skills of different art disciplines.
In 1985, "Qing Dynasty Court Life" was published, which disclosed the actual life of the Qing Palace Villa for three hundred years, allowing readers to have a specific and micro-understanding of the traditional Chinese imperial system and royal life for more than 2,000 years. After the publication of these three books, they were immediately popular at home and abroad, and "National Treasure" also won the first-class book award at the Frankfurt International Book Fair at that time, and became an official gift from the Chinese government to foreign heads of state.
The author lineup of the "Three Books of the Forbidden City" are all taidou-level figures. Senior research experts such as Zhu Jiayun and Yu Qianyun have been face-to-face with cultural relics for many years, and the data and historical materials contained in the book have absolute authority. The three editors-in-chief of "The Forbidden City and Royal Life", Wan Yi is a scholar of Court History of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Wang Shuqing is an expert in Qing History and vice president of the Palace Museum, and Lu Yanzhen is an expert in the exhibition of the Palace Museum.
As a set of graphic documents, a large number of precious images included in the book were fully handheld by hu hammer, the chief photographer of the Palace Museum at that time, and the Palace Museum gave unprecedented support for shooting. At that time, the two groups of photography teams of "Forbidden City Palace" shot separately, six nights and eight every day, which took more than three months to compile nearly 600 precious pictures and more than 30 architectural ink line drawings, which were hidden in the hidden corners of the palace compound one by one, from the palace theater to the candlestick stove. It is worth mentioning that in order to pursue the reproduction of historical scenes, the photographer has been working all night to capture extremely difficult night scenes and other special scenery, which allows readers to see a lot of content that cannot be seen when visiting the Palace Museum.
A large number of multi-angle and unobstructed detailed photos in "100 National Treasures of the Forbidden City" are almost impossible to copy in today's increasingly strict protection of cultural relics. Zhu Jiaxuan, the editor-in-chief of the book, once mentioned that the plate-making technician of the book came to Beijing with a color marker with a number, and repeatedly compared it with the color of the cultural relics included in the book. Zhu Jiayun recalled: "I saw such a color correction method at the expense of work and without fear of trouble, and I was very impressed. After the book was published, accurately and perfectly displaying the true color of the cultural relics became a major selling point. ”
This set of written cities has been continuously republished for 40 years, which can be said to be the predecessor of various "Forbidden City Books" on the market, and has also become a classic "Forbidden City Reference Book" sought after by many readers. The "Three Books of the Forbidden City" was republished with a new look, using imported cherry blossom paper printing, soft feel, accurate color rendering, and specially designed a limited edition collection letter box and three pieces of Forbidden City theme cultural creation. The pattern at the ridge of the letter box is selected from the "Luban Ruler" in the "Forbidden City Palace", which is also the door ruler used in the first step of the construction of the Forbidden City to judge the auspiciousness, and from this point on, the 720,000-square-meter forbidden land- the Forbidden City rises on the ground. The three Forbidden City-themed cultural creations include a large-size 8-open hand-painted poster of the Forbidden City, a replica of the Forbidden City memorial ticket of the last century, and a version of interesting stickers for court life, which allow readers to feel more of the charm of the Forbidden City while reading.