The 2021 edition of the Forbidden City, the serial "Viewing the Red Wall Golden Tiles, Appreciating the Ming and Qing Imperial Palaces" seventeen bullets, has been read by many readers. Some of these readers made some comments and suggestions, pointing out some fallacies. The second reissuance of this revised edition adopts the opinions and suggestions of previous readers, enriches some content, proofreads clerical errors, and updates and supplements some pictures. Although I dare not say that all the fallacies have been corrected, it should be that most of them have been corrected. Detailed appreciation of the ming and qing palaces to see the top palace architecture of ancient China, some of the royal cultural relics exhibited in the Forbidden City and the traces of royal life in the Qing Palace, but also associated with some of the stories and legends that happened in the Ming and Qing Palaces, do not dare to say "to feed the readers", but hope to share with readers. Thank you.
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Last time, it was said that the Zhou Li Palace Had a "Five Doors and Three Dynasties" system, and after entering the noon gate, you can see the fourth of the five doors, which is also the first dynasty of the three dynasties, that is, the Taihe Gate. The Taihe Gate is the ying gate of the five gates of the weekly system, the gate of the yingzhi.
In front of Taihe Gate is Taihe Gate Square.
Below the five bridges on taihemen square is the Neijinshui River, which bends. Of course, these five bridges are called the NeijinShui Bridge. The middle one is the Royal Road Bridge, on both sides is the Prince Bridge, and the outermost side is the grade bridge, as the name suggests, needless to say.
Although the Neijinshui River is curved, it is not blindly bent, it is bent into the shape of a bow. The five bridges were like five arrows on a bow, ready to shoot at the five openings behind the noon gate. Looking at it this way, here is a bit of a strong man's fierceness ha? But you can also think of it as a small bridge flowing water, that would be quite poetic, right? Red wall gold tile gray cliff, small bridge flowing water royal, heavy eaves stone railing green brick. Imperial style, Zhou Li is like this.
To the west of the square is the Right Shun Gate, which was renamed Xihe Gate during the Qianlong Dynasty, and Xihe is harmonious and happy. Hee Wo Gate is a house-style gate with five rooms and three openings, yellow glazed tiles with a single eaves on the top of the mountain, and a bucket arch lifting beam structure. Solid door leaf, sill wall partition window between the branches. It was rebuilt after the fire was destroyed in the twenty-third year of the Qianlong Dynasty (1758 AD), and what you see now is what it looked like after the reconstruction.
Standing at Hee Ho Gate and looking at Tai Ho Men Square, it was quite large, a total of 26,000 square meters. In Chinese architecture, squares are called courtyards. Chinese courtyards are usually enclosed and surrounded by a circle of houses or walls. And squares can be open, such as the squares of cities. The courtyards in the Forbidden City are very large, comparable to non-ordinary people's earthen houses, so I still prefer to call it "square". The courtyard of the house is called the court, and the courtyard of the imperial palace is called the court, which is said to be the court.
To the east of the square opposite the Xihe Gate is the Zuo Shun Gate, which was renamed the Xiehe Gate during the Qing Shunzhi Dynasty. Concord also means harmony and harmony, "the people are clear, and the concord is all nations". The Concorde Gate was burned and rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, the last time was during the Apocalypse, so although what we see now is not Zhu Di's, it is still a Ming Dynasty production. The shape is the same as that of Hee and the door, but between the branches is a solid wall.
Judging from the picture above, the east side of the Concord Gate is not a stomp, but a road, in fact, the west side is also such a road. This moat is not a flat stone or brick, but a diagonal brick, one edge after another, which is conducive to preventing slippage. This kind of road is called the Qile Road, and the horse road inside the Noon Gate is also such a way. All the ancient city walls in China have horse roads like this, are there any horse roads in foreign walls? There should be, but I haven't seen any castles abroad, and it may be that I don't look at the city and don't ask for a solution.
Hee-ho gate is the same as the pedestal under the Concorde Gate, very tall, I tried it with my hand, almost more than 2 meters. This pedestal runs through the entire side wall of the square, and on the pedestal is a gallery. A group of ming dynasty historians who recorded the history of the emperor wrote in these rooms, and they mainly recorded the emperor's living activities, called "living notes".
Taihemen Square also has a corner tower, much simpler than the corner tower of the palace wall, but still very beautiful. A square pavilion on the top of a hill with yellow glazed tiles.
Taihe Gate is very powerful.
Look at the gate hall of the Taihe Gate.
Taiwa Gate sits on a nine-foot-tall white stone sumire throne with platforms in front and back. In the middle of the platform is a three-way handrail, in the middle is the Royal Road, and the Dan Majesty Stone in the middle of the Royal Road is carved with auspicious clouds and five dragons. The stomps on both sides of the royal road are for the minister to walk. There are white jade handrails on both sides of the stomp and around the platform. This kind of handrail railing of the Taihe Gate is called the "Zen Staff Railing", the top hand is the Zen Staff, and the bottom solid is the upper and lower fangs and the middle Hua Plate; the Zen Staff is leaking underneath, there is a net bottle support, the net bottle has a cloud pattern, and there is a cloud dragon relief on the head of the pillar. The handrails of the Taihe Gate are still relatively plain, and there are no intricate carvings on the railings and columns.
Taihe Gate is a house-style gate, the largest house-style gate in the world. The entrance hall is nine rooms wide and three deep, and there are cornices in front and back. Bucket arch beam structure, on top of which is a yellow glazed tile heavy eaves resting on the top of the mountain, seven ridge beasts. In the middle of the seven bright rooms, three rooms are opened, and one is closed on each side. On the beam are double dragons and seals painted. This is the highest specification of the gate hall in China. Like the "Noon Gate" plaque, the "Taihe Gate" plaque was originally manchu and Han Chinese, and Yuan Shikai cut out the Manchu script when he wanted to become emperor, leaving only the Chinese script, written by the late Qing dynasty calligrapher Wang Faliang.
There are also handrails on the east and west sides of the platform, and these stomps do not even go to the ministers, but the palace maids and eunuchs walk.
Look at the door leaf of the Taihe Gate, which is also a solid door, nine nine eighty-one gilded door studs.
Gilded door studs.
Door nails are the components on the solid door. The solid door of the Forbidden City is very thick, there are door panels on both sides of the frame in the middle, and the door nails are used to fix the door panels on the frame to prevent looseness. Folk solid door also has no frame, and the two door panels are directly welded together with pins. The number of door nails at the gate represents the rank of the mansion inside the gate, the palace gate has nine rows and nine columns, the prince's gate has seven rows and nine columns, the royal palace gate has seven rows and seven columns, and the following is at most five rows and five columns.
Look at this ornament on the door leaf, very gorgeous, called Ruyi Yunlong Play Bead Gilded Lead Forged Face Leaf, there are gilded door studs on the face leaf.
The door knocker on the door leaf is also gilded, and the monster on the door knocker is not a tiger, but the seven sons of the dragon called 狴犴 (pronounced the other shore).
The door leaf is mounted on a back gold pillar, so the front nave is very wide.
Under the eaves.
There are several incense burners and other bronzes on the ground in front of the Taihe Gate, the most famous of which are the two bronze lions in front of the gate.
There are a total of six pairs of bronze lions in the Forbidden City, and the pair in front of the Taihe Gate is the largest, and it is the only one that does not have gilding, and it is also the only pair with ears. This pair of bronze lions is fully sized, from the bottom up is the White Jade Sumi Seat, the bronze base, and then the Bronze Lion. There are very fine carvings on the Sumire throne, pedestal and brocade. The bronze lion itself is also very exquisite. This pair of bronze lions is completely different from the other five pairs, and it is likely that they are original from the Ming Dynasty. There are no lions in China, and the ancients saw them in the Western Regions, saying that "foxes, lions, also eat tigers and leopards." Legend has it that the fox (pronounced garlic paste) is the fifth son of the dragon, does not like to exercise, likes to smoke, and often sits on the incense burner. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, envoys from the Western Regions paid tribute to lions, and it is said that four times the lion was used as a tribute. The lion in front of the door is equivalent to the god of the door, which means to bless the peace of the owner. The lions in front of the door usually appear in pairs, one male and one female, male left female right. The left is the upper hand, when facing south, the left hand is the east, and the east is the upper position. No matter how the folk interpret it, the lion in front of the palace should say this: the male lion holding the hydrangea ball symbolizes the mastery of the society; the lioness who caresses the young lion symbolizes the prosperity of the heir.
In front of the Taihe Gate, there are other objects in addition to bronzes. There is an ashlar next to the bronze lion in the right hand.
This is a white jade box called Shi Kuai (念匮). It has a white jade cloud base underneath it, a lid on the box, and a dragon button on the cover.
Next to the bronze lion on the left is a stone pavilion.
At the bottom is a two-story foundation with a stomp in front of it, and above it is a Sumire Seat or "Building", on which is a white jade pavilion with a single eaves and a broken roof.
In ancient China, since the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there has been a record of the treasure system, the book is the book of canonization, and the treasure is the emperor's treasure seal. When there is a ceremony of the title of the Lord or the canonization of the book, it is necessary to prepare the edict, which is the book; also to prepare the royal seal, which is the treasure. During the ceremony, the seal on the book is called the seal, and the book without the seal is invalid. The White Jade Box and Square Pavilion in front of the Taihe Gate are called baokui pavilions, which are original objects of the Ming Dynasty and should be erected by Zhu Di. There are many ceremonies at the Taihe Gate in the Ming Dynasty, including the Imperial Gate Listening to the Government and various canonization ceremonies. The treasure book system is part of the emperor's supreme power, and the treasure book pavilion set up in front of the Taihe Gate is a symbol of the power of the emperor in the Ming Dynasty. According to the ancient system, the location of the treasure and book in the ceremony is the East Book and the West Treasure, and the treasure book pavilion in front of the Taihe Gate is like this. The Yuan Dynasty Imperial Palace also once had a treasure pavilion, but it is said that the location is just the opposite, indicating that the Mongols have not yet eaten through the Chinese etiquette. The Baokui Pavilion in front of the Taihe Gate has been here since the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and that Pavilion was also repaired in the Qing Dynasty. Although the Manchus tried their best to learn Han culture, they were not familiar with the system of treasure books, and the Qing Jiaqing Emperor once asked his courtiers, "What is this?"? The courtiers replied, "Ear ornamentation." In the Qing Dynasty, the Ceremony was not enshrined in the Taihe Gate, and the Imperial Gate was moved to the Qianqing Gate, and the Taihe Gate lost its function as a gate and became a decoration.
The Taihe Gate was called the Fengtian Gate in Zhu Di's imperial palace, and one hundred and forty years later, the Jiajing of Emperor Ming's Emperor Zhu Houqiu (Nian Liang) was renamed the Imperial Pole Gate in the forty-first year (1562 AD). What happened this year that made the Jiajing Emperor change the name of Fengtian Gate? In the 36th year of Jiajing,36 years of the Forbidden City fire, the Fengtian Gate and the first three halls were burned down, and it was not until the 40th year of Jiajing that the Fengtian Gate and the first three halls were rebuilt. In the forty years of Jiajing, Qi Jiguang led the Qi family army to fight against the Wokou, and the nine battles and nine victories were for the "Taizhou Victory". Taizhou Dajie quelled the Zhejiang Wokou, and the Jiajing Emperor Long Yan was overjoyed. The joy and worry is that Yan Song (Nian Song), the head of the cabinet of the DPRK, installed relatives into the DPRK as officials, and actually said directly to the emperor when the emperor did not approve, "This is my relative, let him take over my class, I can only be blind when I die", is this not an explicit forced palace? Jiajing was embarrassed at that time, so he promised Yan Song and made his relative an official. Looking back, the more Jiajing wanted to get more and more embarrassed, and within a few months, he announced that Yan Song's relatives had ordered him to "zhishi", that is, to resign. This relative took back the edict that the emperor had ordered him to write to Yan Song, and the dog Yan Song didn't know what it meant! No way, in the past few years, Jiajing secretly ordered the cabinet minister Xu Jie to go to the rivers and lakes to find an old Dao to come to the palace to play Fu Qi (Nian Ji). On this day, Jiajing Xuanyan Song entered the palace, and at the same time made Lao Dao sing a big drama of supporting beggars around him. Yan Song went up to the temple, and JiaJing ordered him to read out the text, and Yan Song read: "Today there are traitors playing things." Jia Jing pretended to be confused, and then shouted, "The guard company took down this thief Yan Song!"! After handling Yan Song, Jiajing believed that it was necessary to strictly enforce the law and discipline and not allow anyone to have contempt for the emperor again. He then renamed the Fengtian Gate that had just been rebuilt and completed to the Huangji Gate, and the Fengtian Hall was also renamed the Huangji Gate, telling the hundred officials that my emperor Lao Tzu was the biggest, and you should all be honest. The capture of Yan Song is a folk joke that the historical Yan Song was sent home to retire in the forty years of Jiajing, and his son Shangshu Yan Shifan Jiajing was beheaded for forty-three years.
Fengtian Gate is the gate of the imperial palace, that is, the Ying Gate, called the Chaomen. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's "Records of Ancestral Training", on the third, sixth, and ninth days, when the fifth drum sounded, the ministers of culture and military affairs in Beijing would gather outside the noon gate and line up to report the number. As soon as the bell rang, the noon door opened, and it was five o'clock in the morning. The ministers of culture and military affairs must quietly walk into the noon gate in two groups with their eyebrows down and walk to the Fengtian Gate to stand on both sides of the Dan Majesty under the Fengtian Gate. During this period, no coughing, spitting, blowing nose, if anyone makes a strange noise, it will be recorded by the pickets to the imperial historian and stored in the imperial palace (also read) for backup. In fact, the emperor also came out of the Qianqing Palace at five o'clock and walked forward, because he was far away, so he arrived at the Fengtian Gate later than the ministers. When the emperor was about to arrive, there were three whips from the royal whipper. The emperor sat on a chair that had been set up in advance, a process called "going to the throne", which was very important. Officials should salute the emperor in unison, and when the last prostration is made, the emperor must shout "the secretaries of state have worked hard" or "the secretaries of state are flat" in time to show compassion for the courtiers. When the ceremony is performed, it is presided over by the officials of Hongxu Temple (Red Furnace Temple), which is to shout the trumpet. Hongxu Temple is one of the nine temples like Dali Temple, which is good at etiquette. At the end of the ceremony, the officials of the Hongxu Temple stood in front and read out the commendation order, and the recipients had to walk out of the noon gate and turn around to give thanks to the noon gate. After that, as soon as the officials of the Hongxu Temple shouted "open the music", the foreman of each gate began to play in order. The emperor either approved, or rejected, or instructed, or scolded. After everything was done, the whip master sounded the whip three more times, the emperor got up and drove back to the palace, and the hundred officials turned around and went home, buying two fritters and a bowl of soy milk on the way. This process is the early dynasty, and every morning dynasty must be recorded by the imperial historian and stored in the Imperial Palace. Zhu Yuanzhang was in Nanjing, and after Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, he followed the instructions of his ancestors and did not quit. China has had historians since the Xia Dynasty, but I have not seen the history they recorded. There are "albums" and "histories" in the oracle bones, that is, there have been writings on history since the Shang Dynasty. The early dynasty of Fengtian Gate was the so-called "Imperial Gate Listening", and the Ming Dynasty has always been here. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, it was also at the Fengtian Gate, which had been renamed Taihe Gate, where the Imperial Gate was under the government, and since the Kangxi Dynasty began to relocate to the Qianqing Gate Early Dynasty. The last emperor in Chinese history was on the 25th day of the third year of Xuantong (February 12, 1912 AD) at the Yangxin Hall, and Empress Longyu abdicated the Throne of the Qing Dynasty.
If the emperor occasionally feels cold, or if the stars are unlucky last night, he may avoid an early pilgrimage the next day. The Emperor was to inform the ministers of the early dynasty, but there was no rule on when to notify them. If the emperor had planned it earlier, it would have been given advance notice, and the ministers would not have to get up early to assemble outside the noon gate. Often, it was only when the ministers walked under the Fengtian Gate that they were informed by the Hongxu Temple that "today's dynasty is exempted", and the ministers could immediately turn back in place and go home early. During the Zhengde period, Emperor Mingwu Zhu Houzhao was obsessed with the government and indulged in the entertainment business of the leopard room. One night drink exceeded the standard, and the second morning hangover did not wake up. The ministers stood under the Fengtian Gate waiting for the early dynasty, and the left could not wait for the right to wait for this Zhengde Emperor. Until the afternoon sun was about to set, the emperor woke up and said that today was exempt from the dynasty. The ministers outside the door stood for a day, hungry, and scattered, turning around and running outside the noon gate. This caused congestion at the noon gate, and one of the old generals was numb because he had been standing for a day, and he couldn't help but pounce on the door. The colleagues who rushed up from behind rushed home to eat hot tofu, and each of them kicked one foot, stunned that the general on the ground was trampled to death. You say that the lethality of this ancient stampede accident is no worse than that of the Bund in Shanghai?
After Shunzhi entered the imperial palace, the Imperial Gate was renamed "Taehwa Gate". Taihe is also known as "Yamato", and the I Ching has the meaning of "Baohe Yamato, Naili Zhen", which means harmonious and virtuous.
There is a commonly said side door on the left and right sides of the Taihe Gate, and the right-hand side is called the Zhendu Gate on the west side, and the Zhendu Gate is "Zheng", the Degree is the "Law", and the Zhendu is the meaning of good behavior. Zhendu Gate is Zhu Di's Xuanzhi Gate. Because this is the front door of the right side hall, it is also called the front right door.
The chastity façade is five rooms wide and two deep, the yellow glazed tile single eaves rest on the top of the mountain, and the middle opens the door. The roof is a bucket arch beam structure with double dragon and seal painted on the beams. The solid door leaf is mounted on the middle pillar, so the front and back door halls are as large.
The left-hand side of the Taiwa Gate is called Shōtoku Gate, which is the same shape as the Zhendu Gate.
The Taihe Gate was walked by the Emperor and the Empress, and the Chancellor shangchao had to go to the Zhendu Gate on the right and the Zhaode Gate on the left. The rooms near the Zhendu Gate were in the Qing Dynasty the imperial treasury, guarded day and night. The Qing Dynasty had a miserable Guangxu Emperor, and in the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888 AD), when he reached the age of eighteen, Empress Dowager Cixi gave him a family affair. This relative was really given by Cixi, who was her niece and Guangxu's cousin, named Yehenara Jingfen, who was the later Empress Longyu. According to the yellow calendar, the auspicious day is the first month of the fifteenth year of Guangxu, and the wedding has been planned since October of the fourteenth year. All kinds of colored silk satin, gold and silver jewelry, cage bed drawers, rice bowl toilets, etc. are stored in the imperial treasury of Zhendu Gate. On a dark night in the fourteenth year of the Waxing Moon, the old army guarding the imperial treasury went to sleep on fire. The long lantern in the night let the roaring north wind blow, and the lamp oil inside spilled out and lit the Zhendu Gate. Under the combination of wind and fire, the Zhendu Gate, the Taihe Gate, and the Zhaode Gate were all burned, and the happy goods of the Guangxu Grand Wedding Were also burned. Seeing that the emperor is about to get married for more than a month, the bride still has to go through this Taihe Gate to enter the palace, and it is certainly too late to build a new door, and jingfen cannot be allowed to step on the scorched earth into the palace. There was no way, the military aircraft department played so and so, Yu Zhun, and as a result, a pseudo-Taihe gate was built with a paper shell and sackcloth on the base of the Taihe Gate. On the day of the big wedding, Jing Fen's car was covered with red silk, and she couldn't see the scenery and wind and grass outside, whether she smelled the smell of "cutting salaries and burning charcoal", I don't know. The final wedding ceremony was still relatively successful, but Guangxu had not been able to walk out of Cixi's shadow since the fire. In June of the fifteenth year of Guangxu, the reconstruction of the three gates began, and Guangxu was completed in the twentieth year. The Taihe Gate, Zhendu Gate and Zhaode Gate that we see now are the buildings of this reconstruction, which are more than a hundred years old.
Guangxu fourteen years of Zhendu gate fire is really not supposed, the Ming Dynasty here set up a fire water tank, you can see in the above picture zhendu gate south of the road under each side of the iron cylinder, commonly known as the door sea, that is, there is a sea in front of the door. Take a look.
It is clearly engraved with the words "Four Years of The Reign of The Great Ming Dynasty". Hongzhi is the era name of Emperor Mingxiaozong Zhu Youfan (Nian Bao), the fourth year of Hongzhi is 1491 AD, this iron cylinder has been 530 years ago. After so many years of wind and rain, although it looks rusty, the handwriting is still quite clear, indicating that the iron smelting and casting technology of that year was very noble. Even if there was such a two-mouth iron cylinder filled with water in front of Zhendu's door, it still could not save the fire.
Taihemen Square as the sun sets.
The sun is shining, the light is dimming, looking back at the shadow of the emperor for a thousand years.
The bronze lion also looked at the sunset and sighed.
At sunset, the western wall is difficult to chase, and the male lion will not return. The noble remnants are empty and sad, and the heavens and the earth have been replaced with embroidered brocade piles.
Golden light shone on the white pedestal.
The sky is as blue as white jade, and the golden light is like the cold of water and blue shadows.
Golden light shone on the Taihe Gate.
Bronze Lion Golden Hall Red Wall, Stone Steps Yellow Tile Painting Fang, Green Brick Dan Majesty Cloud Dragon. The sunset is dark, tourists are scattered, and the Ming Emperor and The Qing Emperor are unaccompanied.
Standing at the Taihe Gate and looking towards the Noon Gate.
The Five Phoenixes of the Zhu Family still exist, and the Qing Character Banner has no soul. The Forbidden City, the former royal palace, is now watching the dusk.
Stand on the Neijinshui River Bridge to see the Taihe Gate.
Bending the Jinshui River, shining white jade bridge. Looking at the Golden Palace in the distance, the tourists gather at dusk.
As the sun sets, visitors take photos at the end of the sunset.
Qing Gong Ge held up his mobile phone, and the dark man held the camera. They are all chasing beauty in the world, and they are not afraid of the yellow wind to shoot at dusk.
The Forbidden City is about to end the day's visit, and the radio is urging tourists to leave. The guards hugged the last tourist to kneel on the ground to take pictures.
The palace door will be closed, we will rest, you will not go.
Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just in case. There was still a photographer who slipped through the net and finally photographed the lion.
A building, a lion, a little man is a fool.
Wait for the Ming Dynasty, wait for the Ming Dynasty to visit the imperial palace again, and swing vigorously.
(To be continued)