When it comes to China's ancient architecture, the Forbidden City is the first to bear the brunt, and in addition to the Forbidden City, the second largest building that is now completely preserved is little known. In fact, it is also the residence of the prince during the Qing Dynasty, which is the "GongWangfu" located in the west city of Beijing. As the largest private residence in China, he spent more than two hundred years, watching the Qing Dynasty go from prosperity to decline.
Prince Gong's mansion was founded during the Qianlong period, went through seven generations of emperors, and was donated to Fu Jen University during the Republic of China. After more than ten years of restoration and reconstruction, it was finally opened to the public in 1988, and it was fully opened to the outside world in 2008 twenty years later. It should be known that the Forbidden City is only half open, and there are many palaces in a state of blockade, and the Gongwang Mansion is the only Qing Dynasty prince's residence that is fully open to the public.
Gongwangfu is currently the largest royal palace, covering a total area of 61,120 square meters, which is about equal to the area of 8.5 football fields. Among them, the back garden covers an area of 28,860 square meters, with lakes and rockeries, pavilions and streams, and the layout is exquisite, which is quite the beauty of the northern garden. The front hall is the main residential area, carved beams and paintings, extravagant, from the theater to the theater, from the vegetable garden to the place of worship. And such a royal palace, which experienced three generations of masters in the Qing Dynasty, has the title of a bitter house. So who are his three generations of masters? And who built this first mansion?
The first generation of the lord of the Gong Dynasty was the Qianlong Dynasty's powerful courtier He Yan, who was born in 1750 and was deeply loved by the Qianlong Emperor, and at the same time used his power to amass wealth in the dynasty, and it is said that his savings were more than the silver two of the treasury. So in 1776 AD, He yandong built this mansion on the Qianhai sea and backed by the Houhai. However, in 1799, a day after Qianlong's death, Jiaqing imprisoned Hezhen and raided his family to collect wealth, and the Gongwang Mansion was also nationalized.
The second lord of Prince Gong's mansion was Jiaqing's younger brother, Qianlong's seventeenth son, Prince Qing of Yongxuan. Legend has it that during Qianlong's reign, all his heirs were discussed together, and whoever succeeded to the throne would be severely punished, while the Seventeenth Brother Yongxuan said that he did not want to become emperor, but only hoped that his brothers would give him the mansion of Hezhen. Later, after Jiaqing ascended the throne, he gave the mansion to YongXuan.
He Yan's daughter-in-law, the tenth princess of the Qianlong Emperor, had worries as early as the fall of He Yan. Watching the Washu family embezzlement and bribery according to their power, she has always been worried about the future, and often tells the horse that the future and the Yan family will involve her. In the end, she was unfortunate to say it, but Jiaqing was hindered by the royal face, did not do anything to the princess and the horse, or let them live in the Gongwang Mansion, but divided the Gongwang Mansion into two, the Princess Mansion in the east and the Qingwang Mansion in the west. It was not until 1823, after the death of the Ten Princesses, that they were reunited.
The last owner of Prince Gong's mansion was Prince Gong Yishu, who was known as "Devil Six", which is also the origin of the name of Prince Gong's mansion. In 1851, the palace was given to Yi Bi, the last owner of the house, Yi Bi made a part of the contribution to saving the Qing Dynasty, but his descendants sold the Gong Palace. In 1921, Prince Gong's defeated son mortgaged the palace to a foreign church, and later sold the entire palace because he could not afford to pay it back, and was bought by Fu Jen University for 108 gold bars.
Prince Gong's palace witnessed the Qing Dynasty's rise from the prosperous Kangqian dynasty to the abdication and demise of the last emperor, which is of great significance in Chinese history. Later, during the war, the Gong Palace was also damaged to a certain extent, but fortunately its general layout was preserved, which allowed us to see the appearance of this legendary mansion today.