The Hall of Taihe, the "Golden Ruan Hall" in the mouths of the common people, is the most important building in the outer court, and it is also the highest-ranking building in the Forbidden City and even in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Construction of the Taihe Hall began when the Forbidden City was built in Yongle and was completed when the Forbidden City was completed (1420), but it was called the Fengtian Temple at that time. However, it was destroyed by lightning and fire only three months after its completion.
If according to the theory of "heaven and man induction" at that time, Zhu Di, who took the throne of his nephew and moved the capital, should not be. The burning of the three halls he had just built was a warning from heaven to him. I don't know if Zhu Di was also worried in his heart. But Zhu Di is Zhu Di, and a strong man is a strong man, and he is determined not to return to Nanjing, but only to change Beijing to "Walking In", still respect Nanjing as the capital, change to Fengtian Gate (now Taihe Gate) to listen to the government, and no longer rebuild the three major halls. After that, Hong Xi and the Second Emperor Xuande both had the idea of moving the capital to Nanjing, and did not rebuild it.
After the Ming Orthodox Emperor succeeded to the throne, the idea of moving south had ceased, and the three halls were rebuilt in the fifth year of the Ming Orthodoxy (1440), and by September of the sixth year of the Ming Orthodoxy (1441), "the three halls of Fengtian, Huagai and Zhensheng, and the two palaces of Qianqing and Kunning were completed."
Jiajing, who belonged to the outer domain, was still quite uncomfortable inside. He did everything he could to leave his mark everywhere, and many of the buildings in Beijing, including the Forbidden City, were built or changed the most by Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty. In April of the thirty-sixth year of Ming Jiajing (1557), the three halls were again destroyed by lightning fire, and the reconstruction of Ming Jiajing was completed in September of the forty-first year (1562). With this, Jiajing renamed the Fengtian Hall the Imperial Pole Hall.
After that, in the twenty-fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, the three major halls were burned down again, and they were not repaired until the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty. In the last year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng occupied the Forbidden City, and the war damaged the three halls, and Li Zicheng had to ascend the throne at the Wuying Hall. After entering the customs, the Shunzhi Emperor also had to hold a post-entry enthronement ceremony at the Taihe Gate.
The history books only record the construction, burning, and reconstruction of the Taihe Hall in the Ming Dynasty, but no drawings have been left for what the Fengtian Hall built by Yongle looked like, and what the Imperial Pole Hall built by Jiajing looked like. In the Exhibition of the Forbidden City "Danchen Yonggu - Six Hundred Years since the Forbidden City Was Built", the reconstruction of the Taihe Hall in 1695 is regarded as a very important point in the history of the change of the Forbidden City, but this part of the content is really thin. There are no Ming Dynasty cultural relics, and a royal seal of the Qianlong Emperor is exhibited,
Taihe Hall repair unloaded horned beasts....
Since its completion, the Taihe Hall has undergone many reconstructions, reconstructions and constructions, and the current Taihe Hall no longer has the appearance of the Fengtian Hall built by Yongle.
At the exhibition of the 600th year of the Forbidden City, I saw a "Map of Ming Palace City" collected by the Nanjing Museum, and from this map, the noon gate basically did not change, and the other basically did not have the same. The Ming Dynasty that should be the main hall in the middle does not know that it is the "Taihe Hall" of that period, which is the closest to the Ming Dynasty.
Portrait scroll of the Kangxi Emperor's imperial dress.
This picture is a portrait of the Kangxi Emperor in his later years, with a thin face, a strong spirit, dressed in imperial clothes, gorgeous and majestic.
In the second year of Qing Shunzhi (1645), the Imperial Pole Hall was renamed the Taihe Hall, which is still in use today. The current form of the Taihe Hall is the regulation after the Kangxi Restoration in 1695.
The size of the Taihe Hall is much smaller now than it was in The Yongle Period, which can be seen from the size of the platform. The original main hall was not said to be "welted" on the platform, at least not as much as it is now.
It is said that when it was rebuilt during the Orthodox years, it was not rebuilt as it was; the reconstruction of the Ming Jiajing era greatly reduced the volume of the three halls, so that the proportion of the building and the three-story platform was out of balance.
In the 34th year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1695), when the two sides of the corridor were demolished, they were replaced by a firewall. The volume continued the scale of Ming Jiajing's restoration. It looks like a large house is small, with firewalls on both sides occupying the empty parts on both sides of the countertop.
Due to the shrinkage of the volume during the Ming Jiajing period, the width of the Taihe Hall was not as wide as that of the Changling Xiangdian Hall (66.75 meters in width) and the front hall of the Taimiao Temple (68.20 meters in width), but the height and depth of the Taihe Hall were greater than those of these two halls, so overall compared, the Taihe Hall is still the largest single wooden building in China.
Jasper Jiaolong Niu "Treasure of the Emperor Taishang" Qing Qianlong.
Jasper cross-knotted square seal. Qianlong said that he "did not dare to go to the Bronze Emperor's ancestors", and in his early years he vowed to return to power immediately if he reigned for sixty years. However, after his abdication, he still trained the government, using the Qianlong era name, calling him "Emperor Taishang", and engraving the "Treasure of the Emperor Taishang" for daily use.
Qianlong also repaired the Taihe Hall, only to repair, not to rebuild.
The Taihe Hall is the largest and highest-ranking building in the Forbidden City, with its high architectural regulations and exquisite decorative techniques, ranking first among ancient Chinese architecture.
There are 10 beasts in the corners of the eaves, the number of which is only seen in the existing ancient buildings.
The horned beasts unloaded from the Reconstructed Taihe Hall were exhibited at the 600th Anniversary Exhibition of the Forbidden City.
A horned beast that only the Taihe Hall has, Xingshi.
Historical Image: Taihe Hall Early 20th Century.
The Taihe Hall is the largest and highest-ranking temple in the entire Forbidden City, where the emperor ascends the throne, the big marriage, the canonization of the empress, the empress dowager's emblem, the order to go out on the expedition, and the "three major festivals" of longevity, winter solstice, and New Year's Day, the emperor is the imperial taihe hall; in the early Qing Dynasty, the highest level of the imperial examination "hall examination" was held here; in 1789, Qianlong was changed to the Bohol Hall in the fifty-fourth year, and the "chuanxu" ceremony announcing the results of the examination was still arranged in the Taihe Hall.
Album of the Scenery of The Joy of All Nations.
The "Album of Scenery of QihuanHui" painted by Qing court painters records the celebrations held by the Qianlong Emperor for the 70th birthday of his mother, Empress Chongqing, during the heyday of the Qianlong Dynasty, which is the largest album in the Qing Palace. The sub-scenic spots depict the scenes of Qianlong holding activities such as pilgrimage, birthday celebrations, feasts, and amusements.
Jiaqing Imperial Pen Taihe Temple Feast Pasted.
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Forbidden City Half Solution: The Forbidden City 600 Years Exhibition looks at the Taihe Temple Horned Beast