The Kangxi Emperor
What clothes did the Emperor wear?
The costumes of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty not only retained the customs in Manchu costumes, but also followed the tradition of "advocating yellow and clothing clouds and dragons" of Chinese emperors, and 12 figures such as sun, moon, stars, mountains, dragons, and fire symbolizing imperial power were embellished on the yellow dragon robes.
The emperors of the Qing Dynasty wore different clothes on different seasons and different occasions: ceremonial sacrifices and governments, that is, court clothes and gong clothes; on the days of the New Year's Festival, they wore ji clothes, also known as dragon robes; usually wore regular clothes, also known as civilian clothes; hats should be matched with clothes, namely the imperial crown, the jifu crown, the regular clothing crown, and the walking crown. The emperor's clothes were not only varied, but also changed frequently, sometimes several times a day.
Forbidden City Forbidden City
According to the qing dynasty concubine system, the emperor's grandmother was the empress dowager, the mother was the empress dowager, and the emperor had to "ask for peace" to them one by one after getting dressed every morning to show filial piety and respect for the elders.
When the emperor had finished asking for peace, he began to read early. The early reading is the Hadith and the Records of the Emperors of previous dynasties. The so-called "Hadith" is a collection of edicts and words from the emperors of the previous dynasties to warn his subordinates, and the "Records of Reality" are chronicles of the rule of the country during the reign of successive emperors.
The Qing Dynasty's emperors' "Records of The Truth" and "Hadiths" had a set of cabinet libraries stored in the Forbidden City, and each time they had to open the library door one day in advance, take out the books, wrap them in yellow silk satin, and then put them into a Nanmu box. Early the next morning, it was sent to the place where the emperor was studying, that is, the Hongde Hall on the left side of the Qianqing Palace or the West Warm Pavilion of the Yangxin Hall.
Portrait of the Yongzheng Emperor
The emperors of the Qing Dynasty spent the most energetic time of the day studying the hadiths of their ancestors, regardless of the harsh winters and heat, never stopping. After years of study and understanding, they adjusted and formulated their own ruling strategies.
What does the Emperor eat every day?
The royal family of the Qing Dynasty followed the Manchu eating habits, eating twice a day, that is, breakfast and dinner. Breakfast is served at 8:00 a.m., dinner is served from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., and one hour earlier in summer and autumn. After two meals, add a snack to each.
The recipes for the imperial meal are drawn daily by the Minister of the Interior, who supervises the preparation of the Imperial Meal. The places where the emperor usually ate were mostly in the palace and office. When passing the meal, the eunuchs of the imperial dining room were responsible for putting the three dining tables together, laying out the table list, and the eunuchs holding the red lacquer box in their hands quickly brought various dishes, meals, soups, etc. to the table.
After the emperor was seated, the eunuch tasted it first, and then the emperor began to eat. The test drug card is a small half-inch wide and 3-inch long silver brand, and the ancient Chinese believed that if the rice was poisonous, the brand would change color.
The emperor eats alone, and no one can eat with the emperor without a will. Generally, it is eight main dishes, four small dishes, and then add hot pot, porridge, soup and so on. Staples include rice, pasta and pastries.
Statue of the Kangxi Emperor
How did the emperor handle government affairs? (Office)
From 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., it was the time for the emperor to go to the court to administer government and handle official affairs. The emperor's handling of government affairs was generally divided into two types: daily and special. Such as listening to the government at the royal gate, daily affairs in the palace, and receiving foreign envoys belong to daily government affairs; important ceremonies such as the enthronement ceremony, the great pilgrimage, the emperor's birthday, the emperor's wedding, etc. belong to special government affairs.
When the emperor was eating breakfast, the eunuch would hand over the signs of the princes and ministers who had asked to be summoned, called "meal plates", and the emperor would decide who to summon after the meal. After the meal, the emperor began to approve the ministers' recitals and summoned the ministers. When summoned, the emperor asked about all aspects of the situation and existing problems, and then issued an edict.
Another way for the emperor to handle government affairs was to listen to the government. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, it was stipulated that the emperor should regard the dynasty on the fifth day (that is, the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth of the first month), but the Shunzhi and Kangxi Emperors, who were busy with government affairs, listened to the government almost every day, and the time to listen to the government was mostly at dawn, and many major decisions were made when listening to the government at the imperial gate.
Jiaqing Emperor
Since Jiaqing, the emperor has gradually become lazy. After Xianfeng, the Imperial Gate was abandoned. In the Tongzhi and Guangxu dynasties, the empress dowager bowed to the government, and handling government affairs became another way.
Every morning, after the emperor has finished handling government affairs, if there is still this chapter that has not been approved, or there are some other things that have not been done, he can continue to handle it in the afternoon.
Every day from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., it is the time for the emperor to rest and eat dinner, and it is recorded that every afternoon the emperor generally ate dinner at one or two o'clock, and then read the chapters of the various ministries and local officials, and then began to study.
"Kangxi Xiaogongren Empress Wuya's Yongzheng Mother Statue"
In addition to his office and study, the emperor also arranged entertainment activities. Entertainment activities in the Qing Palace include piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, flowers, birds, insects and fish, appreciation of cultural relics and antiques, kite flying and so on. Since each emperor's hobbies were different, the entertainment content was not the same, and the most common entertainment activity was watching plays.
"Chongqing Emperor and Empress Dowager Eighty-Year-Old Life Map"
Where did the Emperor live?
From seven o'clock to nine o'clock in the evening, the emperor would worship the gods. Samanism is the primitive religion of the Manchus. In addition, there are more than 40 places dedicated to Buddhas and Taoism in the Qing Palace, which are distributed throughout the palace. The emperor went into the Buddhist hall every morning and evening to burn incense, and on the first day of each month, he would read the Buddhist scriptures and go to the temples to pick incense in front of the gods and Buddhas.
In addition, the emperor personally participated in the sacrifices of heaven and earth, taimiao temple and sheji, about 10 times a year.
After the Manchus entered the customs, they still followed the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, and the Xinuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace was the emperor's residence. However, only two Qing emperors lived in the Qianqing Palace, Shunzhi and Kangxi, and the emperors of the yongzheng and later generations lived in the apse of the Yangxin Hall. The empress and concubines lived in the six palaces of the East and The West.
According to the royal family rules, the emperor who had ascended to the throne at an early age reached the age of fifteen, and after the big wedding ceremony, the newlyweds lived together for three days in the Dongnuingge Cave Room of Khun Ninh Palace, and then returned to their own dormitories.
"Portrait of the Daoguang Emperor"
Usually, the emperor could not spend the night in the concubine's palace, and if the emperor wanted any concubine to sleep with him, he could only summon them to the emperor's palace. The concubine who was summoned did not return to her own bedchamber that night, but she could not live in the emperor's bedchamber all night, so there was a temporary residence near the emperor's bedchamber. In addition to daily life and government affairs, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty also presided over some special large-scale activities, such as longevity, big weddings, funerals, and out-of-town tours.
Compared with previous emperors, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty had much larger living space, such as the Kangxi Emperor who personally conquered Kaldan three times and went to Wutai Mountain, The Eastern Tour, and the Southern Tour many times; the Qianlong Emperor once visited Jiangnan six times and traveled all over suzhou and Hangzhou.
"Qianlong Chunxian Emperor Noble Concubine Imperial Dress Portrait Axis"
The Kangxi and Qianlong emperors held hunting activities almost every year and summoned Mongol princes at the same time. However, in the late Qing Dynasty, the tour and hunting activities basically stopped.