A photo, a piece of history.
In the late Qing Dynasty, Western photography technology flowed into China, recording many historical moments of the imperial palace for us and leaving many old photos. Although old photographs cannot change history, they also bear witness to the Qing Dynasty's transition from prosperity to decline, allowing us to understand what China was like under imperial rule in the feudal era.
As we said, Empress Dowager Cixi is the most photographic person in the palace, so in many photos now, we can see the figures of royalty and nobles and old palace buildings.
This is the Hall of Taihe taken in the late Qing Dynasty.
The Hall of Taihe, as the highest level hall in the Forbidden City, is the center of the three halls. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it was called the Fengtian Hall, and after several burnings and reconstructions, the current Taihe Hall was rebuilt and preserved during the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty. According to historical records, the original Fengtian Hall was larger than the current Taihe Hall.
The Hall of Taihe is undoubtedly the most important of all the palaces in the Forbidden City, also known as the "Golden Luang Hall, Supreme Golden Hall, Golden Luan Treasure Hall", the inside and outside of the hall are decorated with thousands of golden dragon patterns, and ten ridged beasts are installed at the corner of the roof, as long as the emperor ascends the throne, gets married, canonizes the empress, the empress dowager's emblem, the fate will go out and longevity, winter solstice, New Year's Day "three major festivals", etc., the emperor is the Taihe Hall.
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the highest level of the imperial examination, the "palace examination", was held here.
This is a group photo of Empress Dowager Longyu with the eunuchs in the late Qing Dynasty.
Empress Longyu was the daughter of Cixi's younger brother, Yehenara Guixiang, the vice-governor, and Cixi's own niece. She is Guangxu's cousin and also Guangxu's empress. Because she was handpicked by Empress Dowager Cixi to marry Guangxu, the empress chosen by Cixi was not amazing, so Emperor Guangxu has always been displeased with her.
Because her personality was also relatively weak, even Empress Dowager Cixi, who personally selected her as empress, did not like her very much, and she had no prestige in front of all the concubines in the palace.
On the 17th day of the first month of the second year of the Republic of China, Empress Dowager Longyu died of illness in Changchun Palace, one of the six palaces in the west, at the age of 46. The government of the Republic of China handled funerals with the specifications of state funerals and buried Chongmausoleum with the Guangxu Emperor.
In February 1913, a national mourning service was held at the Hall of Taihe, and this photo shows the scene of the spiritual hall of the Hall of Taihe. You can see the portrait of Empress Dowager Longyu, and there is a plaque with "Female Lieutenant Yao Shun" written in the middle. The plaque inscription comes from a message of condolence from Vice President Li Yuanhong of the National Government, calling Empress Dowager Longyu "Virtuous and meritorious and female lieutenant Yaoshun".
This is an old photo of a lama "meditating" on the hall.
This was Cixi's mother, Fucha Shi, who was born in the 12th year of Jiaqing, that is, in 1807, and died in the ninth year of Tongzhi.
We are not familiar with Cixi's mother, but we may have heard the phrase "pity the hearts of parents in the world." In fact, this sentence comes from a poem that Cixi wrote to her mother.
On her mother's 60th birthday, although the Forbidden City was a stone's throw away from her mother's mansion in Sila Hutong, Cixi could not attend her mother's birthday, so she asked her attendants to send her a lot of things, and at the same time wrote a calligraphy in her own handwriting, framed it and sent it. This calligraphy is a poem: "The love of parents in the world is the truest, and tears and blood dissolve into the body of their children." Spare all your efforts to become a son, pity the hearts of parents in the world!
This is the late Qing dynasty when Princess Duankang and the palace maid picked flowers in the imperial garden.
Standing on the left is the palace maid, and on the right is Concubine Duankang. She was the concubine of the Guangxu Emperor, and he was one of the only three concubines of the Guangxu Emperor. The Guangxu Emperor's favorite concubine was her own sister. After the Xuantong Emperor Puyi took the throne, she had a good relationship with Xiao Puyi.
On September 22, the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, Concubine Jin died of illness in the Yonghe Palace at the age of 51 and was buried as a concubine of the Duankang Emperor in the Chongling Concubine Garden.
Can you guess what this artifact is?
It is the Qing Dynasty's cloisonné enamel floral pattern hot pot, made of copper with good thermal conductivity, and decorated with cloisonné enamel, showing the rich atmosphere.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Forbidden City had cold winters, and the Qianlong Emperor was very fond of eating hot pot. According to records, in the fifty-fourth year of Qianlong, the Qianlong Emperor ate more than two hundred hot pots in just one year! It can be said that he loves hot pot the most.
This is an old photo of people eating hot pot in the Qing Dynasty.
There are two theories about the origin of hot pot: one says that there was a hot pot during the Warring States period, and the historians used clay pots as pots. Another saying is that hot pot began in the Han Dynasty, and "dou" refers to hot pot. The real hot pot was unearthed in the cultural relics of the Western Han Haihou Tomb. It can be seen that hot pot has a history of more than 2,000 years in China.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, hot pot was not only popular among the people, but also became a famous "court dish". The "Qingshi Record" records that the hot pots that Qianlong ate included chicken and duck hot pot, whole sheep hot pot, yellow mutton hot pot and so on.
This is a photo of Zhang Yuchun, an old palace maid in the late Qing Dynasty, when she was swinging.
She entered the palace at the age of 13, and after three dynasties, she served Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Longyu and Concubine Duankang, and was regarded as a relatively high-status palace maid in the palace.
The palace maid system is a product of ancient imperial power. The palace maids of the Qing Dynasty were usually female officials in the palace at the top and ordinary slaves at the lower level. The palace ladies in the Forbidden City usually began to serve in the palace at the age of 12, and the selected ones were locked in the palace and isolated from the outside world. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of palace maids returned to the people.
Resources:
The earliest hot pot in history Haiduhou bronze hot pot .Central Broadcasting Network