I came and went in Beijing several times, always missing the opportunity to get close to Prince Gong's Mansion. This time in Beijing, I had leisure and gladly went to Prince Gong's Mansion to explore the saying of "a Prince Gong's Mansion, half of the history of the Qing Dynasty".
When I came to Prince Gong's Mansion on Liuyin Street in the southwest corner of Shichahai, I was greeted by a pair of tall and mighty stone lions in front of the main entrance, majestic eyes, broad nose, slightly exposed teeth, and straight chest, which made people suddenly feel solemn and magnificent. The male lion on the left steps on a hydrangea ball on his right front paw, symbolizing stepping on the ring and holding power; The lioness on the right caresses a small lion under her left front paw, representing the prosperity of future generations.
One palace gate
The main gate, also called the first palace gate, is three-bay, green glazed tiles, and the vermilion gate is neatly arranged with golden door nails of nine vertical and seven horizontal, which is the regulation of the prince level of the Qing Dynasty. I looked at the two open doors and couldn't help but think: What kind of life should this royal-level ancient building complex have, which can be called "half of the history of the Qing Dynasty"?
I rented a narrator outside the main entrance, walked into Prince Gong's Mansion, and started a journey to touch the soul of Prince Gong's Mansion and have a dialogue with history.
One palace gate
Along the middle road of Prince Gong's mansion, when you enter the gate of the second palace, you will see the magnificent main hall on the front, also called Yin'an Hall.
Ninomiya gate
The Yin'an Hall is five rooms wide, with tall red lacquered pillars, green glazed tile roof, an anti-snan kiss at both ends of the main ridge, seven weeping beasts on the cornice, and a spiral color painting under the eaves. Yin'an Hall and the supporting halls on both sides form a large middle courtyard, which is majestic, rich and dignified.
Silver Temple
The east and west sides of the Yin'an Temple are equipped with halls
Yin'an Hall is the most important building in the Qing Dynasty royal palace, and is generally used to hold major celebrations within the palace, such as New Year's Eve, birthday celebrations and major festive events. In the early years of the Republic of China, a fire occurred accidentally, and the main hall was burned down together with the east and west halls, and the courtyard of the Yin'an Hall is now rebuilt.
Silver Temple ceiling
Walking into the Yin'an Temple, the inside has lost its original structure, and it is now the exhibition hall of the "Qing Dynasty Royal Palace Cultural Exhibition". From the three parts of the exhibition, "The Knighthood System of the Qing Dynasty", "The Architecture and Regulation of the Royal Mansion", and "The Prince of the Qing Dynasty as a Member of the Country" and the explainer I wore with me, I had a preliminary understanding of the construction and change history of Prince Gong's Mansion and the culture of the Qing Dynasty.
It turned out that Prince Gong's Mansion was formerly the mansion of the Ten Princesses of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty and the mansion of Hejun.
Speaking of the Wazhai, we have to start with a minister named Li Gongyao, because the Hezhai was built on the basis of Li Gongyao's residence.
In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780), someone reported that Li Gongyao, the governor of Yungui, had embezzled and accepted bribes, and the Qianlong Emperor ordered Helong to investigate and deal with it. He Juan made every effort to obtain evidence of Li Gongyao's crime, and after writing to the Qianlong Emperor, the Qianlong Emperor ordered him to raid Li Gongyao's house, and Helong successfully completed the task in accordance with the order. The Qianlong Emperor thought that Helong was very good at doing things, so he canonized him as Shangshu of Hubu, Minister of the Imperial Dynasty, and Commander of Manchuria with the Blue Banner. On May 20 of the same year, Qianlong named Hejun's son Feng Shen Yinde as Princess Hexiao (Tenth Princess). On June 21, Qianlong decreed that "all Li Gongyao enter one house in the official and reward Helong as the mansion of the Ten Princesses."
After his marriage to the imperial family, Helong had a smooth career and became an extremely powerful courtier, and by the forty-ninth year of Qianlong, he was already rich and rival. At this time, Helong felt more and more that although the Ten Princesses Mansion was large, it was not luxurious enough, so he decided to rebuild a mansion as the future residence of himself and his son and daughter-in-law, so that the Qianlong Emperor could see that he valued the Ten Princesses, and could also satisfy his luxury desires in the name of building the Princess Mansion. Hejun's idea was agreed by the Qianlong Emperor, and he began to build a large-scale construction project, spending more than four years, investing a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to build a princess mansion with a total area of more than 60,000 square meters and a luxury level that was not inferior to the imperial palace. The entire mansion is divided into three roads: middle, east and west, and each route is composed of five courtyards. The middle road is used for ceremonies, and the east and west roads are used for residence. The front residence and the back garden have a clear pattern.
In November of the 54th year of Qianlong (January 1790), he married Feng Shen Yinde with Princess Xiao (the tenth princess) and officially moved into this house. The Tenth Princess and Eji live on East Road, and Hejun and his family live on West Road.
In the first month of the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), after Qianlong's death, the Jiaqing Emperor immediately investigated Helong, who was convicted and sent to death and raided his home. The Princess Mansion on the East Road was still inhabited by Princess Hexiao and Feng Shen Yinde, and the Hezhai on the West Road was given to his seventeenth brother King Yongxuan of Qingjun, and the Hezhai became the Qingwang Mansion.
On the twenty-fifth day of Jiaqing, Yongxuan became seriously ill, and the Jiaqing Emperor promoted him to prince. After Yongxuan's death, his third son Mianshu succeeded to the title and became the second master of King Qingfu.
In September of the third year of Daoguang, the tenth princess died of illness, and Mianshu got the entire Helong Mansion, which completely became the Qingwang Mansion.
So, how did King Qing's Mansion become Prince Gong's Mansion?
After Mianshu inherited the title, he was reused by the Jiaqing Emperor, but he lived a short life and died at the age of forty.
Mianshu had no son when he was alive, and succeeded his younger brother Fuguo Gong Mian's son Yixi. Yixi was supposed to inherit the title naturally, but Mian Zhi plotted the title and bribed officials, and the Daoguang Emperor learned of his anger and sent Mianxi to guard the tomb, and Yixi also lost his inheritance qualifications.
After that, the Daoguang Emperor ordered that Yicai, grandson of Yongxuan the Prince of Yi and son of Mianzhi, be passed on to Mianshu and inherit the title of King Qing. In this way, Yicai became the third master of King Qingfu. The title of King Qing was transferred from the line of Yongxuan to the lineage of his brother Yongxuan.
In the twenty-second year of Daoguang, Yicai's mother died, and according to the etiquette system, he should observe filial piety for three years, but he took a concubine and gave birth to a son during his mother's funeral, and afterwards, in order to hide his eyes, he bribed the Zongrenfu secretary office to not enter the name of his illegitimate son into the list of the sect. After the matter was revealed, Emperor Daoguang removed Yicai's prince and demoted him to the Duke of Fuguo. It was ordered that Yongxuan's fifth son, Mianti, inherit the title, and the title of King Qing was transferred from his brother Yongxuan back to Yongxuan, and Mianti became the fourth master of King Qing's mansion.
In the 29th year of Daoguang, Mianti died of illness, because he had no son and no one inherited the title. Among the descendants of Yongxuan's lineage, only his son Mianxi and his son Yixiao remained. Mianzhi had made a mistake before and could not inherit the title, so the Daoguang Emperor had to let Yixi inherit the heir. At that time, Yixi's title was that of an auxiliary general, and the Daoguang Emperor did not want him to attack the title, but only let him continue to live in the palace, and Yixi was the fifth master of the Qingwang Mansion.
After the death of the Daoguang Emperor, because Yixi did not have a prince, in the first year of Xianfeng (1851), the Xianfeng Emperor decreed that Yixi move to the old residence of Qishan not far from the west side of Qingwangfu, and give Qingwangfu to his younger brother Prince Gong Yixuan, and Qingwangfu was renamed Prince Gong's mansion.
After Yixun obtained the Qingwangfu, it took more than a year to repair it, expand the scale of the garden, and maintain some old buildings, generally retaining the appearance of the Hejunfu period.
In April of the second year of Xianfeng (June 1852), Yixun officially moved to this province. Half a year after Yixuan moved in, the Xianfeng Emperor accompanied Yixuan's mother, the imperial concubine, to Prince Gong's mansion, and the Xianfeng Emperor also inscribed "Duofu Xuan" and "Baoguang Room" plaques in the hall of Yixuan's mansion.
After the Tongzhi Emperor succeeded to the throne, Yixun expanded and repaired the back garden of Prince Gong's mansion, and named it "Langrun Garden", and the scale of Prince Gong's mansion was finally determined.
From the second year of Xianfeng to the twenty-fourth year of Guangxu, Yixun lived in Prince Gong's mansion for more than forty years, and was the longest resident here.
On May 29, 1898, on the 10th day of the fourth month of the 24th year of Guangxu, Yixun died of illness in Prince Gong's mansion, and since his eldest son Zaicheng had died, Yixuan's eldest grandson Puwei inherited the title of Prince Gong at the behest of Empress Dowager Cixi, becoming the second master of Prince Gong's mansion.
After the death of the Guangxu Emperor, Puyi succeeded to the throne, the Xuantong Emperor, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty had declined, and Pu Wei had been living by selling property. After the Xinhai Revolution, Pu Wei was bent on restoring the Qing court, and in order to raise funds, in 1912, he sold all the collections in Prince Gong's mansion, except for calligraphy and painting, to the Yamanaka Chamber of Commerce in Japan for 400,000 oceans. In 1921, Pu Wei, who lived in luxury, mortgaged Prince Gong's mansion to the Xishiku Church of the Beijing Catholic Church and sold it for 80,000 silver yuan. In 1932, Pu Wei was unable to redeem the royal palace, and Fu Jen University, founded by the Roman Church, paid off his debts with 108 gold bars, bought the property rights of Prince Gong's mansion, and returned it to Fu Jen University.
The Qing Dynasty has a history of nearly 300 years and has gone through twelve generations of emperors. Looking back at the history of Prince Gong's Mansion, through the seven generations of emperors of Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Xuantong, from the first master Helong to the last master Puwei, from Hezhai to Qingwangfu to Prince Gong's Mansion, nearly two hundred years before and after, witnessing the prosperity and decline of the Great Qing Empire, carrying too much historical atmosphere of the Great Qing Dynasty, "a Prince Gong Mansion, half of the history of the Qing Dynasty", the evaluation of the famous historical geographer Hou Renzhi is indeed a true insight!