Dragon Vein: The Kangxi Emperor and the Summer Resort [Beauty] by Wei Ruiming translated by Zhu Ziyi CITIC Publishing Group
Leng Mei's "Summer Resort Map" (partial), now in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing. Created during the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, it includes thirty of the thirty-six views of Kangxi, reflecting the pattern of summer resort architecture in the Kangxi period.
Compared with the Summer Palace and Suzhou Garden, which are located in prime locations, Chengde Mountain Resort, which is also the essence of Classical Chinese Gardens, can be regarded as a "familiar stranger" in the World Cultural Heritage List. However, in the 18th century, it was an important center of power for the entire Qing Empire, and the Qing court moved here for about half a year every year. The american scholar Wei Ruiming's book "Dragon Vein: The Kangxi Emperor and the Summer Resort" puts forward new insights into the political aspirations of the Kangxi era and its corresponding artistic expression by expounding the location, construction and symbolic significance of the summer resort.
Quadrilateral "Tethered Horse Stakes"
Now traveling northeast by train from Beijing, it will soon pass through densely populated urban and suburban areas into the mountains located between the capital and Inner Mongolia. A few hours later, we arrived in Chengde, Hebei Province. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Chengde did not have a formal administrative structure, and it was called "Rehe Xingying", referred to as "Rehe".
By contemporary Chinese standards, Chengde is a relatively small city, and the most famous local landscape is the summer resort. The summer resort, also known as the "Rehe Palace", was built in 1703 and completed in 1792. It is the size of two Summer Palaces and is the largest surviving royal garden in the world. In 1994, the summer resort and its surrounding temples were inscribed on unesco's World Heritage List.
The construction of the summer resort was mainly concentrated in the Qing Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties. Today, there are more than 120 groups of buildings such as buildings, halls, halls, and pavilions. Famous are the 36 scenic spots of the Kangxi Emperor in the fifty years of Kangxi (1711) with four-character inscriptions, called "Kangxi Thirty-Six Scenic Spots"; and the 36 scenic spots of the Qianlong Emperor with three-character inscriptions, called "Qianlong Thirty-Six Scenic Spots".
"A mountain villa, half of the history of the Qing Dynasty." The summer resort has witnessed many major events in the history of the Qing Dynasty. In 1771, the Qianlong Emperor received the turk chiefwoman Wobasi, who had just returned from abroad. In 1793, the Qianlong Emperor received the first British mission to China here. In 1820, the Jiaqing Emperor died suddenly at the summer resort, and the Daoguang Emperor succeeded to the throne. In 1860, after the Second Opium War, the Xianfeng Emperor ratified the Treaty of Beijing at the Yanbo Zhishuang Temple, and eventually died of illness at the summer resort. In 1861, Empress Dowager Cixi and Prince Gong launched the "Xin You Coup", and in the same year, the Qing court issued an edict in the name of the Tongzhi Emperor, announcing the cessation of all unfinished projects in Rehe.
"Dragon Vein: The Kangxi Emperor and the Summer Resort" proposes that in the process of discussing the summer resort today, in addition to the art of gardening, another place that cannot be ignored is that its location represents the geographical view of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty and its significance to Chinese history.
The so-called "dragon vein" is an important term in ancient Chinese Kan public opinion, and traditional Kan public opinion believes that there are three dragon veins in the land of China, all originating in Kunlun, and the dragon vein of Mount Tai is the vein of "middle dragon". In order to argue the legitimacy of the Qing regime from the perspective of Kan public opinion, the Kangxi Emperor wrote an article called "Taishan Mountains from Changbai Mountain", which characterized the Changbai Mountains that rose up from the Manchus as the source of Taishan's feng shui energy.
The Kangxi Emperor pointed out in the text that along the trend of the Daxing'an Mountains, from northeast-northeast to north, meandering to the south, crossing the Rehe River and extending all the way to Mount Hua; similarly, the Altai Mountains also passed through the Rehe River and became the western end of a large arc ending at the Changbai Mountains. According to this, Wei Ruiming believes that the location of the summer resort can be interpreted as the "horse stake" of the four sides, the axis of the Geography of the Qing Dynasty, which connects the Guannei and Guanwai into a whole. Behind the "dragon vein" is the Kangxi Emperor's various considerations for the stability of the country and the harmony of the four parties.
A private social platform
As early as 1681, the Qing court established seasonal hunting camps in the Rehe area, and by August 1702, a permanent royal complex had begun to be developed in the Rehe River Valley.
That summer, the Kangxi Emperor stayed in Rehe for 18 days, receiving a group of upper-class people, visiting the surrounding countryside, and hunting. Immediately after leaving Rehe in late August, the emperor issued an order to the Ministry of Works instructing surveyors to survey and mark a plot of land for the construction of a large complex. Officials also began recruiting workers and preparing materials, including recruiting laborers from Shandong and Zhili, harvesting timber from the Magnolia paddock, inspecting the mountains and rocks surrounding the site, and building kilns.
From the beginning of 1703 onwards, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of the Interior undertook the above tasks. In the late summer of that year, the Kangxi Emperor spent three days traveling to the floodplain, located a little north of the camp under the Rehe River, perhaps to inspect the progress of the planning work. Court documents refer to the building as "Camp on the River of Ree", a name that was used until 1708.
In 1711, the Kangxi Emperor himself wrote a bronze plaque of "Summer Resort" hanging on the gate. Two years later, the façade of the villa and two nearby temples were also completed.
Interestingly, almost contemporaries of the Kangxi Emperor, The Indian Aurangzeb, the French Louis XIV, and the German Peter the Great all used the palace and garden landscape as a central stage to show their authority, emphasizing the hierarchy, while the summer resort was positioned as a place of closeness and communication between the emperor and his subjects, and the opposite was done, deliberately eliminating social differences between monarchs and subjects.
From 1711 to 1717, the Kangxi Emperor would often visit Rehe. After the summer season began, the Kangxi Emperor stayed at the summer resort for about three months. Then he went to the Mulan Paddock, hunted for more than a month, stayed in Rehe for a while, and then returned to Beijing. In November and December of the lunar calendar, the Kangxi Emperor would usually make an additional northern tour, during which time he would also stay in Rehe for two days.
During the Kangxi Emperor's northern tour, the summer resort was the main center of rule, and he had to meet with officials every day to handle state affairs or reward ministers. During the trip to the Mulan Paddock, the meeting basically stopped, and more often the leaders of the Mongol flags came to hajj the emperor. At the heart of such activities was the granting fee, in which the emperor unilaterally rewarded his subjects.
In Rehe, the range of rewards was extensive, including livestock such as horses, meat, fruit, fur, textiles, precious metals, and other refined items. Court officials occasionally received ink treasures, paintings, books, or other prize items from the emperor. In Wei Ruiming's view, just as the emperor rewarded his subordinates with prey he had hit to show his martial arts in disguise, the above-mentioned rewards were both an exchange of goods and a public performance of his literary talents.
The Kangxi Emperor deliberately used the activity scene of the summer resort to bring his subjects closer to the emperor. In the summer of 1708, as one of the officials accompanying the Kangxi Dynasty, Zhang Yushu traveled to Rehe to participate in the emperor's annual summer parade, which Zhang Yushu described in detail.
The Kangxi Emperor personally led the guests through the main entrance, over a hill, to the lake area located in the center of the palace. People walked across a small bridge to the "Zhijing Cloud Causeway", where the emperor ascended a small pavilion to introduce his newly built garden to the guests who had gathered together.
The crowd continued to the central island, visited the private residence of the Kangxi Emperor, and then toured the palace garden. They crossed the lake by boat from Ruyizhou, wandered on the shaded shore of the trees, and visited the hot springs of the Rehe Valley. There were also opera performances and banquets during the palace garden, where courtiers were allowed to enjoy imperial meals.
Nine days later, officials made the tour again, this time trekking through the foothills west of the garden. Under the leadership of the Kangxi Emperor, this group experienced many of the attractions of the palace garden and left a deep impression.
In Zhang Yushu's original narrative, the intimacy between the host and the guest is more vivid, which shows that he enjoys this well-received journey. In the Forbidden City, the area where the ministers operated was mainly in the outer court and were always cautious, while at the summer resort, the emperor even allowed them to see their own living quarters, which was an unprecedented experience.
Wei Ruiming believes that in essence, in Zhang Yushu's experience and description of visiting the palace, this symbolic landscape of political majesty was classified as a place for elite social gathering, where the emperor could stay with like-minded people and walk through the garden. The summer resort brought the monarchy closer together and played a role that the Forbidden City did not have.
"Unlimited invitations"
In ancient China, depictions and depictions of royal gardens were rather rare, with the exception of summer resorts.
In 1711, the Kangxi Emperor officially launched a project: the compilation of the Imperial Summer Resort Poems.
Throughout his life, the Kangxi Emperor was diligent and studious, erudite and talented, and able to write poetry. He personally selected 36 scenes from the summer resort, composed a poem for each scene, and ordered the minister to annotate his poem sentence by sentence. In addition, each poem is accompanied by a picture, which can be described as poetic and picturesque, complementing each other perfectly.
When the Kangxi Emperor wrote the names of the scenes in various places in the summer resort, he quoted a wide range of ancient poems. For example, Changhong Drinking Practice and Shuanghu Clamp Mirror, taking Li Bai's "Qiu Deng Xuancheng Xie Overlook North Tower" of "Two Water Sandwich Mirror, Double Bridge Falling Rainbow"; Water Flow cloud is here, taking Du Fu's "Jiang Ting" "The water flow is not competitive, the cloud cares late"; the wind spring is clear and listening, taking Meng Haoran's "Song Yue is born at night, the wind spring is full of clear listening"; Xiangyuan Yiqing, from Zhou Dunyi's "Love Lotus Says". These poetic inscriptions, aptly point out the characteristics of the attractions, the names of the attractions are also the titles of the poems, and under the poems, there are a note introducing the attractions.
Wei Ruiming believes that to some extent, the "Imperial Summer Resort Poem" constitutes a simulated form of excursion, a way to reproduce the layout and composition of the summer resort with the help of text and pictures. "Through a series of composite means of form, image, and matter, this simulation connects the book and the picture in the book with the real and perceptual experience of the mountain village."
It is an experience shaped and reflected by the emperor's own perception of the landscape. The solemn and specific and perceptible words integrate the artistic and ideological meanings of imperial poetry into the allegorical system of imperial operation, showing the Kangxi Emperor's ruling philosophy of cultural integration and national harmony.
In Chinese history, many imperial gardens were open to the public. In the Tang Dynasty, abandoned royal hunting gardens were available to the public; during the Northern Song Dynasty, during certain seasonal festivals, the public could enter the Jinming Pond in Bieliang to watch the royal dragon boat races and ornamental gardens; in the Ming Dynasty, people with sufficient social status could enter the imperial gardens.
The Qing Dynasty apparently had a stricter management of the imperial gardens. During the Kangxi Dynasty, people who did not directly serve the emperor or did not participate in the maintenance of the summer resort were unlikely to want to enter the visit. The printing of the "Imperial Summer Resort Poem" gave more people the opportunity to understand this imperial garden, which was equivalent to the emperor giving them "unlimited invitations".
Wei Ruiming believes that the "Imperial Summer Resort Poem" is not simply a depiction of this palace garden, nor is it simply the experience of visiting the Rehe River under the guidance of the emperor. "It is a unique landscape in itself, through which the court constructs a comprehensive visual representation of the identity of the emperor and attempts to convey it to the reader. Combining general conventions and innovative forms, the Imperial Poetry Album conveys the visual, sensual, emotional, behavioral, intellectual, and cultural elements of each scene from the emperor's perspective, creating a sense of intimacy. ”
All of this is characteristic of the early development and construction of the summer resort. According to the wishes of the Kangxi Emperor, the summer resort resembled a private garden space in a modern city. It is the world of the world, an unseen garden, a landscape that transcends the boundaries of matter and time.
Source: Qilu Evening News