Hall of Joyful Longevity

The yueshou hall, the palace of Cixi in the summer palace in Beijing, was originally the Qingyi Garden Building in the 15th year of Qianlong (1750 AD), and it is also the main building in the residential area of the summer palace. This is Qianlong's mother, empress xiaoshengxian, who is going to celebrate her 60th birthday. In order to celebrate her 60th birthday, Qianlong rebuilt wengshan and Xihu in the 14th year of Qianlong. Wengshan is now Wanshou mountain, and West Lake is now Kunming Lake. It was destroyed in 1860, repaired in 1802 and rebuilt in 1891. Facing Kunming Lake, with Wanshou mountain on its back, Leshou hall in the East and long corridor in the west, is the best place to live and play in the park. In front of the hall, there is a dock for Cixi to take a boat. "Leshoutang" has a gold plaque on black background, which is written by Guangxu. There are throne, imperial case, palm fan and glass screen in the hall. Next to the seat are two big blue and white disks for holding water fruits to smell the fragrance, and four big copper furnaces for burning sandalwood. The West suite is bedroom and the East Suite is dressing room.

Hall of Joyful Longevity

Leshoutang, Qingyi Garden building, is also the main building in the living area of the summer palace. In the summer palace of Beijing, the yueshou hall, the palace of Cixi, was originally built in 1750. It was the 60th birthday of Emperor Qianlong's mother, empress xiaoshengxian. In order to celebrate his mother's 60th birthday, Emperor Qianlong rebuilt the original wengshan and West Lake in 1750.

Historical evolution

Weng mountain is Wanshou mountain, and West Lake is Kunming Lake. It was destroyed in 1860, repaired in 1802 and rebuilt in 1891.

architectural composition

Facing Kunming Lake, with Wanshou mountain on its back, Leshou hall in the East and long corridor in the west, is the best place to live and play in the park. In front of the hall, there is a dock for Cixi to take a boat. "Leshoutang" has a gold plaque on black background, which is written by Guangxu. There are throne, imperial case, palm fan and glass screen in the hall. Next to the seat are two big blue and white disks for holding water fruits to smell the fragrance, and four big copper furnaces for burning sandalwood. The West suite is bedroom and the East Suite is dressing room. The indoor red sandalwood wardrobe is a relic of Qianlong period. In the courtyard of leshoutang, there are copper deer, copper crane and copper vase, which means "Liuhe Taiping". The flowers in the courtyard are magnolia, Begonia, peony and so on. The famous flowers are all over the courtyard, implying the meaning of "Yutang is rich". Yulanhua is very famous here. The one in front of the gate of inviting the moon was transplanted from the south by Qianlong.

Leshoutang was originally a two-story building, which was burned down by the British and French allied forces in 1860. When it was rebuilt in 1887, it was changed into a new style and became the dormitory of Empress Dowager Cixi in the summer palace. Leshoutang is displayed according to the original state of the palace, with the living room in the middle, the bedroom in the West and the dressing room in the East. In the living room, there is a very delicate "imperial throne" carved with precious wood red sandalwood, which is set in the middle of the room. Behind it, there is a 15 fold glass screen, which makes the room especially spacious. On both sides, peacock feather palm fans are inserted. This pair of feather palm fans is not only exquisite, but also can embellish the prestige of Empress Dowager Cixi.

Original name

In fact, the word "Leshou" in "leshoutang" can be traced back to the Analects of Confucius Yongye. Confucius said, "the wise enjoy water, the benevolent enjoy mountains, the wise move, the benevolent quiet, the wise enjoy happiness and the benevolent longevity."

Emperor Qianlong also made a note of his own in his "Royal Poetry - Leshou hall". He said: "to Wanshou mountain, back to the mountain and facing the water, the hall is named" Leshou ". After many poems, he got Dong Qichang's treatise on ancient calligraphy. He knew that after Emperor Gaozong's inner Zen, he was known as the old man of Leshou. He liked it, so he was named ningshou palace calligraphy hall, waiting for him to live after he was tired and diligent. "

History and culture

From the black sheep's stone to qingzhixiu

In the courtyard in front of leshoutang, on a stone pedestal carved with sea waves, lies a big blue stone, on which is engraved the handwriting of Emperor Qianlong: qingzhixiu. This rock is eight meters long, two meters wide and four meters high, just like a screen standing in the courtyard.

How did such a big stone come to the summer palace?

According to legend, this rock originally came from the deep mountains of Fangshan County. In the Ming Dynasty, there was a senior official named Mi Wanzhong, who was addicted to stones. In his Haidian spoon garden, he collected and displayed many strange rocks. After he found the big Bluestone, he liked it very much and decided to transport it back to the spoon garden. But this stone is too big and heavy for people to lift and horses to pull. At this time, someone gave him some advice, saying: when the ancient Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, he took the method of building ice roads to carry rocks. Why can't he have a try? Mi Wanzhong thought this method was feasible, so he hired a lot of migrant workers to build a main road first, then drilled a small well every three li and a big well every five li beside the road, and when it was winter, he poured water on the road and frozen it into an ice road. At that time, someone made up a ballad for this ice road, saying: "Zhangyi gate is built high, with big well, small well and Lugou bridge; Lugou bridge is long and long, and it is a good town after Changxindian; Liangxiang tower covers the hillside, and it is Liuli River after Doudian..." The avenue was built all the way to Dashiwo, Fangshan. Up to now, there are many villages called Dajing and Xiaojing in Fangshan and Fengtai. Mi Wanzhong did not know how much he spent to transport this big Bluestone! When the stone was transported to Liangxiang, his family ran out of money and had to leave it by the roadside. At that time, people called this big Bluestone the black sheep's stone.

In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong came back to Xiling to worship his ancestors, went to Liangxiang, saw this strange big blue stone, and asked Minister Liu Yong, "why did this big blue stone be abandoned by the roadside?" Liu luoguozi was very good at guessing the emperor's thoughts. Seeing that he had a crush on this mountain stone, he said: "this is a spirit stone that Mi Wanzhong found in Dashiwo, Fangshan in the Ming Dynasty. He wanted to transport it back to Haidian, but this spirit stone was too small to be used in the rice family, so he squatted in Liangxiang." When Qianlong heard that there were spirits in the rocks, only the royal family could enjoy them, he passed down the imperial edict, asking the civil servants to get off the sedan chair, the military officers to get off the horse, lighting incense, paying homage to the spirit stone, and sending the black sheep Stone to Qingyi garden within a time limit.

At that time, the walls of Le Shou Tang had been repaired, and the stone was so big that it had to be removed and transported into the courtyard. When the Empress Dowager heard about it, she thought that the black sheep's stone was an ominous thing. It would be even more ominous if she broke in again, so she came forward to dissuade her. The Empress Dowager spoke, and Qianlong did not dare to disobey, but he was not reconciled to seeing the stone thrown outside the door. Later, it was Liu luoguozi who gave him an idea. He said that this big Bluestone looks like a Ganoderma lucidum, which will add grace to the royal family and symbolize the longevity of the emperor! Only in front of Le Shou Tang is the most suitable place; if it is abandoned in the wilderness, it is very unlucky. When Qianlong told the Empress Dowager about this, she turned her worries into happiness and asked her to bring the big Bluestone into Leshou hall as soon as possible. When Qianlong was satisfied with his wishes, he named it "qingzhixiu". He wrote four big characters "Shenying" and "Yuxiu" and ordered ministers to write poems, all of which were engraved on the big Bluestone. From then on, this qingzhixiu was famous all over the world.

At both ends of the throne, there are also a pair of large blue and white fruit plates for holding fruits. Each plate can hold four or five hundred fruits of various colors. This is for smelling. In the four corners of the living room, there are also four gold-plated nine peach copper stoves, which are specially used for lighting sandalwood to adjust the indoor air. There are also two "Eight Immortals fish tables" in the middle, which are well made: the table top is made of two layers of glass structure, and the interlayer is inlaid with "(stream bird) (Le bird) wood" - the name of waterfowl and the exquisite "Pavilions" carved from ivory. Under it, there is a square fish tank, which can be used to raise "goldfish". The beautiful goldfish swim in the "Pavilions" to enjoy the beauty.

Leshoutang is also the place where Cixi lives. The foyer is called "Shuimu Ziqin". "Leshoutang" black gold horizontal plaque is written by Emperor Guangxu. In front of the hall, there is a dock for Cixi to take a boat. In the hall, the West inner room is Cixi's bedroom, and the East inner room is the dressing room. The main hall is equipped with throne, imperial case, palm fan, screen, etc. In front of the throne, there are precious blue and white porcelain fruit plates and four gold-plated nine peach steel stoves, all of which were the original objects of Cixi before his death. The bronze sika deer, crane and vase are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the hall steps, which means "Six Harmonies and peace". Yulan, Xifu Begonia and peony are planted in the courtyard, which means "Yutang is rich".

It is said that leshoutang was the first place to install electric lights in China, and Empress Dowager Cixi was the first to use electric lights. After the invasion of Beijing by the Allied forces of the eight powers in 1900, in 1903, a German businessman wanted to make a fortune and tried his best to bring Western Electrical goods into the Chinese market, but Cixi objected. Foreign businessmen know that to open up the Chinese market, Cixi must first take the lead in using electric lights. So he secretly bribed Li Lianying, Cixi's close eunuch, with money. They took advantage of Cixi's going out to install the light secretly. In the evening, Cixi came back from the outside, and as soon as she entered the Le Shou Tang, she asked, "why do you hang so many eggplants in my hall as soon as I leave?"? But Li Lianying just kowtowed and said hello. Then Gong asked: old Buddha, is it time to turn on the light? Cixi said: up. Li quickly turned on the light switch behind the door, and the colorful lights were shining. Cixi asked curiously and pleasantly, "Why are these eggplants all on now? What are they?"?! Li then played respectfully: This is the electric light, and explained that it is convenient, clean, bright and safe to use. The old Buddha can add happiness and longevity with it! Since then, Cixi has been using electric lights, and China's major cities have gradually started to use electricity.

Room furnishings

Chinese PinYin : Le Shou Tang