Cining Palace

Cining Palace

Ci Ning palace was built in 1536, the 15th year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty. In Ming Dynasty, CI Ning palace was the residence of the former imperial concubines. The early and middle Qing Dynasty was the prosperous period of CI Ning palace. Empress Xiaozhuang Wen and empress Xiaosheng Xian also lived here. Emperor Shunzhi, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong are famous for their filial piety. The grand ceremony of celebrating the Empress Dowager's birthday is often held in the cining palace.

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Introduction to architecture

The CI Ning Palace (which has been opened to tourists) is located in the west side of longzong gate, tingwai West Road, the inner palace museum in Beijing. Built in 1536, it was built on the site of Renshou palace and removed Dashan hall. During the Wanli period, it was rebuilt due to disasters. In the Qing Dynasty, it was repaired in the 10th year of Shunzhi (1653), the 28th year of Kangxi (1689) and the 16th year of Qianlong (1751) and used as the main palace where the Empress Dowager lived. In 1769, the main hall of CI Ning palace was changed from single eaves to double eaves, and the back hall was moved back.

Historical evolution

In Ming Dynasty, CI Ning palace was the residence of the former imperial concubines. In the first year of Taichang (1620), Emperor Wanli, Empress Dowager Li, lived here. In the seventh year of Tianqi (1627), Emperor Xi of Ming Dynasty died, and his imperial concubines moved here. In 1653, empress Wen of Xiaozhuang began to live in cining palace, which became the residence of Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager. The early and middle Qing Dynasty was the prosperous period of CI Ning palace. Empress Xiaozhuang Wen and empress Xiaosheng Xian lived here one after another. Emperor Shunzhi, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong were famous for their filial piety, and the grand ceremony of celebrating the Empress Dowager's birthday was often held in the CI Ning palace. But after Daoguang, with the decline of the Qing Dynasty and the emptiness of the national treasury, the Empress Dowager Gong CI (empress Xiao and Rui) had to reduce the expenditure in the palace, and the glory of the past was gradually lost.

The main function of the palace is to hold important ceremonies for the Empress Dowager. Celebrations are held here for the Empress Dowager's birthday, her emblem, her entrance to the Imperial Palace and the princess's marriage. Especially on the Empress Dowager's birthday, the emperor personally led the crowd to salute, and danced with his relatives in colorful clothes. The etiquette was very grand.

Architectural features

There is a long and narrow square in front of the gate of CI Ning palace, with Yongkang left gate and Yongkang right gate on both ends, and Changxin gate on the south side. Located on the north side of the square, there is a high platform corridor connecting with the main hall, the cining palace. On the East and west sides of the courtyard are verandahs, which turn to the south to connect with the CI Ning gate, and to the north to reach the East and West ear rooms of the back bedroom Hall (the Great Buddha Hall). There are two doors in the middle of the East and West verandah of the front yard, the left door of Huiyin in the East and the right door of Huiyin in the West.

The main hall is located in the middle of the CI Ning palace, with the front and back porches and yellow glazed tile eaves resting on the top of the mountain. There are 7 rooms in the area, of which 5 rooms have 4 double cross doors. Between the two ends is a brick ridge wall with four double cross windows. In front of the hall, there are three steps on the front, one on the left and one on the right, and four gilt bronze censers on the platform. The East and West Mountains are set up with walls, each with a vertical flower gate, which can lead to the backyard.

In the main hall of CI Ning palace in the Qing Dynasty, there are two horizontal plaques of "Baolu pianxi" and "Qinglong zunyang" written by Emperor Qianlong. The couplet is "love the sun and grow long, the spring light of LAN palace condenses the colorful battle; Ciyun is surrounded by Yin, and the court is set up to connect Pengshan".

According to feudal etiquette, the emperor could not live with the concubines of the former dynasty. In order to settle the concubines of the old emperor who had already died, the palace of CI Ning was specially built for them to live in.

Related couplets

LAN dianyi and Zun Beiyang

Man, heaven, merit, morality, samadhi; dragon, elephant, power, God, two feet

Eight hundred nuns are now Zhuang Yan's prime minister; three thousand nuns smell pure and wonderful fragrance

In the palace of iris changlan, the spring light is shining and the color is shining

Chining Garden

Ci Ning Garden was rebuilt on the site of Renshou palace in the early Ming Dynasty in 1769. In the range rover gate of the garden, there are rocks stacked on top of each other, playing a barrier role of "getting to the point". After the rocks, the colorful flower beds set off the Linxi pavilion built across the pool. Around the pool Pavilion, there are hanqingzhai, Yanshou hall and east-west rooms opposite each other, making Linxi pavilion a natural ornamental center in the south of the garden. Xianruoguan in the north of the garden is the main building of the whole garden. There is a ciyin building in the north, a Baoxiang building in the East and a Jiyun building in the West. It is surrounded by a semi closed courtyard.

The garden is about 130m long from north to South and 50m wide from east to west, covering a total area of 6800 m2. There are only 11 buildings in the garden, covering less than one-fifth of the total area. They are concentrated in the north of the garden, while the south is flat and open. They plant flowers and trees, and stack stone base pools, so that the Empress Dowager and imperial concubines can enjoy the scenery of the mountains and forests without any hard work. The range rover gate at the entrance of the garden is located in the east wall, which is a simple wall gate. Looking to the north, the main hall is Xianruo hall, 5 rooms wide, with a yellow glazed tile roof. There is a flower bed in front of the museum, Baoxiang building and Jiyun building on the East and west sides, and ciyin building in the North behind the museum. The three buildings are similar in shape. They are all two-story buildings. They are covered with green glazed tiles and yellow cut edges. They are curled on the top of the mountain and surrounded by xianruoguan in the shape of "Yi". A small door is opened between the east end of the ground floor of ciyin building to connect with the square in front of cining palace. In the south of Baoxiang building and Jiyun building, there are two small courtyards, named hanqingzhai and Yanshou hall. They are the places where Emperor Qianlong served the Empress Dowager's decoction, and also the second place. The main building in the courtyard is three volumes of grey tiles, which are connected with the shed roof, which is simple, elegant and novel.

In the south of the garden, there is a long and narrow rectangular pool across the white marble bridge. On the bridge, there is a pavilion called Linxi Pavilion, which is opposite to xianruoguan in the north. On the East and west sides of the pavilion, there were Cuifang Pavilion and Lvyun Pavilion, and now there are 1 veranda room with 5 rooms in width. There used to be one well Pavilion in the southeast and southwest of the garden, and the water from the flowing cup canal in the green cloud pavilion was led out from the southeast well. Linxiting South flower bed, 1m high, 6.5m square, xumizuo style, relative to the North flower bed. The south entrance of the garden is further to the south by bypassing the shidieshan in Taihu Lake.

Due to the constraints of etiquette, patriarchal clan system, geomantic omen and other factors, the architecture of cining garden is arranged according to the pattern of primary and secondary, left and right symmetry. The layout is regular and rigorous, but slightly monotonous. It mainly relies on the delicate interior decoration, the pool, rocks and a wide variety of flowers in the courtyard to set off the strong garden atmosphere. The trees in the garden are mainly cypress and cypress, with Wutong, ginkgo, Magnolia and cloves, which are distributed around the salty Pavilion and near the stream pavilion. Its spring and autumn fruit, morning and dusk four seasons, each has a different taste. In the Forbidden City with strict etiquette system, it is the only place where the former and later imperial concubines can find spiritual comfort.

Display cultural relics

The main hall is a boutique exhibition room, displaying more than 40 rare treasures, including the stone sheep in the fifth year of Yonghe in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the stone Buddha and Bodhisattva in the Northern Qi Dynasty, the pottery figurines in the second year of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty, the painted Guanyin in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the silver gilt sixth Panchen Lama in the Qing Dynasty.

The three large statues of the Northern Dynasty in the middle are presented in the form of "naked Exhibition" for the first time. It took them a week to enter the palace.

The West Gallery of cining palace is an exhibition room for ancient pottery figurines. The exhibits date from the Western Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, mainly from the Han Dynasty, the Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The West veranda of dafotang is an exhibition room for stone and brick portraits. The exhibits include stone statues, stone portraits, brick portraits and brick carvings.

Stone relief and brick relief are an important part of ancient Chinese sculpture. The themes include farming, hunting, war, chariot and horse travel, cooking, banqueting, emperors and generals, sages and hermits, filial sons and daughters, gods and beasts, buildings, celestial bodies, natural scenery, decorative patterns, etc. The East veranda of cining palace is the exhibition room of Quyang Buddhist statues. Quyang statues are white in texture, exquisitely carved, and have many vows. They are the representatives of Buddhist statues in Hebei Province and can be called one of the important archaeological discoveries of Buddhist temples in China.

The Mingjian and dongnuange of dafotang are the exhibition rooms for ancient Buddhist statues. They display ancient Buddhist statues of different textures, including copper, clay, porcelain, stone, wood, and Jiadan. The exhibits date from the 16 Kingdoms period to the Qing Dynasty. After visiting the palace, you can stop by the Garden opposite the palace. It used to be a place for Empress dowagers and imperial concubines in Ming and Qing Dynasties to visit, worship Buddha and offer sacrifices to the emperor. There are nine existing buildings, including xianruoguan and baoxianglou. Xianruoguan is now open to the public.

Opening for the first time

The back Palace on the West Road of the Forbidden City, represented by the CI Ning palace and Shou Kang palace, has always played the role of a "storehouse": the Palace Museum is filled with large and small pieces of debris, and the gate is blocked more often than it is opened. "The western part of the Forbidden City used to be called" the world of women ". It is a place where the empress dowager, the imperial concubines and the concubines live together. It has never been opened since its founding 88 years ago, so it is more mysterious." Shan Jixiang, President of the Palace Museum, said that the renovation of the ancient buildings in the Palace Museum is going very smoothly, and the western part of the Palace Museum will be opened at the right time.

"There are too many unknown secrets in the Forbidden City. Even though we have worked here for a long time, the feeling of mystery and depression still remains when we walk under the high walls." A staff member involved in the Palace Museum maintenance project said.

In October 2015, the western part of the Forbidden City, including the CI Ning palace, the garden and the Shoukang palace, will be opened as a whole.

After the opening, the palace will be transformed into a sculpture museum to be displayed to tourists, and 10200 sculptures collected by the National Palace Museum will also be displayed in the palace

Chinese PinYin : Ci Ning Gong