the Hall of Preserving Harmony

the Hall of Preserving Harmony

The hall of preserving harmony is a traditional palace building in Ming and Qing Dynasties, which belongs to the Palace Museum in Beijing. Built in 1420, it was burned and rebuilt several times. The existing main beam frame is still built in Ming Dynasty.

It was named Jinshen hall in the early Ming Dynasty, Jianji hall in 1562, and Baohe hall in 1645. "Baohe" comes from the book of changes, which means "the mind can't run away, the mind can be tranquil and keep the mind", that is, the mind can be single-minded and keep the harmony of all things in the universe.

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The origin of the temple name

According to the hall of preserving harmony, it means to be single-minded and keep harmony in the world. Only in this way can we have a happy life and a peaceful world. Baohe hall plaque "Huang Jian You Ji" plaque, for Qianlong imperial pen. According to the classic: Jizi's Hongfan "Huangjian has its own extreme".

Architectural structure

Structure inside the hall

Baohe hall is 9 rooms wide and 5 rooms deep (including 1 front porch), with a building area of 1240.00 m2 and a height of 29.50m. Roof for double eaves Xieshan, covered with yellow glazed tiles, the upper and lower eaves angle are placed 9 small animals. The upper eaves are single warped chongang seven step Dougong, and the lower eaves are chongang five step Dougong.

Both the inner and outer eaves are painted with golden dragon and seal, and the ceiling is painted with Lek powder pasted with golden dragon. The color paintings on the six ceiling beams are extremely unique, and they are in harmony with the decoration and furnishings that emphasize the red color, which makes them look magnificent.

In the hall, the floor is paved with gold bricks, and a carved gold lacquer throne is set from the north to the south. Between the East and the West are warm pavilions with two Anban doors and wooden reliefs of Ruyi Yunlong hunjin Pilu hat. In the building, the method of reducing columns is adopted, and six gold columns are subtracted from the front eaves of the hall to make the space spacious and comfortable.

Structure outside the hall

Yunlong stone carving

In the middle of the rear steps of Baohe hall, there is an imperial road stone carved with clouds, dragons, sea water and cliffs, which is called Yunlong stone carving. This is the largest stone carving in the Forbidden City. It is 16.57 meters long, 3.07 meters wide, 1.70 meters thick and weighs 250 tons. It was originally carved in the Ming Dynasty, but it was re carved in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Among the cliff, sea water and flowing clouds, there are nine dragons playing with pearls. Their images are dynamic and full of vitality.

The stone of Yunlong stone carving is from Dashiwo, Fangshan, West Beijing. At that time, it took more than ten thousand people to haul such heavy boulders to Beijing, and they were hauled by dry boat. For this reason, a well was dug every mile along the way for drinking water. From Fangshan to Beijing, it took nearly a month to transport. Although this kind of haulage was difficult, it also showed the talent and wisdom of workers at the level of productivity at that time.

Dragon spits water

Thousand dragons are more than a thousand stone taps protruding from the bottom of the pillar. Whenever it rains, the rainwater will be discharged from the dragon mouth, which organically combines the practical function of diverting rainwater with the ornamental function of architectural art. The spectacular scene of Qianlong spitting water comes from the three-tier platform foundation above the three main halls of Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe. "Santai" covers an area of about 2500 square meters and is made of large pieces of white marble. There are xumizuo carved around each platform base. On the seat of Xumi, there are large rectangular stone strips, called Diqi.

The pillar of hope is set between the ground and the burden, and the fence is set between the pillar of hope. Under them, there are drainage channels. There is a stone carving tap under each pillar. There are 1142 taps in the whole "three platforms". Except for the taps protruding from the corner top of the corner of each platform base, round holes are drilled between the two lips of other taps to connect with the holes under the pillar. Because the design of the mesa is that the middle is higher than the periphery, whenever it rains, the rainwater falling on the mesa of "Santai" naturally flows to the four sides of the bottom of the terrain, so it is discharged from the dragon mouth, forming the spectacle of "thousands of dragons spitting water". The veranda rooms on the East and west sides of Baohe hall have been turned into exhibition halls.

Palace use

Baohe hall was used for different purposes in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Before the ceremony of Ming Dynasty, the emperor often changed clothes here. When the empress and crown prince were appointed, the emperor was congratulated in this hall.

On the new year's Eve and the fifteenth day of the first month of the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor gave a feast to the vassal, the princes and the first and second grade ministers. The banquet for the father of the gifted son-in-law, the official family members and the palace examination of each subject were held in Baohe hall. At the end of each year, the zongrenfu and the Ministry of officials filled in the Yellow Book of the imperial clan's Manchu, Mongolian, Han Army and the provincial Han foreign vassal.

From 1646 to 1656, Emperor Fulin of Shunzhi lived in Baohe palace, which was called "Weiyu Palace" at that time. The wedding ceremony was also held here.

Kangxi from the throne to the eighth year (1669) also lived in Baohe hall, known as "Qingning Palace". When the two emperors lived in Baohe hall, they changed the name of the hall to temporary residence.

In 1789, the place of palace examination was moved from Taihe hall to Baohe hall. The imperial examination was the highest level examination in the feudal imperial examination system. It was proposed by the Emperor himself, and the minister was appointed to make a questionnaire. The emperor also read the papers of the top ten. The first one is the number one scholar, the second one is Bangyan, and the third one is Tanhua. All the senior high school students are granted Jinshi and appointed senior officials. This kind of palace examination is held every three years. Generally, the participants have to pass the local examination and the national examination before they can get the qualification to participate in the palace examination. The ceremony of the palace examination was very grand, and the time of holding it had changed several times. In the early Qing Dynasty, it was set at the beginning of April, and then changed to the beginning of May. The 10th year of Qianlong (1745) was changed to April 26, and the 26th year of Qianlong (1761) was changed to April 21.

On the same day, holding title officials and cabinet officials from the cabinet through the left door to the hall of Baohe, the emperor ordered the title on the Yellow case on the east side of the hall. The new Gongshi were led by Honglu Temple officials and arranged on both sides of Danbi. According to the ranking in the examination, the odd number was listed in the East and the even number was listed in the West. In the Imperial Palace, the emperor played music and whips, and all the gongs, princes and ministers made three kowtows and nine bows to the emperor. At the end of the ceremony, the emperor returned to the palace. The officials of the Ministry of rites asked questions, and the Gongshi knelt down to accept them. Then they entered the palace and sat on both sides of the palace to answer the questions. On the day of palace examination, there are two meals: breakfast, four steamed buns and a bowl of soup for each person; lunch, four cakes, two pears and a tour of tea for each person.

On the first page of each paper, fill in the candidate's name, age, native place and three generations' resume. After the examination, the front page was folded into a tube by Mi Fengguan, sealed and sealed. The rest of the roll surface, roll back and riding seam are stamped with the seal of the Ministry of rites. The examination papers were reviewed by eight examiners appointed by the emperor. If the minister thinks that the answer is good, he will draw a circle on it, and the best paper will draw eight circles. The paper ranked by the number of circles, and then submitted the top ten to the emperor, who decided the ranking.

The selection of the first place of Jinshi was not all based on real talent and learning. Sometimes it's the emperor's pleasure.

For example, in the palace examination in the 27th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty (1548), Wu Qing won the first place. Because "Wu" and "Wu" are homonymous, Emperor Jiajing said, "merciless" should not be the first. That night, Jiajing heard thunder roar, without thinking, decided to let Qin Minglei do champion. It's better to have a good name. Another example is the palace examination in the 29th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu. Wang Shoupeng, one of the top ten in the palace examination, was highly praised by the book reader. The legendary Pengzu lived seven or eight hundred years. In order to win the favor of the Empress Dowager and celebrate her birthday on the 10th day of October, he thought that the word "Shoupeng" was auspicious and festive, so the examiner made an exception and promoted Wang Shoupeng to the number one.

On May 25, the test results will be released. The new Jinshi entered the square of Taihe hall from the Meridian Gate to salute the emperor, and then left the palace. At this time, shuntianfu Yin has prepared the umbrella guard of honor for the number one scholar. The Fu Yin puts on the red belt and big red flower for the number one scholar, and toasts to the number one scholar, Bangyan and Tanhua. He helps the number one scholar to mount his horse and sends the number one scholar back to his mansion. The next day, the Ministry of rites hosted a banquet for the new Jinshi, known as "en Rong banquet" or "Lu Ming banquet".

The last palace examination in China was in 1904, when 150 Jinshi were selected. Since then, the feudal imperial examination system, which had been carried out in China for more than 1000 years, was finally abolished.

Tourism information

admission ticket

Peak season: 60 yuan (excluding the Special Library), half price of student and old people's certificate, free ticket for the disabled. 10 yuan for treasure hall and 10 yuan for clock hall.

Off season: 40 yuan (excluding the Special Library), half price of student and old people's certificate, free ticket for the disabled. 10 yuan for treasure hall and 10 yuan for clock hall.

Opening Hours

Tickets will be closed at 8:30-16:00 and 15:30 every day and open all year round

Traffic information

Take bus No.1, No.2, No.10, No.20, No.82, No.120, No.52, No.126, No.99, No.203, No.205, No.210, No.1 and No.2 in the urban area to get off at Tiananmen east station, and then walk about 900 meters to the Meridian Gate. Or, take bus No.1, 5, 10, 22, 37, 52, 205, 99 and get off at "Tiananmen West" and then take bus No.1, 5, 10, 22, 37, 52, 205, 99

Chinese PinYin : Bao He Dian