Kunning Palace

Kunning Palace

Kunning palace is located in the north of Jiaotai hall in the Forbidden City of Beijing. It is one of the three rear palaces of the Imperial Palace in Beijing, behind Jiaotai hall. The name of Kunning palace comes from the original text of Tao Te Ching: in the past, the heaven got one to be clear, the earth got one to be peaceful, the God got one to be spiritual, the valley got one to be rich, all things got one to live, the Marquis and the king got one and thought that the world was right.

In ancient times, the status of the queen is opposite to that of the emperor. The queen is the most noble woman in the world. The emperor is heaven, the queen is the earth, the emperor is Qian, the queen is Kun, and the queen is the only one in the world. The Queen's dormitory is derived from the phrase "the earth is peaceful" in Tao Te Ching, so it is called Kunning palace. Similarly, the heaven is clear, and the emperor's dormitory is called Qianqing palace. Therefore, Kunning palace and Qianqing Palace are the sleeping halls of the queen and the emperor respectively.

Kunning palace was built in 1420, the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty. It was destroyed by fire twice in 1514 and 1596, and rebuilt in 1605.

It was rebuilt in 1645, the second year of Shunzhi, and rebuilt again in 1655. In 1797, the Qianqing palace was on fire. The front eaves of the palace were burned and rebuilt in 1798. Qianqing palace stands for Yang and Kunning palace stands for Yin, which means the combination of yin and Yang and the combination of heaven and earth.

Quick navigation

Panorama

Development history

In the Ming Dynasty, Kunning palace was the Queen's bedroom. Face wide nine, the original front door in the middle, there are things warm Pavilion. When Li Zicheng's peasant uprising army entered Beijing, the Zhou family, the empress of emperor Chongzhen, hanged herself in Kunning palace.

In Qing Dynasty, it was changed into a place for worshiping gods

The royal family of the Qing Dynasty held sacrifices of different sizes every year, which was also one of the important duties of the emperors and queens. Among these sacrifices, some were performed by the queen, and the place was in the Kunning palace. Manchu is a nation with great respect for gods, so sacrifice and sacrifice to gods are very important for Manchu people. In addition, the residential design of the Manchu people is different from that of the Han people. According to the traditional customs of the Manchu people, the houses are generally divided into three rooms: the west room, the middle room and the east room, with the gate facing south. The west room is called the West upper room, the middle room and the East lower room. There are three kangs on the south, West and north sides of the West upper house. The West Kang is expensive, the North Kang is large, and the South Kang is small. Because the Manchu people take the West as the upper place, the west wall is used as a memorial tablet for gods or ancestors. Generally speaking, the West Kang does not live with people. The South Kang is the largest in the north and South Kang. The elders live in the South Kang, and the younger live in the North Kang.

Due to the above reasons, in the 12th year of Shunzhi, the Qing Dynasty rebuilt Kunning palace. Except for the two passageways at the East and West ends, the main door was opened in the East, the Linghua lattice window was changed into the straight lattice window, and the western part of the palace was changed into a big Kang with three rings, which made the interior and exterior decoration of the palace different from other palaces. According to Manchu custom, the four rooms at the west end of Kunning palace were transformed into places for worshiping gods. Open the door from the third room in the East and change it into two opposite doors. There are three large pots on the opposite side of the entrance, which are used to cook meat for God. Every morning and evening there are activities to offer sacrifices to the gods. On the day of the great sacrifice and on the first and fifteenth day of each month, the emperor and empress personally offered sacrifices to the gods. The statues offered include 15-16 portraits of Sakyamuni, Guan Yunchang and Mongolian gods. Every big celebration and new year's day, the queen will hold a celebration ceremony here.

Since then, Kunning palace has become a special place for sacrifice, which is also a very sacred place. Of course, it has another function, that is, the emperor's wedding bridal chamber. The Qing emperor lived here for two days when he got married, and then lived in other palaces. Of course, if the emperor had been married before he ascended the throne, he would not be able to enjoy such treatment.

So in the Qing Dynasty, only three emperors, Kangxi, Tongzhi and Guangxu, who were young and ascended the throne, used the bridal chamber.

The emperor's wedding was extremely luxurious and extravagant. In 1872, Zaichun, the emperor of Tongzhi, spent 11 million taels of silver on his grand wedding. In 1889, zaidian, the emperor of Guangxu, spent 5.5 million taels of silver on his grand wedding. Today, the decoration and furnishings in the bridal chamber are the same as those in the wedding of Emperor Guangxu.

In the early Qing Dynasty, only a few empresses lived here, namely, empress Shizu feihou, empress xiaohuizhang, empress Kangxi, empress xiaochengren and empress xiaozhaoren. Most of the other empresses had their own residences in the six Eastern and Western palaces. Emperor Qianlong's empress Xiaoxian lived in Changchun palace while emperor Jiaqing's empress xiaoshurui lived in Yuqing palace, Emperor Daoguang's empress xiaoquancheng, Emperor Xianfeng's empress xiaozhenxian and Emperor Guangxu's empress xiaodingjing lived in Zhongcui palace.

In 1665, when Xuanye got married, the Empress Dowager appointed the wedding ceremony in Kunning palace. Tongzhi emperor, Guangxu emperor big marriage, Puyi marriage is also held in Kunning palace. After Emperor Yongzheng, the emperor moved to Yangxin palace, and the empress no longer lived in Kunning palace. In fact, Kunning palace has been used as a special place for Shamanism to worship gods. It is now on display in the original state of court life.

geographical position

Kunning palace is located in the inner court of the Forbidden City. The buildings in the Forbidden City are divided into outer court and inner court. The center of the outer court is Taihe hall, Zhonghe hall and Baohe hall, which are collectively referred to as the three main halls. It is the place where the state held the grand ceremony. The left and right wings of the three halls are supplemented by Wenhua hall and Wuying hall.

The center of the inner court is Qianqing palace, Jiaotai palace and Kunning palace, collectively referred to as the latter three palaces. It is the main palace where the emperor and queen live. After that was the royal garden. On both sides of the latter three palaces are the six palaces in the East and the west, where the empresses and concubines live and rest. The east side of the East six palaces is the Tianqiong hall and other Buddhist hall buildings, while the west side of the West six palaces is the main hall and other Buddhist hall buildings. In addition to the outer court and the inner court, there are two parts of buildings, waidong road and waixi road. In the south of waidong road is Jiefang hall, commonly known as nansansuo, where the prince lived. In the north is ningshou palace, which was built by Emperor Qianlong. In the south of waixi road are the Empress Dowager's Ci Ning palace and Shou Kang palace. In the north, besides the Empress Dowager's shou'an palace, there are also Yinghua hall and other Buddhist buildings.

building structure

Kunning palace sits in the north and faces the south, with 9 wide corridors and 3 deep rooms. It is covered with yellow glazed tiles and double eaves. The Ming Dynasty is the Queen's palace. After the reconstruction in the 12th year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, it was the main place for Shamanism to worship gods.

The Kunning palace imitates the Qingning palace in Shengjing, changing the original Mingjian door to the East secondary door, changing the original door to the double panel door, and changing the lattice flower window of other rooms to the vertical lattice hanging window.

In the east of the room, there are two warm pavilions, which are used as living dormitories. In the west of the door, there are four kangs in the south, North and West, which are used as places for worshiping gods. The back eaves opposite the door are set with cooking stoves for killing animals and cooking meat.

Because it was used by the royal family, the kitchen was equipped with lattice gate and Hun Jin Pilu cover. The decoration was exquisite and gorgeous. After the reconstruction of Kunning palace, it became the main place for shaman worship in the Qing palace. The two rooms at the east end of Kunning Palace are the bridal chamber of the emperor's wedding. The walls of the room are decorated with red paint, and double happiness palace lanterns are hung on the ceiling. There are two doors in the East and west of the bridal chamber. Inside and outside the wooden shadow walls in the west gate and the east gate, they are decorated with gold and lacquer characters of double happiness, which means to go out to see happiness. In the northwest corner of the bridal chamber, there is a dragon and Phoenix bed. The tent hanging in front of the bed and the quilt placed on the bed are all made of Jiangnan precision embroidery. On the top of the bed, there are 100 Playboys with different embroideries. They are called "Baizi tent" and "Baizi quilt", which are colorful and eye-catching.

Main attractions

Zhu Jiazhen

Kunning palace is the central palace of Empresses of Ming and Qing Dynasties. The emperor of Ming Dynasty lived in Qianqing palace, so Kunning palace was the Queen's bedroom. When the peasant uprising army led by Li Zicheng conquered Beijing in 1644, Chongzhen's Queen (Queen Zhou) committed suicide in Kunning palace. In the Qing Dynasty, because the emperor's office was moved from the outer court to the Qianqing palace in the inner court, and his bedroom was moved to the Yangxin palace in the west, the Kunning palace became the middle palace in form. The empress could live in any one of the six palaces. Only when the emperor got married did she live in Kunning palace for two days. The Qing Dynasty's emperors held weddings only after they ascended the throne, including Shunzhi, Kangxi, Tongzhi and Guangxu. According to the Qing Dynasty meeting code, only the Kangxi, Tongzhi and Guangxu dynasties can confirm that the empress once lived in Kunning palace. In addition, after the revolution of 1911, Puyi also lived here when he held a wedding. In addition to the wedding ceremony, the Empresses of the Qing Dynasty led their concubines to the court on New Year's day, winter solstice and her birthday (called Qianqiu). After the ceremony, they took a rest in Kunning palace, and then went to Jiaotai hall to receive the congratulations of their concubines. Kunning palace is often used to offer sacrifices to gods. The daily Festival, spring and Autumn Festival, praying for blessings, and cooking stove on December 23 were all held in the Ming Dynasty of Kunning palace.

Although Kunning palace was basically built in Ming Dynasty, it was greatly changed in Qing Dynasty. Kunning gate in Ming Dynasty was located in shunzhen gate in Qing Dynasty. Today's Kunning gate in Ming Dynasty is a corridor called "recreation studio", which connects with royal garden. As for the interior layout of Kunning palace in the Qing Dynasty, it is completely in accordance with the appearance of Qingning palace in Shenyang Imperial Palace, which preserves some of the customs of the Manchu people. Along the gable, there is a big Kang with front and back eaves. The window paper is pasted outside the window lattice. On the Kang, gods are worshipped, and bows and arrows are hung on the nose column. These are certainly not the same as the interior decoration of Kunning palace in Ming Dynasty.

In 1959, the Kunning palace was decorated with the original display. Here, the layout was completed

Chinese PinYin : Kun Ning Gong