China Travel - Shenyang Imperial Palace (3)
Saturday, May 31st, 2008Si Ku Quan Shu is a lager-scale collection compiled in the Qianlong reign, which had taken 10 years to complete since the 37th year (1772) of the Qianlong reign. The seven parts were separately kept in the Wensu Pavilion in the Shenyang Imperial Palace, the Wenyuan Pavilion in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Wenyuan Pavilion in the Winter Palace, the WenjinPavilion in Rehe, the Wenhui Pavilion in Yangzhou City, the Wenzong Pavilion in Zhenjiang City and the WenlanPavilion in Hangzhou City. Later on, except the part in the Wensu Pavilion fairly well preserved, all the other parts in other pavilions were either destroyed in wars or littered and lost. Now the part in the Wensu Pavilion has been moved to other places. There is a stele pavilion at the east of the Wensu Pavilion.
The Qingning Hall, originally named as the Central Hall, is midmost of the back yard on the central axis. It was first built around the 10th year (1625) of the Late Jin Dynasty. The palace was built on a foundation of 3.8 meters high and surrounded by high walls. The gate tower named the Fenghuang Tower stands tall and upright in front of the palace. On the left there is the Yongfu Hall and the Guanju Hall, while the Linzhi Hall and the Yanqing Hall on the right. Each of the side is all by itself, thus they form two separate castellar complexes.
The Qingning Hall is five-bay wide. There are the front and rear porches. The roof is covered with yellow glazed tiles edged with a green border. In the east of the palace, it is a warm room, which was the bedroom of Qing Emperor Taizong and his wife. There is a partition in the middle of the room, separating the room into the south and north parts. The Dragon Bed (bed of state) was set up in the north part. Under the window of the south part, a Kang (a heatable brick bed) was placed with some soft seats to the east, where Emperor Taizong rested and met important officials alone. There is a side door in the west of the hall., which makes the west part become a pocket type hall. This was not only the place where the emperor held informal banquets in the inner court, but also where the Manchu witches Shaman prayed for the emperor and the country.
The Fenghuang Tower, originally known as the Xiangfeng Tower, is in front of the Qingning Hall and is a gate tower. It was in construction from the first year (1627) to the 9th year (1635) of the Tiancong reign in the Late Jin Dynasty and rebuilt in the 21st year (1682) of the Kangxi reign in the Qing Dynasty. The tower was changed to the current name in the 8th year (1743) of the Qianlong reign. With three storeys, the lowest one is a passage leading to a high platform, which allows the platform and the five halls to form a castle alone. The tower has three eaves resting on the wall like three drops of water. Its plane is square. It is three-bay wide and long, and surrounded by a roofed corridor. The roof is covered by glazed tiles edged with a green border. The beams and pillars of the third floor are visible. There is a colored painting on the top of the rafter. After the Qing Army entered the Shanhai Pass, Shi Lu (the actual records), Sheng Xun (the imperial edicts), Yu Die (the jade writing slips), Sheng Rong (the imperial containers) and other jade treasures used during the initial period of the country were treasured up here. The Fenghuang Tower used to be the tallest building in Shengjing, so the morning sun over the Fenghuang Tower was reputed as one of the eight sceneries in Shenyang.
After many large-scale repairs, the Shenyang Imperial Palace now becomes the Imperial Palace Museum of Shenyang. In addition to its ancient palace complexes, it is also well known at home and abroad for the abundant treasures. Every year, it attracts streams of tourists to visit and study. It is the most well-preserved extant imperial palace complex next to the Forbidden City in Beijing.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
