My 2021 edition of the Forbidden City stickers, the 17th volume of the serial "Looking at the Red Walls and Gold Tiles, Appreciating the Ming and Qing Palaces", has been generously read by many readers. Among them, some readers put forward some opinions and suggestions, and pointed out some fallacies. This revised edition is republished on the second quarter, adopting the opinions and suggestions of previous readers, enriching some content, correcting clerical errors, and updating and supplementing some pictures. Although I dare not say that all the fallacies have been corrected, most of them should have been corrected. Remember in detail the architectural art of ancient Chinese top palaces seen in the Ming and Qing palaces, some royal cultural relics exhibited in the Forbidden City, and the traces of royal life in the Qing palace, and also think of some stories and legends that happened in the Ming and Qing palaces. Readers", just want to share with readers. thanks.
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Pass through the Gate of Supreme Harmony and stand on the top of the Danbi Stone on the Royal Road under the back eaves porch, and you can see the large square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Walk down the Taihe Gate platform, stand in the square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony to see the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The common people call this place the Temple of the Golden Luan. There is a Jinluan Hall in Daming Palace, the imperial palace in Chang'an, the capital of Tang Dynasty, which is the source of the term "Jinluan Hall". The first three halls of Daming Palace are the Hanyuan Hall of the Outer Dynasty, the Xuanzheng Hall of the Middle Dynasty and the Zichen Hall of the Inner Dynasty. The Jinluan Hall is the garden sleeping hall of the Tang Emperor's inner palace, and it belongs to one of the private halls. There is also a Hall of Supreme Harmony in these private halls. The Emperor of Tang often summoned foreign ministers in the Golden Luan Hall, and Li Bai was also summoned here by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. He also wrote a poem on the spot, called "Zou Song", which is to write an ode to the numb. The end of the poem is "My minister worships and presents Nanshan's birthday, Your Majesty will be honored forever", you think he is numb? Tang Xuanzong is really famous forever. Li Bai still asked Concubine Yang to grind ink for him in the Jinluan Palace, offended the concubine and had to resign and escape from Chang'an. In order to avoid being wanted by the Tang police, Li Bai fled everywhere, claiming to have traveled all over the country, but in fact, he could only go to the mountains and rivers because there were portraits of him wanted in the city posted beside the city gates. Because the Emperor Tang summoned cultural figures like Li Bai in the Golden Luan Hall, literati in Tang and Song Dynasties often used "Jin Luan Dian" to refer to the imperial palace in their poems. Later, the common people thought that the main hall of the imperial palace was called Jin Luan Dian. In fact, this is a misunderstanding, quite crooked.
This Hall of Supreme Harmony was called Fengtian Hall when it was the main hall of Zhu Di's palace. Since the emperor claimed to be ordered by heaven in ancient times, of course he had to act according to heaven. After King Wu, it was the work of Zhu Di's father Zhu Yuanzhang who used the word "Fengtian" again. Zhu Yuanzhang called the main hall of his imperial palace Fengtian Hall, and the jade jade in his hand was engraved with "Fengtian Fazu", and the first sentence of the imperial edict read "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor". Since then, the emperor's imperial edicts have been written from the beginning of "Fengtian Chengyun Emperor...". Last time, it was said that in the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (AD 1557), the Fengtian Temple was burned down by a fire, and it was rebuilt in 40 years. Yan Song was brought to justice in the 41st year. Entered the Emperor Palace. After Qing Shunzhi entered Beijing, in the second year of Shunzhi (AD 1645), Huangji Gate was renamed Taihe Gate, and Huangji Hall was changed to Taihe Hall. The Fengtian Hall of Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang said "I was ordered by heaven", the Huangji Hall of Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong said "Lao Tzu is the best in the world", and the Taihe Hall of Shunzhi Emperor Fulin said "Everyone wash up and sleep, be a good dream".
The base of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a three-story granite xumizuo with a height of two feet and five feet. It has the same shape as the Gate of Supreme Harmony, but it has three floors, which symbolizes "the third class of superiors".
There are N many faucets on the base.
This is called "Chishou Sanshui", pronounced "Bare Hand". Chi is the nine sons of the dragon. It has a large belly without horns and can hold water. The end beast on the roof is also him, because it is also waterproof. The drainage system of the Yuan Palace before the Ming Palace could not withstand the heavy rain. From the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, there was a record that "the rain damaged the capital, and 20,000 troops were sent to build it". Read B)". It has been 600 years since the Ming Dynasty Palace was built. Although there is a record that "the rain flooded the city, Chang'an Street was five feet deep, and the depression was more than ten feet deep, and all the yamen were flooded." when. In the Forbidden City, there is a powerful drainage system consisting of open ditches and underground ditches. Not only is the emperor not afraid of stagnant water in the hall, but he is also not afraid of being soaked in water in the harem. Those who are interested turned around and counted. There are a total of 1142 faucets in the Chishou Sanshui in the three main halls. The largest Chi head is the horn, take a look.
There is a circle of white marble handrails on each floor of the platform base of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Look at the railings.
There are also three white marble handrails and granite steps on the front, and the imperial road in the middle. Look under the Royal Road.
The imperial road in the middle is also called Danbi. Dan: red; Bi: steps in the palace. It is said that the steps of the royal road will be covered with a red carpet during the ceremony, so it is called Danbi. Why did you call the emperor "Your Majesty" in the past, because you couldn't talk to the emperor directly at that time. If you have something to say to the emperor, you must first say it to the guards under the steps, and let the guards pass it on. Therefore, His Majesty was later developed into a respectful title for the emperor. In the middle of Danbi is Danbi Stone, which can only be walked by the emperor himself; on both sides are steps. It is said that the emperor is walking, but in fact, even if the Danbi stone has stone carvings pretending to be non-slip, it is difficult to walk, and it is still not slippery. If the emperor really goes up, I reckon he will often stumble. No one else was allowed to go on the imperial road, so everyone could only watch the emperor roll down, stare blankly, and at most yell "Your Majesty, turn over slowly". Therefore, the emperor walked the royal road in a sedan chair, and the sedan chair the emperor sat on was called Yu, which was pronounced "fish". Putting a wheel on the bottom of the yu is called a chariot, pronounced "to drive". The emperor sat on the royal road, and his husband walked on the steps on both sides of the Danbi stone, and the emperor floated past on the imperial road and on the Danbi stone.
The Danbi Stone in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is made of granite, with five mountains engraved on the bottom. Some people say it symbolizes Mount Sumeru. I don’t know the relationship between the Chinese Imperial Palace and Mount Sumeru of Buddhism. If you talk nonsense, I think it is more reliable to say that it is the Five Sacred Mountains, which symbolizes "under heaven". Nine Dragons Playing Pearls are engraved on the Five Sacred Mountains, interspersed with cloud patterns and sea waves, symbolizing the dragon rising from the sea and walking among the clouds. Nine Dragons and Five Sacred Mountains also mean that the emperor has the honor of ninety-five. In fact, the lower part of the Danbi Stone is not the Five Sacred Mountains, but the "Sea Water River Cliff", which is a metaphor for the sinister rivers and lakes; of course, there are nine dragons flying in the clouds on the top, which are the nine sons of the dragon. I'm afraid the original intention was to say that the Dragon King himself would not show up, and let the nine sons go to heaven to assist the emperor and sweep away all dangers in the rivers and lakes.
Look at the dragon head stone carvings on Danbi Stone.
Each layer of the three-layer platform also has handrails on the side to step up and down.
Climb to the three-story platform, above which is a large platform, and in the middle is the huge Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The two sides of the imperial road in the middle of the platform are called Dan Chi, pronounced "Dan Chi", and Chi refers to the open space above the platform. In case of a major ceremony, not only the steps of the imperial road are covered with red carpets called Danbi, but also red carpets are spread on both sides of the imperial road on the platform, which is called Danchi. At this time, the emperor and queen saluted on Majesty Yuludan, while other princes and ministers saluted inside Danchi.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the largest existing wooden structure classical hall in the world, and it is also of the highest rank. It is eleven rooms wide and five rooms deep, with a verandah in front. In the Ming Dynasty, it was nine rooms wide and five rooms deep, symbolizing the ninety-five supreme. There is a circle of eaves corridors outside it, the front one is a bright corridor, and the other three sides are closed dark corridors when it was rebuilt in the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi (AD 1696). The middle room of the Chinese-style house layout is called the Ming room, and the two sides of the Ming room are the secondary rooms. In this way, there are seven rooms from Ming to Jin. What about a nine-room building like the Hall of Supreme Harmony? The second room when the face is nine rooms wide is called the first room and the second room.
The roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the roof model of the highest specification with yellow glazed tiles and double eaves. The length of the main ridge is about one-third of the length of the eaves. Although the size of the owl on the main ridge is huge, it does not appear out of proportion because the roof is too large. There is a treasure box in the tile tube in the middle of the main ridge, which is the treasure of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and cannot be seen from the outside. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was overhauled in 2007. According to the ceremony of replaying the treasure box, the treasure box is made of gilt copper with dragon patterns. It contains firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and money. The replay ceremony also included the mimeographed record of the overhaul, which is the modern version of the monument of merit. Take a look at the orthopedic owl kiss.
You can see that there is a gold chain on the owl's kiss, the one on the sword handle is called a kiss hook, and there is a kiss rope under it, which is fixed to the tile surface with rope nails, all of which are gilded copper. Can this set of big gold chains play a fixed role? In fact, it is decoration. There are large gold chains on the main ridge of the main hall in the Forbidden City, the front and rear halls of the first three halls, the front and rear halls of the last three palaces, the front and rear halls of the Ningshou Palace, and the front and rear halls of the Compassionate Ning Palace. There are also Wenhua Hall on East Road and Wuying Hall on Waichao West Road. In addition to the palace hall, there are also large gold chains on the main ridges of the four gates of Miyagi, namely Meridian Gate, Shenwu Gate, Donghua Gate and Xihua Gate. There are also large gold chains on the Qianqing Gate, the gate of the harem, and on the Ningshou Gate, the gate of the Qianlong Nursing Home. Are there any signs on Tiananmen and Duanmen outside the palace? No. The main hall of the royal building outside the palace also has a big gold chain, the main hall of the Cloud Dispelling Hall in the Summer Palace and the backing halls on both sides. It is very rare for folk buildings outside the imperial palace to be decorated with big gold chains. I have only seen big gold chains on the big gold chains in the main hall of Tanzhe Temple in Beijing. Take a look at the Chi Kiss in the Palace of Dispelling Clouds in the Summer Palace. There is a groove in the socket of Xu Xun's sword, which is where the big gold chain is fixed.
The roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is of the Ming Dynasty style, but the Chi Kiss is of the Qing style, as mentioned earlier. In addition to the main ridge, there are four vertical ridges on each eaves, and there are ten ridge beasts on each vertical ridge. The ten ridge beasts in the Hall of Supreme Harmony are the only ones among the existing ancient buildings. Don’t just name the last one, let’s call it the top ten, which means “Xingshi”. Xingshi is a god monkey with wings on his back and holds a vajra in his hand. At the front of this string of ridge beasts is a leading figure, a little man riding a chicken, which is called "immortal riding a chicken". It is said that this is the image of King Qi Min, the son of the famous King Qi Xuan during the Warring States Period. King Xuan of Qi loves music, and a Mr. Nan Guo, who is just pretending to be a fake, got mixed into his band. The son of King Xuan of Qi ascended the throne and became King Min of Qi. He asked everyone in the orchestra to perform solo, and Mr. Nan Guo had to hide his face in his arms and run away. King Min of Qi was warlike. Instigated by Su Qin, he attacked other countries in all directions, and finally caused the five countries to attack Qi. General Le Yi of the Yan Kingdom invaded Linzi, the capital of Qi, and King Qi Min was desperate. At this time, a phoenix flew in and carried King Qi Min to the state of Wei. They said that the image of King Qi Min escaping on a phoenix was ranked at the top of the ridge beast, which means "survival from a desperate situation", which means that the owner of the house can't die no matter what. But King Qi Min wandered around in the end, and was finally slaughtered by Chu General Nao Chi (pronounced as Nao Chi, which means rotten teeth). Therefore, the last emperors of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties failed to save the fate of the country.
In addition to the glazed tiles on the roof, there are also various kinds of glazed tiles in the palace. These beautiful components were first made in Liulichang, so the place name "Liulichang" was left there. Liulichang fired glazed components for the imperial palaces of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, from which smoke of various colors rose every day. At that time, Liulichang was outside Xuanwu Gate, that is, outside the city. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Liulichang became inside You'anmen because of the construction of the outer city wall. Of course, opening a smoking factory in the city was almost impossible, so the emperor ordered the Liuli Factory to be moved to the outer suburbs, that is, the Liuli Canal in Mentougou, where Liuli is still being fired. Since then, Liulichang has gradually become a cultural street in the book market. To the east of the imperial palace, and now to the south of Wangfujing, there is a place called "Taiji Factory". When Zhu Di built the Beijing Imperial Palace, there used to be a workshop specializing in the manufacture of stone materials for the base of the hall, so it was called the base factory. After the palace was built, the base factory was abandoned, but the place name remained. In addition to tiles and stones, Zhu Di also used a lot of wood to build the palace, so there must be a timber factory. Zhu Di's wood factory is near the present Beijing East Railway Station, called Shenmu Factory, which was later used as the Beijing Piano Factory for "Xinghai" pianos, and the Beijing Brewery for "Beijing White Brand".
Under the roof is a bucket arch structure supported by columns. Because each bay is very large, there are also many bucket arches. There are eight bucket arches in the middle of the open room, and five on each side. The bucket arch between the lower eaves that we can see from the outside is called Shanqiao Zhongang Qitai, which is formally called "tweening shop". Look at the brackets under the eaves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The plaques in the Forbidden City are in Manchu and Chinese, and there are only Chinese in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In the Qing Dynasty in the past, Manchu and Han scripts were actually used. When Yuan Shikai became emperor, he removed the Manchu script on all the plaques in the outer dynasty, and then moved the Chinese script to the middle. He also took off the plaque of the Hall of Supreme Harmony where he wanted to become emperor, and replaced it with a horizontal plaque of "auditorium". When it was rebuilt after the Republic of China, the same Chinese plaque as other plaques in the outer dynasty was restored. This new Chinese plaque should be a copy of the inscription during the Qianlong period.
The beams and squares of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are painted with gold-pasted double dragons and seals, which are magnificent. You can see the difference between the original decoration in the Qing Dynasty and the renovation in recent years.
The lattice flowers on the doors and windows of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are all made of three-handed and six-bowl bowls. This is also the royal standard, and the folks are not allowed to use it. Whoever uses it will be finished. The pattern of glazed bricks pasted on the outside of the sill wall under the window is called tortoise pattern, and of course the window above is called sill window.
Look at the apron of the six-mo partition door in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. On the frame are double-protruding flying dragons with gold-plated lead forging leaves, on the skirt board are gilded woodcuts, with auspicious clouds at the four corners, and double dragons playing with pearls in the middle. Between the upper and lower Motou, there is also a golden woodcut of a flying dragon. The "Motou" should be pronounced "Motou" instead of "Matou". This door is the highest specification partition door. There are also high-grade folk skirts with wood carvings, but at most they are painted. Shanxi Pingyao Bank has gilded woodcut door covers, and some woodcut couplets with gilt, but they are all for decoration, so they dare not put gilt on such a large area.
These gilt lead forged leaves on the door and window frames of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are to strengthen the frame, making the frame more stable and not easily falling apart. This kind of face leaf is also called "lock", and the doors and windows of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are called "golden lock doors and windows".
The inside of the main hall is made of bricks and bricks. During the epidemic period, the gate of the hall cannot be approached. The ground of 2381 square meters with a length and width of 9:5 cannot be seen, so there are no pictures. The gold bricks from Zhu Yuanzhang’s imperial kiln from Suzhou are very famous, with complex craftsmanship and high quality. In the Ming Dynasty, the Fengtian Hall was burned several times, and this kind of gold bricks were used in the reconstruction after the fire. The gold bricks on the floor of the Hall of Supreme Harmony today were laid when the Hall of Supreme Harmony was rebuilt during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. It was still a gold brick factory in the Ming Dynasty, and it was still a craft of the Ming Dynasty, so it can be said that it is still the gold bricks of the Ming Dynasty. This factory and this set of crafts are still there, but the decoration of big houses is made of porcelain floor tiles. In addition to the floor tiles, there are many golden dragons on the beams of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and they are all pasted with gold leaf. The golden dragon on those beams is the face of the emperor, so the old saying is "putting gold on the face". You can see that the golden dragons and seals on Liang Fang are new and old, but regardless of whether they are old or new, the gold foil was made by the factory in the Ming Dynasty with Ming craftsmanship, so you can still call it the Ming Dynasty Golden Dragon. In recent years, the overhaul of the Forbidden City still uses Ming and Qing building materials and techniques, no matter how advanced those nanomaterials are. Even the scaffolding for repairing the roof still uses cedar poles, and only the outermost circle is surrounded by iron frames. Shanyu is pronounced as "silly tall", and it is used as a nickname for thin and tall boys in an old Beijing dialect. In addition, the putty floor wares that decorate the wooden components still use the Ming Dynasty formula, Ming Dynasty craftsmanship, and Ming Dynasty taste. Of course, the pig blood inside is not from Ming Dynasty pigs.
In the middle of the main hall is a red sandalwood platform with seven steps, the highest platform in all the main halls in the palace. On the base of the platform is the emperor's throne, called the Diaolongpaijin throne, with thirteen dragons carved on it. In terms of furniture, it is called a carved dragon and painted gold chair (Nian Xiujin), which is the only chair on the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The throne on display now is the original Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, with nanmu covered with gold. I don't know how it escaped the fire of King Chuang. Yuan Shikai moved the throne away when he was preparing to become emperor. It was not recovered from the warehouse until 1959, and it was restored in 1964. Behind the throne is a red sandalwood carving with seven screens. The screen is specially designed for the emperor's throne in Zhouzhi. It stands behind the throne and is called "axe", pronounced "service". In the Han Dynasty, the ax began to be called "screen". Sima Qian said that "the emperor stands on the screen", which symbolizes the majesty of the emperor. There are six rows and twelve columns with a total of seventy-two pillars in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Among them, on both sides in front of the throne are six large golden pillars with the pattern of cloud and dragon painted with powder and gilded. There are six golden pillars and six golden dragons. When "Book of Changes" talks about "Qian", there is a saying that "six people are formed at the time, and at the time they ride six dragons to control the sky". The Hall of Supreme Harmony is decorated with "dragons" everywhere. Experts who are good at numbers counted these dragons walking, surrounding and coiling dragons three times, and then announced that there are 13,844 dragons inside and outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony. There is a huge handmade pure new wool carpet under the throne, which was originally made in the Kangxi period. In front of the throne are several pairs of treasures, including elephants, luduan, cranes and incense pavilions. In the 600-year exhibition of the Forbidden City at the Meridian Gate, there is the throne of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and these pairs of treasures are placed in front of it, but there are no cranes. The enamel cranes in the Hall of Supreme Harmony are amazing. There is a spring-driven mechanism in its stomach, which can make the cranes open their mouths and sing, and beat the drums to make sounds. When it is activated in the middle of the night, it is really like a fairy coming in person, it is creepy, and the thieves dare not approach it. According to research, this enamel crane was an honorary product of the Manufacturing Office in the middle of Qianlong.
There is a Panlong caisson above the throne of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which is the largest existing Panlong caisson in the world. The caisson structure is said to have come from the Han Dynasty, and there must be no existing wooden caissons in the Han Dynasty. The earliest surviving stone caissons can be seen in the grottoes of the Northern Wei Dynasty, including Mogao Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes. The caissons in the grottoes are mostly lotus flowers. Luoyang people say that the lotus lamp group on the roof of the Great Hall of the People is designed according to the lotus caissons in the lotus cave of Longmen Grottoes. The earliest surviving wooden caisson in ancient buildings may be the caisson of Guanyin Pavilion in Dule Temple, Jizhou, Tianjin, which is a two-story Douba caisson. According to research, the Guanyin Pavilion of Dule Temple was built in the first year of Shangyuan (760 A.D.) in the Tang Dynasty, which was the year of the Anshi Rebellion, but it was overhauled in the second year of Tonghe (984 A.D.) in the Liao Dynasty. The algae well in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City is also a Douba algae well, because there is a Panlong in the center, so it is also called a Panlong algae well. Now they are not allowed to go to the door, so they can only stand under the steps in front of the door and look inward, which is not very clear.
Douba caisson is an octagon formed by two square "dou" rotated 45 degrees and staggered together. The algae well in the Hall of Supreme Harmony has three floors, the lower floor is square, the middle is octagonal, and the upper floor is circular, symbolizing the roundness of heaven and earth. The wooden structure of the entire caisson is covered with carvings, including dragons, phoenixes, clouds, lotus, and bucket arches, all of which are gilded. In the middle of the dome is a high-relief sculpture of a dragon, which is also gilded. There are golden orbs in the dragon's mouth, one big and six small, like a chandelier. These orbs are called "Xuanyuan mirror". In ancient China, it is said that the "mirror" can drive away demons and evil spirits. If a demon minister comes, the Xuanyuan mirror can make him show his original shape on the spot. The maids screamed and rushed up to scratch it to pieces, the eunuchs shouted and cheered behind the maids, the lovers hid behind the pillars and shivered, and the emperor sat on the throne without moving. However, this kind of event of the monster showing its original shape has never happened in the 600-year history of the Forbidden City.
There are also gods on this caisson. When the Hall of Supreme Harmony was overhauled a few years ago, experts saw these gods above the caisson in the roof ceiling. There are five tablets there, called "fuban", one in each of the east, west, north and south. There are five offerings in front of each talisman board, namely incense burners, vases and candlesticks. Inscriptions are engraved on the talisman board. In addition to the sacred names of all parties, there are also Buddhist scriptures and Taoist mantras, all of which are good stories about the town house. It shows that this town house talisman board is a double insurance of Buddhism and Taoism, no matter where the monsters come, there will be gods to guard them. According to the records of the Qing palace, these talisman boards were made in the eighth year of Yongzheng (1730 A.D.), when Yinzhen suffered a serious illness. Afterwards, under the imperial decree, these talismans were placed on the caissons of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Palace of Qianqing and the Hall of Mental Cultivation. plate.
Behind the throne is a large nanmu gold-carved dragon screen. There was a couplet and horizontal plaque on the screen, and the handwriting of Qianlong was also lost by Yuan Shikai. This time, the original couplets and horizontal plaques were not found, so I had to remake a set based on the old photos of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in 1900 during the overhaul in 2002, and the one hanging there is now.
In the first couplet, "the emperor's order is in Jiuwei, but it is difficult, and there is no way to respect it." "Emperor's order in Jiuwei" comes from "The Book of Songs Shang Song", the emperor is the emperor of heaven, the style is legislative governance, and Jiuwei is Kyushu; this is Shang Tang's saying that he was ordered by heaven to govern Kyushu. "It's so difficult" comes from "Shangshu·Shangshu". This is after the death of Shang Tang, Prime Minister Yi Yin taught Taijia who came to the throne, saying, "Shang Tang's career is so difficult." "Naihe Fujing" comes from "Shangshu·Xiashu", which means how can one not admire. This sentence means that it is really not easy for the first emperor to conquer the country and rule the world, and he must be admired.
The second couplet is "Heaven's heart protects the husband and one virtue, and he will protect it forever, and seek Jue Ning." "Tianxin Blessing Fu Yide" comes from "Shangshu·Shangshu", which is also taught by Yi Yin to Taijia, which means that God only protects those who are pure in virtue. "Yongyan Baozhi" comes from "The Book of Songs Zhou Song", which means eternal protection. "Qiqiu Juening" comes from "The Book of Songs Daya". This means that God will always bless the virtuous and keep the people safe.
The horizontal plaque reads "Jianji Suiyou", "Jianji" comes from "Shangshu Zhoushu" "Huangjian Qiyouji", which means that the emperor must have the way to govern the country. "Suiyou (Nianyou)" also comes from "Shangshu·Zhoushu", "If there is persistence, you will overcome Suijue Youyou", which means to abide by the law. This means that the emperor wants to make laws and let the people abide by the law at all times.
Qianlong wrote a lot of these, and also quoted classics, which at least shows that he was familiar with poetry and books when he was a child. Even though he has read so many poems and books, it is still much less than the mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, history and philosophy we read now. However, don't think that Qianlong is a Manchu, the writing of Chinese characters is much better than that of most Han people today. Qianlong was keen to tamper with the strokes when writing Chinese characters. You can see that the characters "Jian" and "You" have stroke errors. He did it on purpose, and no one can control it.
In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the East and West were combined to make a warm pavilion. Because of the large space inside the hall and the front and back doors, the air can circulate smoothly. The inside of the warm pavilions on both sides is not good, not to mention the small space, and the air is not circulated. Inevitably, the warm pavilion will be full of sour and refreshing air. For this reason, some leaky bricks were installed on the side gable of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which can be used for ventilation. In fact, as the old saying goes, "clean air rises and turbid air falls", the location of the leaky brick is so high, all the clean air comes out, and all the dirty air stays in the warm pavilion.
Look at the base of the eaves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it is very simple. But that curve is very beautiful, the same as the curve of the capital of an Egyptian temple, a circular involute. This is called the 櫍 (mind quality) shaped pillar foundation. Most of the halls in the Forbidden City use this kind of pillar foundation. I have seen a similar 櫍-shaped column base under the killing column in the main hall of Hualin Temple in Fuzhou. It was originally installed in the Tang Dynasty and is more simple.
There are indispensable decorations on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Among these decorations, the most numerous ones are cast copper tripod furnaces, and there is a white marble stand underneath.
These cauldron furnaces were built by Qianlong, a total of 18, symbolizing the 18 provinces at that time. When a major ceremony is held, the Ministry of Rituals will arrange for people to fill it with pine branches picked from the black pine forest and sandalwood brought back from Honolulu, and then light it on fire. The top of the treasure will be smoking everywhere, you can call it cigarette smoke. Therefore, everyone still prefers to call these cauldrons "censer".
There are also a pair of tortoises and a pair of cranes at the east and west ends of the platform, both of which are made of bronze, placed on exposed seats. The tortoise represents boundless life, and the crane must represent enlightenment and immortality, right? In fact, this is a symbol, but Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty really practiced alchemy by himself. That bronze tortoise has a dragon head and is one of the nine sons of the dragon. It is called "Bi Xi (Nian Bi Xie)", and it is the guy who usually carries the stele. The copper crane looks up to the sky and sounds like a song. In "The Book of Songs: Cranes Ming", there is a saying "the crane crows in Jiugao, and the sound is heard in the sky". Then this copper crane is the medium for the emperor to communicate with the emperor of heaven, or is the emperor ordered by the sky? .
In addition to the tortoise and crane on the platform, there are two treasures. One is the well-known sundial. The timekeeper is the Chinese-style clock, which is on the left hand side of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The sundial in the imperial palace is only a symbol of timekeeping, and has no practical function. Even in the early Ming Dynasty, hourglasses were used to time time at least.
There is another person who knows a little less, called Jialiang. In the picture of the cauldron furnace above, you can see a white marble pavilion at the far right-hand side of the main hall, which is the Jialiang below.
The ancient volume measuring devices include Dendrobium (Nianhu), Dou, Sheng, He, and 龠 (Nianyue). Ten dou of dendrobium (now five dou), ten liters of a dou (drinking 10 liters of beer is one dou, no one can drink a dou of Moutai, not even Erguotou), one liter of ten infusions, one infusion of two. There are those who say "three buckets of red sorghum", and those who say "one load of rice", how to convert? There is no way to convert it! "Dan" is a unit of weight, and a load is one hundred catties.
In ancient times, in order to unify weights and measures, a set of standard measuring instruments was made, that is, a set of dendrobium, bucket, shenghehe. This set of standard measuring instruments is called "Jialiang", which was first seen in "Zhou Li". Legend has it that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty obtained a tripod for a week in the Yin of Fenshui River, and King Shou of Wuqiu congratulated him and said, "Tian Zuo has virtue and the treasure tripod comes out of itself." During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, someone obtained a "Xin Mang Jia Liang" from Mojin Xiaowei, which was made by Wang Mang and was round. In order to pursue his official career, this person dedicated Xinmangjia to Qianlong. The monarch was unknown in history, and it was estimated that he was killed by Qianlong. Qianlong was overjoyed to receive this kindness, thinking that he had received a great gift from heaven, so he made several goodness offerings in different places according to the regulations of this Han artifact and the Tang map in his hand. The Jialiang on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a Qianlong imitation, square, imitating the Tang Dynasty. The original Xinmangjialiang is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The actual capacity of the Qianlong imitation Jialiang is different from Xinmang and Tang pictures. It is mainly used as a symbol of weights and measures. It is not known whether it is the actual standard of the Qing Dynasty. The outermost part of Jialiang is Dendrobium, and the inside is covered with Dousheng Heyu.
The sundial and Jialiang are placed in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony to symbolize the power of the emperor. The whole world must follow his schedule and trade according to his weight and measure standards. Sundials and Jialiang are placed in pairs. The first pair in the palace is not the pair on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but the pair in front of the Meridian Gate. Jialiang is at the left gate in the east, and the sundial is at the right gate in the west, which is exactly the opposite of the palace.
The first function of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the emperor's enthronement ceremony. The ancient French kings also had a special place for their enthronement ceremony, which is Reims Cathedral. Their enthronement ceremony was too religious. It was called a coronation ceremony, and the bishop put a high hat on the king. Napoleon was an exception, he held the coronation ceremony in Notre Dame de Paris, and he coerced the Pope from Rome to Paris to coronate him. In the end, he didn't wait for the pope to put the top hat on him, and grabbed it and put it on his own head.
The sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty were enthroned in the Fengtian Hall. The Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the Jianwen Emperor Zhu Yunqi and the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di were enthroned in the Fengtian Hall of the Ming Palace in Nanjing; the Hongxi Emperor Zhu Gaochi began to have eight emperors in the Beijing Palace. Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne for the second time; after Emperor Longqing Zhu Zaiku (Nian Ji) five emperors ascended the throne in Huangji Hall. After the founding of Nurhachi in the Qing Dynasty, there were twelve emperors in the Jin Dynasty. The ten emperors starting with Shunzhi Emperor Fulin all ascended the throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Imperial Palace has taken a big foundation. In this way, a total of 23 emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties held their enthronement ceremonies in this Hall of Supreme Harmony. In addition to Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, twenty-four Ming and Qing emperors lived in the palace. In fact, after Shunzhi entered Beijing, he set up the throne at Huangji Gate instead of Huangji Hall in October of the first year, and then held a ceremony in full accordance with the procedure of the enthronement ceremony of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Because his boy had already ascended the throne once in Shengjing, the ceremony of Huangjimen was officially called "received congratulations by civil and military officials". In the second year's New Year's Day celebration ceremony, a shed called Yuji was built on the empty platform of the Huangji Hall, and all officials received congratulations in that shed. The reconstruction of the Huangji Hall was completed in the second year of Shunzhi, and it was renamed the Hall of Supreme Harmony when it was completed in the third year. Therefore, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty who really ascended the throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony was Emperor Kangxi. The first enthronement ceremony of the Qing emperor followed the previous process, which is recorded in the "Da Ming Hui Dian". Since then, the Manchus also compiled a "Qinghuidian". After the Revolution of 1911, Yuan Shikai became emperor once in 1915. He originally planned to ascend the throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony on January 1, 1916, but a ceremony was hastily held in Jurentang, Zhongnanhai ahead of schedule. In the end, I messed up the game, and half a year later, I suffered from uremia and died of pain. Yuan Shikai's Hong Xian is a farce, he did not enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and he is not in the history of the Forbidden City. After Yuan Shikai, in 1917, Zhang Xun and Kang Youwei carried out another restoration of Dingsi, and put the twelve-year-old Puyi on the dragon chair of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and everyone kowtowed on the ground. This time it's even worse, the restoration will go bankrupt after 12 days, and this restoration cannot be written into the official history of the Forbidden City.
In addition to ascending the throne, the emperor's wedding must be in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. If the queen is absent for some reason, the emperor's succession will also be done here, that is, the canonization of the queen. If the emperor was married and had a son before he ascended the throne, he would take his wife and serve his son as emperor, and he would also be canonized as a queen here. If encountering a great enemy, the emperor will go to fight against the enemy himself, and the ceremony must be held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The matter of Yujia's personal conquest is quite pending. In the 14th year of Zhengtong in the Ming Dynasty, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen's personal conquest of the North Wara was defeated, and he was imprisoned for a long time. The auspicious saying is "Beishu". In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi's personal expedition to Galdan must have been held here for the graduation ceremony. Yongzheng sent troops to the Junggar tribe and appointed two expeditionary generals, and it was here that each of them was given three bowls of expedition wine.
In addition to the above ceremonies, the emperor's birthday is also held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. First, the ministers cheerfully asked the ministers to shout "Long Live". Because there were too many ministers, they called it "Shan Hu", which actually has the same meaning as "Fan Hu". There is a wedding banquet for the emperor's wedding, and there is also a birthday banquet for the emperor's birthday, all of which are held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The range of guests at the wedding banquet is not large, just relatives. The birthday party is different, everyone who shouts "long live" has a share, of course, they must first be qualified to enter the palace to shout. Every year after the autumn harvest, when the emperor finished collecting the rent, it was time to spend the rent. During the winter solstice, the people ate dumplings, and the emperor also entertained the ministers in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In fact, ministers are still willing to eat dumplings at home, because even if they are vegetarian, they are still hot from the pan. Going to the imperial banquet in the Hall of Supreme Harmony is different. When the chicken, duck and fish brought out from the imperial dining room arrive in the Hall of Supreme Harmony on a cold day, those ministers must eat cold food. The ministers still have another chance to eat the emperor's cold meal, and that is New Year's Day. This New Year's Day is not the current January 1st of the Gregorian calendar, but the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. We now use "New Year" and "Spring Festival" to distinguish them. The Western Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar, while the Chinese lunar calendar is a lunar calendar, that is, a lunar calendar; the Islamic calendar is also a lunar calendar.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony also has a very important function, which is the highest academic hall. In China's imperial examination system that started from the Tang Dynasty, the highest level of palace examination was held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Palace examinations in the Ming Dynasty were sometimes held in the Wenhua Hall. After Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, although it was changed to the Palace of Preserving Harmony, the palace examinations were still released in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, called "Chuanlu". Lu (nianlu) means statement, and Chuanlu is to state the results of the palace examination.
During the 544th year of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a major ceremony was held only once in Fengtian Hall, Huangji Hall or Taihe Hall. On January 1, the first year of Jiaqing (1796 A.D.), Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty held a return ceremony in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, at which he handed over the throne to Yongyan, the fifteenth son of the emperor, and bestowed the imperial seal "Emperor's Treasure" on Yongyan.
The last major ceremony on the Square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was the surrender ceremony of the Japanese troops in the North China Theater held at 10:10 on October 10, 1945.
So you see, although the Hall of Supreme Harmony is tall, large and classy, it is not used a few times a year. Even if you don't use it a few times, you should cover it magnificently. The Fengtian Temple built by Zhu Di was made of golden nanmu. In the Ming Dynasty, China was extremely rich in material, and the emperor's family could keep all the good things for themselves. These nanmu are produced in Guizhou and shipped to Beijing via the Chishui River, the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It was completed in the eighteenth year of Yongle (AD 1420), and it was burned that year, and the first three halls were burned. I don't know if it was Emperor Jianwen who came to avenge him. Zhu Di set fire to chase Emperor Jianwen out when he was on the "side of Qing Emperor" in Nanjing. Zhu Di didn't dare to build again, fearing that it would be burned again. Twenty years later, in the fifth year of Zhengtong (AD 1440), Zhu Qizhen, Zhu Di's great-grandson Ming Yingzong, rebuilt the three halls, still using golden nanmu. In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (AD 1557), it caught fire again, and the three main halls were burned down again. In the 40th year of Jiajing, it was rebuilt, and Emperor Jiajing also renamed the main hall as Huangji Hall. The last time the imperial palace was burned in the Ming Dynasty was in the 25th year of Wanli (1597 A.D.), and the reconstruction project was not completed until the 7th year of Tianqi (1627 A.D.). The Hall of Supreme Harmony was always made of golden nanmu in the Ming Dynasty. The golden silk nanmu in the Ming Dynasty was used by the queen and cannot be used by others. In the Ancestral Temple next door to the imperial palace, the front hall as the hall of enjoyment is also made of golden nanmu. In addition to being used in the imperial palace and Taimiao, golden nanmu is also used in imperial mausoleums. Now we can see that the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di’s Changling Yan’en Hall is all made of golden nanmu. It is also made of golden nanmu. Chuang Wang's entry to Beijing not only made Emperor Chongzhen commit suicide, but also set fire to the palace. After Shunzhi entered the customs, although the palace began to be rebuilt, the level of craftsmanship was not good, and it took a long time to rebuild it, because the Manchus didn't even understand the Han architectural culture. It was not until the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi (1895 A.D.) that a sample of the Huangji Hall rebuilt during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty was dug out from the warehouse of the Ministry of Industry. Only then did the architectural structure of the Ming Dynasty Huangji Hall be fully understood. Completed. Although this reconstruction is based on the proportions of the Ming Dynasty, it is still a circle smaller than the original Ming Dynasty. According to the size recorded in the Ming Dynasty, the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Qing Dynasty was almost one-third smaller. Ordinarily, it shouldn't be that much smaller. I suspect that the actual lengths of the clear ruler and the clear ruler are not the same. At this time, the domestic golden nanmu, like the current domestic hairtail, is only thin, called secondary wood, and the original wood that can be used as building materials for the Hall of Supreme Harmony is gone. Although Kangxi grew up in Guannei, he was still a pure Northeasterner. He let the red pine from his hometown to Daxinganling be used as building materials for the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In recent years, when the Forbidden City was overhauled, the ancient red pine from Daxinganling was also used. Red pine is also very good. Although it is not as good as golden nanmu, it is also very durable. Korean pine is tall and straight, rich in turpentine, not afraid of water, so it is durable. Red pine is rare in the south, and they mostly use fir (Niansha wood), which is also tall and straight, and fir is also very durable. For the reconstruction of the Hall of Supreme Harmony this time, Kangxi asked people to make a complete project record, which became the blueprint for future reconstruction. As a result, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty learned the luxury of the Han people, and began to learn from the Ming Dynasty to use golden nanmu to build houses from Qianlong. In order to rule the Han people, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty still respected the Emperor Ming. The law of the Qing Dynasty stipulated that "the one who digs the grave will die." Although the Qing emperors did not dig open graves, it did not prevent them from demolishing buildings on the ground. Qianlong demolished the Yan En Hall of several Ming emperor's mausoleums, stole all the golden nanmu, and built his house. I have seen the Danbo Jingcheng Hall in the Summer Resort, and the Daci Temple in the Xitian Brahma Realm in Beihai Park. Zhenru Palace and Kuaixuetang's main hall "Kaixuetang" is the main hall of the third courtyard. Later, Emperor Daoguang also robbed and stole the golden silk nanmu from the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum to build his Mulong Longen Hall. There are basically no whole golden nanmu buildings in the folk. It is said that there is an old house in Enshi, Hubei, which is made of golden nanmu, and it is the whole house. This should be the only one in the country. It is said that it was in the Wanli period. It was already in the late Ming Dynasty, and Huangwei stopped entering the mountain.
Take a look at the Hall of Supreme Harmony under the morning sun.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony at sunset.
Ten spine beasts on the ridge under the setting sun.
The lotus stigma on the white marble railing.
The newcomers on the square were beaming.
The first task of the recruits of the security force is to visit the palace, and the handsome boys are also a sight to behold.
The square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is extremely large, and there must be supporting buildings, and see the next episode.
(to be continued)
