Meiling Palace is not as romantic as imagined, but there is an unknown history behind it

tree is a plane tree, and the city is Nanjing City. There are many sayings about "planting phoenix trees" in Nanjing, and the most romantic one is actually related to Jiang Song.

The people are gone, but the evidence of love remains forever in the world, it sounds really touching...but is it really true?

How did the necklace shape come about?

legend is Chiang Kai-shek birthday present for Song Meiling "Heart of Purple Mountain" . To say that the necklace shape was specially designed by Chiang Kai-shek for his wife would be an overestimate of his romantic ability.

This is just a beautiful coincidence, caused by Soong Meiling herself . The "collar" was formed because Song Meiling was afraid of noise, so she changed the driveway to this design on both sides of the main entrance. Therefore, the story of giving a "necklace" is actually a romantic imagination of people.

△The change of the "necklace" in the four seasons of the year

Only 2% of these plane trees were planted during the Republic of China. The result of the hard work of the green people.

The beautiful scenery of the phoenix trees in Meiling Palace, I would like to thank one person, Liu Jiwen , who was the mayor of Nanjing Special City at that time. It was he who planted the plane trees along the Zhongshan Avenue , which created the beautiful scenery of the plane trees at both ends of the road every autumn.

Building a palace-style mansion at the request of the new wife

At the end of 1927,Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling got married. After the marriage, Soong Meiling came to Nanjing with her husband, and lived with Chiang Kai-shek in the principal's mansion of the Central Military Academy on Huangpu Road, Nanjing. This mansion, also known as Qilu , is located and decorated in line with Chiang Kai-shek's preferences, like a military command base.

According to the recollections of the guards, Soong Meiling didn't like the mansion of the Central Military Academy, nor did she like Xiaolingwei's bungalow. Around 1930, she was optimistic about Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum The open space on Xiaohong Mountain in the southwest, and proposed to Chiang Kai-shek to build a villa. The terrain is open and the transportation is convenient. When you climb up, you can overlook the magnificent scenery such as Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and so on.

When the newly married wife opened her mouth, Chiang Kai-shek naturally took it to heart. In October 1930, he applied to the Prime Minister's Cemetery Management Committee to borrow Xiaohongshan to build a villa. Because Chiang Kai-shek was the chairman of the Nationalist Government at that time, this project is often called "the official residence of the chairman" or "the official residence of Xiaohongshan".

Because Soong Meiling grew up in the United States, her living habits are more western. Therefore, the overall construction style of the villa is also a combination of Chinese and Western.

The entire villa covers an area of ​​ 80,000 square meters , with a construction area of ​​ 2,800 square meters meters, the environment is quiet, surrounded by towering plane trees. In the beginning, it was the residence of the chairman of the National Government, and later it was converted into the lounge of senior officials of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.

After the National Government returned to Nanjing in 1946, it became Song Meiling's residence. In 1984,This building of the Republic of China, which has always been under military control , is officially open to the public .

The layout of the villa

The whole villa building is divided into basement floor and three floors above ground . There is a garden outside the main building, a guard room at the entrance, and a circular driveway outside the door.

There are guard rooms, cloakrooms, confidential rooms, staff rooms, and kitchens on the basement floor.

The temporary exhibition hall is the Soong Meiling Painting Exhibition , which is divided into three parts: "Paintings", "Danqing Teachers' Inheritance" and "Anecdotes".

In the Meiling Palace, thousands of square meters of paintings with high artistic level are preserved. Influenced by Western culture, many color paintings adopt the painting method of Western oil painting. Half of the paintings are traditional landscapes, flowers and brocade patterns, as well as Tibetan Buddhist patterns; the other half are distributed under several roofs of the building, with different shapes and no repetition of "bottles, tripods", etc. Pattern painted.

The second floor is mainly used for reception room and lounge, with hall, living room, large dining room, study room, secretary room, etc. The hall is where large banquets, cocktail parties and VIPs were held in those years. The overall decoration is Western-style, with Western-style tableware, fruits, pastries, etc. placed on the long table, vividly restoring the scene of the banquet held in the official residence.

You will feel that the environment here is very comfortable, and you can also realize that Song Meiling is a multi-talented woman, not only has excellent English skills, but also speaks six languages, you can also see some small stories between her and Chiang Kai-shek .

Passing through the hall, there is a "convex" shaped platform, called "Phoenix Viewing Terrace". Around the platform, there are phoenix railings carved with white marble, Each of the 34 railings is carved with a phoenix .

The third floor is the living part, which includes a female living room, four large bedrooms, a small dining room, and a kitchen. The interior is well-furnished, with a purple-red carpet on the floor and famous paintings and calligraphy hanging on the walls. When the Chiang family lived here, they converted the living room into the Christ Kaige Hall for worship.

@ Nanjing Meiling Life Museum

The master bedroom on the third floor is all Chinese-style mahogany carved furniture, spacious dresser, wardrobe, big bed, very extravagant. Taking into account the different living habits of the Jiangs, Jiang went to bed early and got up early, while Song went to bed late and got up late. The bedrooms are one big and one small, Soong Meiling lives in the master bedroom and Jiang lives in the second bedroom.

Second bedside This photo is a wedding photo taken on the wedding day of Jiang Song and his wife. In 1922, when the 35-year-old Chiang Kai-shek first met Soong Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek fell in love with her at first sight. He said that Soong Meiling's talents and virtues made him unforgettable.

@ Nanjing Meiling Life Museum

The master bedroom, the other room connected to Chiang Kai-shek's bedroom is Song Meiling's bedroom, with three steel windows nearly 4 meters high and a spacious balcony on the east and south sides_ strong19strong. Good lighting and ventilation.