This year is the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Palace Museum. As one of the symbols of Chinese culture, the hidden "forbidden areas" hidden in the backyard of the Palace Museum have gone through the ups and downs, but are silent as a mystery, which is full of us today. Mystery, taboo, and attraction.
Today, with the help of a wealth of historical materials and a personal perspective, we have searched and checked the dusty memories in the historical palace, and captured those that have appeared and disappeared in the Forbidden City Historical figures and their ups and downs, let us feel and realize a true sense of the Forbidden City from his essay about the ups and downs of writing.
The so-called "secret corner" is for most people. From the completion of the palace in 1420 to the establishment of the Palace Museum in 1925, for the common people of the world, the entire Forbidden City was a hidden corner for five centuries, and no one was allowed to enter.
I. Yuhua Pavilion
There are many Buddhist temple buildings in the Forbidden City, among which there is a tall and beautiful building on the West Road outside the inner court. The splendid and dazzling Buddhist temple is Yuhua Pavilion.
Yuhua Pavilion was built around 14 years after Qianlong. It is unique among the many buildings in the Forbidden City. It is said to be built after imitating the "Tolin Temple" of Zanda in Tibet. The most prominent feature is his three-story exterior, but the interior is actually four-story, including a dark layer.
雨花阁花朹 side
The plane of the Yuhua Pavilion resembles a square, the column arrangement adopts a nine-square grid, the front is three compartments, and the depth is three, surrounded by a corridor, and the front "Holding the mansion" as the back shelf can increase the space for sacrificial rituals. On certain days each year, lamas will recite sutras in the pavilion and hold ritual and dharma meetings.
This kind of plane is neat and tight, the light in the hall is dark, and it exudes a mysterious atmosphere.
2. Chuanxindian
The Chuanxindian is located in the southeast of the Forbidden City complex, located on the east side of the Wenhua Hall. A group of sacrificial buildings composed of rectangular courtyards. The entire courtyard is 100 meters long from north to south and 25 meters wide from east to west. There is no front door in front of the courtyard. A wall-mounted glass door is opened on the front half of the east and west walls, covered with yellow glazed tiles.
In the Chuanxin Temple courtyard, the entire courtyard looks like a cross courtyard of the Wenhua Hall. The "Dashajing" in the courtyard is very famous. The well water is sweet and sweet, which can be compared with the water of the Yuquan Mountain in West Beijing. There is a saying that "Yuquan is the first and Dapujing is the second", the well water has not dried up yet.
大庖井
According to historical records, the Chuanxin Temple is the building where the emperor’s royal banquet performed the "Sacrificial Ceremony". "Jingyan" is a lecture specially set up for the emperor to study and study the history of scriptures. It is generally held in spring and autumn every year. It is held on a single day and is dropped out in the hot summer and severe cold. During the opening of the lecture, the ministers with extensive knowledge will take turns to give lectures, and select famous articles to explain its meaning and provide reference for the governance of the country.
III. Yinghua Temple
The Yinghua Temple courtyard is located in the northwest corner of the inner court of the Forbidden City. It is a Chinese-style buddha hall on the east. Xitongzi, the inner palace wall of the west boundary, adjacent to Shou'an Palace in the south, and Xiheng Street in Shenwumen in the north, it is 108.3m long from north to south and 72.6m wide from east to west.
Yinghua Hall was built in the Ming Dynasty. It was originally named Longxi Hall and was renamed as Yinghua Hall in the first year of Longqing (1567). In both Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Queen Mothers, Toes, and Concubines of the Inner Court worship Buddha statues and worship Buddha The place.
"The Bodhi Tree Song of the Yinghua Temple"
"Old News and Research under the King's Day" records: "The north of the Shou'an Palace is the Yinghua Gate, and the inside of the gate is the Yinghua Hall. In the Yinghua Palace, the Fang Pavilion Gongle Emperor made an imperial poem stele.”
There are lush linden trees growing on the east and west sides of the imperial poem stele pavilion, 1761, Emperor QianlongThere was once inlaid on the back of the stele the "Buddhist Song of the Yinghua Temple", which is a double body of Manchu and Han. It can be seen that Emperor Qianlong liked the Bodhi tree, and now the Bodhi tree with a red protection card should be 300 years old. the above.
The linden tree in the Yinghua Temple
Conclusion: For decades, due to the needs of cultural relics protection and office, the open area of the Palace Museum has never exceeded half . Those "unopened areas" become more and more mysterious. I also had the idea of writing "unopened areas". However, the "unopened area" is constantly changing. It is not a fixed concept, but a dynamic concept.
In 2015, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Palace Museum, in this year, the open area of the Palace Museum increased from 52% to 65%. In the coming days, more “unopened areas” will become Open area. Perhaps one day, for this ancient palace, everyone will have an "omniscience perspective."
This made me finally give up the idea of writing "the unopened area of the Forbidden City" and set my sights on the "hidden corner of the Forbidden City". "The hidden corner of the Forbidden City" is part of the charm of the Forbidden City. In other words, without "hidden", there is no real Forbidden City.
Do you think it would be better if the Forbidden City is a bit "mysterious"?
