Qianlong's favorite place to stay in his life was his study "Sanxitang". The emperor's study room should naturally be particularly elegant. However, what is unexpected is that Emperor Qianlong's study room was actually very small. ■ How big is "Sanxitang"? Although "Sanxi Hall" is very famous, its total area is only 8 square meters, making it known as the smallest room in the Forbidden City. This 8-square-meter long and narrow interior is divided into two small rooms, inside and outside. The outer room next to the window is the real Sanxi Hall, and the inner room is used for resting and tidying up. According to the on-site measurement of Mr. Yan Chongnian, an expert on Qing history, the outside room near the window is 210 centimeters long from east to west and 228 centimeters wide from north to south. The area is only 4.8 square meters, which is about the same size as the bathroom of ordinary people today. Didn’t you expect that such a majestic emperor would have such a small study room? So, why did Qianlong's study have to be so small? Could it be that there was no room for and in the Forbidden City at that time? To answer this question, let us first get to know this "miniature" emperor's study. First question: Where is Sanxitang? Right here ⬇▲ Yangxin Hall
Yangxin Hall was the sleeping palace and daily office space of emperors of the Qing Dynasty since Yongzheng . The place where Qianlong slept and worked was the Yangxin Hall. The Yangxin Hall was very big!
And his study is in the small corner to the west of Yangxin Hall, and its name is Sanxi Hall.
There is a large window in this small corner facing the sun. In winter, sunlight can penetrate through this window and make the whole small house look warm, so it is also called "Yangxin Hall Nuange".
There are many "warm pavilions" in the Forbidden City. They are generally smaller rooms, so they are called "warm".
Mainly because northern China has cold winters and there was no heating equipment in ancient times. In order to effectively maintain the indoor temperature, the emperors would build some low huts in tall and spacious palaces in sunny areas, and at the same time put fire pits and kangs inside. Burning a charcoal pot is called "simmering winter". After all, the room is small. After burning the charcoal pot for a while, coupled with the sunlight, the whole house will be warm in a short time.
In the eleventh year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong might be too afraid of the cold, so he ordered that the "West Nuan Pavilion of Yangxin Hall" should be changed into his own study, so that even in the coldest winter, he could sit down comfortably. Sitting on the heated floor with legs crossed, reading a book in the warmth.
At the same time, he also changed the name of the Nuan Pavilion. After all, it was a study, so he had to choose a cultured name. After much thought, Qianlong decided on the words "Sanxi Hall" as the name of his new study. name.
Why is it called "Sanxitang"? There are two opinions:
One is that "Three Hidden Things" come from the famous saying of "Shi Xi Xian, Xian Xi Sage, Sage Xi Tian" in the "Zhixue" chapter of "Tongshu" written by Zhou Dunyi, a great scholar in the Song Dynasty.
means that scholars hope to become wise men, wise men hope to become saints, and saints hope to become people who know heaven. The deeper meaning of
is to warn scholars to continuously improve their cultivation and align themselves with the standards of sages. Even if they have reached the height of sages and saints, they must continue to make progress.
It seems that Emperor Qianlong got this name full of enterprising aspirations, and it is also in line with the positioning of the study.
Another way of saying it is that "Sanxi" is the same as Sanxi, which are three rare calligraphy treasures collected by Emperor Qianlong. Mid-Autumn Festival Tie" and Wang Xun's " Boyuan Tie " .
These three calligraphy treasures were all beloved by Emperor Qianlong, especially the one by Wang Xizhi. The text content is very concise, with only 28 words written in it. However, Qianlong loved it so much that he wrote tens of thousands of words of thoughts after reading it.
Although the "Sanxi Hall" is small, and the long and narrow interior is divided into two small rooms inside and outside with nanmu carved partitions, the furnishings are elegant and simple, which makes up for the lack of space. Coupled with the proper design, it does not feel cramped and cramped.
In the outer room of 4.8 square meters, there is a floor kang next to the window. The kang is 210 cm long, 114 cm wide, and covers an area of 2.4 square meters. It is smaller than the beds in ordinary households today.
The throne on the Kang faces west. The throne is composed of a backrest, a seat cushion and a set of hands. There is a sapphire Ruyi on the cushion.
A carved rosewood desk 70 cm long, 31 cm wide and 38 cm high is placed in front of the upper seat in the pit. At the west end of the Kang, there is a small double-layered red sandalwood case that is 96 cm long, 27 cm wide and 38 cm high.
Different writing utensils are displayed on desks, small cases and windowsills: white jade pen holders, sapphire pen holders (pen holders), jade axes, jade crown holders, sapphire pangolins, sapphire sacrifice inkstone drops, sapphire lotus pendants, incense sticks, inkstone and so on.
There are colorful wall bottles 11 on the east wall outside the Kang. On the ground under the wall bottles, there is a nanmu box for storing the Sanxitang Dharma stickers.
Each nanmu box is 19 cm long, 11 cm wide and 11 cm high. There are two boxes in each stack, four stacks, a total of eight boxes, which contain treasures such as Dharma books and ink inscriptions by famous masters from past dynasties that Qianlong loved.
Standing in the outer room and looking towards the inner room from south to north, you can see that the west wall of the inner room is made up of five pieces of silk and is attached to the panoramic painting "Peaceful Spring Letter".
The length of the painting is 201 cm and the width is 207 cm. There is no author’s name on the painting. According to expert research, the Italian Castiglione was responsible for painting the portrait, Jin Tingbiao painted the clothes, trees, rocks, and buildings, and Castiglione’s student Wang Youxue painted the blue. White tiles.
The murals on the north wall of the inner room are the landscapes of Dong Bangda, a great master at that time, and the imperial poems of Qianlong written by Yu Minzhong, the number one scholar in the third year of Qianlong's reign.
In the center in front of the mural, there is a red sandalwood seat.
So why is it so small?
The first reason may be due to the limited location. You can see that the space of Sanxitang was separated by Qianlong later. It is surrounded by rooms. You need to be able to get the sun, be warm, and If you can stretch out and read a book comfortably without damaging the main room next to it, then I guess it can only be so big.
The second reason is related to the Feng Shui requirements of the ancients for the room.
When we go to the Forbidden City, we will find that the bedrooms where emperors, queens and concubines sleep are not very big. They are completely different from what we imagined. Why is this?
▲The Emperor’s Bedroom in the Dongnuang Pavilion of Yangxin Palace
The reason is that the ancients paid attention to "hiding the wind and gathering Qi". This "Qi" is the source of human life. "Essence and Qi are refreshed" and "life is sufficient". If the "Qi" is scattered , that person will be groggy all day long.
The place where people spend the most time every day is their own "home". If this "home" cannot gather Qi, then the body will not be very good. How to gather Qi?
It’s very simple, just don’t make the room too big. If it is too big, it will be difficult to gather your anger.
Therefore, we will find that the emperor’s bedrooms in the Forbidden City are very small, only about 10 square meters, and Emperor Qianlong stayed in Sanxi Hall for a longer time. In fact, it is just like the bedroom, so gathering energy is also very important, so Make it smaller.
The third reason may also be due to the need for warmth. There was no heating in that era. When winter came, they relied on burning charcoal fires for heating. If the room was smaller, the insulation effect would be very good.
Of course, there is no air conditioning in summer. If you put ice cubes in such a small space to cool down, it will cool down faster.
Although Sanxi Hall is only a small area, by the fifteenth year of Qianlong (AD 1750), Sanxi Hall had collected 340 pieces of ink by 134 famous artists from the Jin Dynasty onwards, as well as 495 kinds of rubbings. It can be said that the small room has the world.
The Forbidden City is huge, with only three rooms in it, but it is the most spacious spiritual space for Emperor Qianlong. After
finished handling government affairs every day, he entered Sanxi Hall through the small door on the west side of Qinzheng Qinxian Hall, his office. sat cross-legged on the kang bed in front of the window, playing with antique calligraphy and painting, trying to figure out the ancient calligraphy, and almost forgetting himself.
Picture: Internet, copyright belongs to the original author
