About five hundred years ago, Ming Dynasty The royal family wanted to keep a copy of the emperor's statue outside the palace, but there was no ready-made warehouse. What should I do?
1534, Emperor Jiajing thought of a way to choose a site near the south pond on the east side of the Forbidden City , and build a royal archive, which was later named " Royal History of the Imperial Palace ". In the following 487 years, the royal family of the Qing Dynasty stored the Hadith, Jade Book and other materials here. In addition to a major renovation in the 12th year of Jiaqing (1807), the architecture of the imperial history was basically the same as before.
Later, after experiencing the wars in the late Qing Dynasty, the archives hidden in the imperial history were once severely damaged, and were protected and repaired after the founding of New China; the once serious private construction of the South Courtyard was also demolished and vacated in 2020.
The main hall of the imperial history. Photo by Pu Feng, Beijing News reporter
Not long ago, this royal archive library, which had been closed for many years, was reopened to receive appointments for government agencies, public institutions, archive systems, universities, etc. At present, the reception time is from 9:00 to 16:00 on working days. Visiting groups must make an appointment by phone 010-63096489 (the same number as the fax). According to relevant requirements for epidemic prevention and control, the number of people making appointments to visit the group shall not exceed 40.
"Golden Chamber Stone Room"
Step into the North Courtyard of the Royal History and observe the full picture of this royal archive.
The Emperor's Secretariat Gate, the main hall, the east-west side hall, the imperial stele pavilion and other parts are combined into a rectangular space, surrounded by red high walls.
The main hall is 9 rooms wide, with yellow glazed tile hip roof, and an arched beamless building. The overall building is built in the ancient "Golden Chamber Stone Room" system, made of bricks and stones, without a single nail or a wood, which is called a "stone room"; a 1.42-meter-high stone platform is built on the ground in the hall, and 152 bronze-skinned gilt dragon camphor wood baskets are stored on it, which is called a "Golden Chamber". The equipment is well designed, well-made, complete functions, sturdy and durable, and has a basic constant room temperature, which is conducive to fire prevention, theft prevention, moisture prevention and insect prevention.
"The reason why the imperial history is so precious and talked about by everyone is partly due to the characteristics of the building itself, especially the construction concept of the main hall." The tour guide introduced that the south wall of the main hall is 5.9 meters thick, the north wall is 6.1 meters thick, and the east and west gables are 3.7 meters thick, and the average wall thickness is 4.8 meters, to isolate the outside moisture and protect the files inside. "Although this technology is very different from the modern constant temperature and humidity warehouse, it was already very advanced at that time." How to explain the word "博" in the name of
? " Shuowen Jiezi " records that "利利 is what the house is tolerated" means the house where books are collected, and "利利利利" refers to the palace that preserves the royal official history. More than a hundred years after the establishment of the Emperor's History, the Qing army entered the pass and was not destroyed during the war. "At that time, the Qing army moved the Ming Dynasty royal archives stored in the hall to the large warehouse of the Forbidden City, and it was not damaged." said the tour guide.
There is another scene inside the main hall gate. Looking up, the roof is arched and some topcoat falls off. It is reported that this is a typical Ming Dynasty dome structure, and only the Emperor Shizu and the Temple of Heaven have preserved this shape in Beijing. Looking down, there are dozens of copper-skinned gilded wooden pots on a high platform, and there are decorations with cloud dragon patterns on them for storing royal archives. "According to archives, there were 19 such golden skulls in the late Ming Dynasty, which were later used by the Qing Dynasty rulers and were constantly re-made. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the total number of golden skulls reached 152." The tour guide introduced that the 32 golden skulls displayed in the main hall are relics of the Qianlong period, and the other 120 are preserved in the warehouse.
In the main hall of the Imperial History Temple, 32 Golden Chambers were displayed. Photo by Pu Feng, reporter of Beijing News
There are differences in the golden cabin in different periods, which is specifically reflected in the decoration of the Yunlong pattern. "For example, the dragon in the Ming Dynasty has a nose, similar to a pig's nose; The image of the dragon in the early Qing Dynasty is relatively majestic, but the dragon in the late Qing Dynasty seems old and long-term. This is related to the level of craftsmanship and is also a reflection of the rise and fall of national strength."
three exhibitions were launched together
On September 1 this year, the imperial history, which had been closed for many years, reopened and began to receive appointments for government agencies, public institutions, archive systems, universities, etc.
At present, there are 3 exhibitions here. In addition to the "Stone Room Jinkui Emperor's History Temple" basically displaying, there is also the "Brand Seal of the Thousand Miles of Rainbows in the East and West - "Historical Archives Exhibition of ' Silk Road '" from the 17th century to the early 20th century, and the "Resistance and Exploration - From the Opium War to the Xinhai Revolution Archives Exhibition" in the West Hall to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.
The "Silk Road" historical archives exhibition in the East Side Hall was paved along the wall, including the "Middle of the Two Rivers" which reproduced the Chinese section of the "Silk Road" around the 17th century in the form of landscape maps, the "Map of the Two General Stars of the Equator North and South" selected for the UNESCO "Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Region", and the French "Map of Asia" presented by King Louis XIV of France.
guide focused on introducing the "Equator, North and South Star Map". "This picture was drawn in the late Ming Dynasty, specifically in the seventh year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1634 AD. The painters were cabinet bachelor Xu Guangqi and missionaries from the West, and the likes of Johnson Tang from the West. A total of 1,812 stars were drawn on the picture, of which more than 1,400 were discovered by the Chinese. At the same time, the traditional Chinese 28 constellations and the twelve palaces of the West were drawn, so it is completely the product of the exchange of astronomical sciences between China and the West."
Viewers visited the "Historical Archives Exhibition of the 'Silk Road' from the 17th century to the early 20th century" in the East Side Hall. Photo by Pu Feng, Beijing News reporter
, and then turned to the West Side Hall. "From the Opium War to the Xinhai Revolution Archive Document Exhibition" exhibited a total of 72 exhibits (groups), including the memorial of the imperial envoy Lin Zexu on the completion of the Humen cigarettes, Old Summer Palace Copper Prints, Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang on the situation of the battle of the Yellow Sea and the memorial of the death of Deng Shichang, Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Heavenly King Hong Xiuquan on the handwritten edict and other precious files.
"In the late Qing Dynasty, the Qing court signed a series of treaties for treason. Around that period, various political forces and social classes continued to fight and explore the path to save the country." The tour guide said that the first thing that stood up was the peasant class, and the representative power was Boxer Movement and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement . This time, the handwritten edict of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom King Hong Xiuquan was exhibited, which was the only one in the country.
Cleaning the South Court
In the late Qing Dynasty, the great powers invaded one after another, and Beijing was repeatedly destroyed, and the imperial history was not spared.
In the 26th year of the Guangxu period (1900), the Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing City, and the Japanese army occupied the Imperial Palace and seriously damaged the archives therein. " Compilation of Qing Palace Archives in the Gengzi Incident " records that the Japanese army caused the imperial history to lose 51 letters in Manchu, Han and Mongolian texts, "The Hadith", totaling 235 volumes; more than 1,300 volumes of archives were defiled.
After the founding of New China, the once invaded imperial history was protected and repaired, and became a cultural relic department that studied the royal history and archives of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and was opened to the public. In 1982, this place was designated as national key cultural relics protection unit .
However, due to historical reasons, the Southern Court of the Imperial History later became a slum. At that time, dozens of households lived here, and there was a serious problem of private construction, leaving only a narrow and bumpy passage, and the main entrance was blocked. In addition, there is also the problem of residents pulling wires privately, which poses a large number of safety hazards.
At the end of 2019, Huang Shizu completed the vacancies of cultural relics, and then began to demolish internal illegal buildings in May 2020. At that time, the entire South Courtyard had a total of 597.14 square meters of illegal construction, and the construction period lasted for dozens of days.
This year, a horizontal stone bead was also found on the west wall of the Imperial History, with words such as "Kyoto", "actual test", "44.751, joint construction ruler" engraved on it. It was confirmed by Liu Yang, vice president of the Beijing Society of History, Geography and Folklore, that this was a horizontal stone beacon erected in the inner city of Beijing in 1917 and was established by Zhu Qiqiun, the Director of the Internal Affairs of the Beiyang Government and the Supervisor of the Kyoto Municipal Government.
Kong Fanzhi, president of the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Association, said that this discovery was very helpful for the horizontal line position in Beijing during the Republic of China and the previous planning and measurement research.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Chang Photo reporter Pu Feng
Editor Liu Mengjie Proofreading Li Lijun
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