Beijing...... my home for more than ten years.
From Forbidden City to Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace to Yonghe Lhama Temple,
Longqing Gorge, White Cloud Mountain, etc.
It is the place where the ancient and modern blend into one.
Haining is a county-level city in Zhejiang Province, China, and under the jurisdiction of Jiaxing. It is in the south side of Yangtze River Delta, and in the north of Zhejiang. It is 125 km (78 mi) to the southwest of central Shanghai, and 61.5 km (38.2 mi) east of Hangzhou, the provincial capital. To its south lies the Qiantang River. The city has a land area of 700.5 km2 (270.5 sq mi) and at the 2010 census, had a population of 806,966 inhabitants. Haining is known for its leather industry and spectacular tide in the Qiantang River. Haining began to be inhabited as early as the New Stone Age some 6,000 years ago. During the Spring and Autumn period (770-476BC), it became part of the State of the Wu and then belonged to the State of the Yue before coming under the State of the Chu. In 221BC, during the Qin Dynasty, it fell under the jurisdiction of Changshui County (present-day Jiaxing). In 223AD, or the second year of the reign of Wu State King Huangwu of the Three Kingdoms period, it became known as Yanguan County. In 1295, or the first year of the reign of Yuan Emperor Yuanzheng, the county was promoted to be Yuanguan Prefecture. It became Haining Prefecture in 558. As the sea often encroached upon the prefecture via the Qiantangjiang River, the area was renamed Haining Prefecture in 1329 in the hope of calming the waves (in Chinese, “hai” means sea and “ning” to calm or pacify), and it remains so today. Following the founding the PRC, the area became Haining County, and then Haining City in November 1986 with the approval of the State Council. Haining is also my favorite author - Jin Yong's hometown. It is also the setting place of Jin Yong's novel The Legend of the Book and The Sword (书剑恩仇录) ; in which in the story, Chen Jialuo's father, Chen Kelao lived. Chen Kelao, indeed lived there, and his old mansion is still there and now is opened as a tourist site. Near Chen Kelao's house, there are some other mansions belonged to the salt merchants in the past. Qianlong Emperor used to stay at this mansion when he had his southern tour. Nowadays, these mansion become a hotel. And everyone could enjoy the old romantic sceneries of the mansion, canals, and old town. I personalluy really like Haining. I felt as if I was traveled back to the past when I visited the place. It's not only beautiful, but this is such a memorable place with beautiful architecture and sceneries.
0 Comments
Yonghe Gong or Yonghe Palace is a Tibetan Budhism Temple located in the inner part of Beijing city. It was a former house of Prince Yong/ 雍亲王 - the 4th Prince of Kangxi Emperor. Prince Yong himself later became the Yongzheng Emperor 雍正皇帝。 Yongzheng or Prince Yong was mentioned in a lot of wuxia novels and historical fiction tv series such as : 散花女侠 (Tiga Dara Pendekar - Liang Ie Sheng), 大内群英 (Dynasty - ATV),步步惊心 (Scarlet Heart), 雍正王朝 (Yongzheng Dynasty - CCTV) Yongzheng himself, mostly portrayed in a negative light. He only ruled for thirteen years, and he's overshadowed by his father Emperor Kangxi who ruled for 61 years and his son - Emperor Qianlong who ruled for 60 years. But, Yongzheng was not a bad nor an incapable ruler. Actually he's a very capable ruler too. Yonghe Gong, or Yonghe Palace, was granted by Kangxi to Prince Yong. Seeing how big and magnificent the complex is, I really believe that Kangxi somehow loved this son. Many fictions and gossips, that later involved into historical fictions and tv series that showed how Prince Yong forged Kangxi's will and took the throne, and that actually the real one who supposed to be the next emperor was 14th Prince. I'm not going to write about that, since I'm only focusing on Yonghe Gong now. Yonghe Gong is a very interesting place, the architecture is a blend of Chinese architecture and Tibetan architecture. It's so beautiful! Inside it, there's a giant Budha statue made of a solid wood. It's the largest statue made of a single solid wood. It's in the Guiness Book of Record. Yonghe Gong is the one and only palace in Beijing where the Tibetan architecture and Chinese style architecture blend in. Manchurian Qing Dynasty mostly were Tibetan Budhist, and Emperor Yongzheng was known as a devoted Tibetan Budhist. Tibet was part of China as early as Tang Dynasty. But this poor region, and so far remote from the capital city. Therefore no other dynasties but Qing Dynasty put attention more on Tibet. Qing Dynasty, started by Emperor Shunzhi was the one who first created the term 'Dalai Lama'. And he even concluded Tibetan language as its official language. Therefore after Qing Dynasty, all the palaces and imperial edicts, besides the official Han Chinese language, they also put Mongolian, Manchurian and Tibetan language. From right to left : Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Manchurian. Anyway, that's the plate of the Yonghe Gate, Gate of Yonghe Palace. The White Cloud Temple, also known as Baiyun Temple or the Abbey or Monastery of the White Clouds, is a Taoist temple and monastery located in Beijing, China. It is one of "The Three Great Ancestral Courts" of the Quanzhen School of Taoism and is titled "The First Temple under Heaven. The White Cloud Temple was first founded in the mid-8th century during the Tang dynasty and was initially called the Temple of Heavenly Perpetuity (Tianchang Guan). During this period, the abbey was state-sponsored and staffed by an elite clergy. From 1125 to 1215 when what is now Beijing was controlled by the Jin dynasty, the abbey served as the Taoist administrative headquarters and played an important role in state ceremonies. After Beijing was taken by the Mongols in 1215, the abbey was taken over by the Quanzhen patriarch Qiu Chuji and became the headquarters of the Quanzhen movement until the establishment of the Ming dynasty. Qiu—who himself was known by the name Master of Eternal Spring—renamed the abbey the Palace of Eternal Spring (Changchun Gong). Upon being summoned by Genghis Khan, Qiu undertook a three-year trek from Shandong to give the great khan an exposition on Taoism, which he completed in October 1222. Qiu's successor, Yin Zhiping (尹志平; 1169-1251) built a memorial shrine over Qiu's grave. This shrine became a temple in its own right and became known as the White Cloud Temple. The abbey was damaged when the Mongols took over in the late 13th century and, during the Ming dynasty, the Palace of Eternal Spring was destroyed. However, the White Cloud Temple survived and took over the functions of its former parent. Qiu Chuji and Yin Zhiping appeared on wuxia novel Eagle Shooting Heroes 射雕英雄传 and Return of Condor Heroes 神雕侠侣 by Jin Yong. The White Cloud Temple is also mentioned in the historical fiction The Great Emperor Kangxi by Eryue He. In the story, it was said that Kangxi visited the temple in around 1658. The temple was not been fully renovated during the time after the destruction during the late Ming Dynasty. The book described, that there was a long corridor with the diorama of the story Journey to The West - but when I visited there, there's no diorama of Journey to the West. But inside one of the hall, there's a diorama which depicted Qiu Chuji's travel to the western region (probably current Samarkand) where he met Genghiz Khan. The corridor is now used as a gallery for painting and calligraphy. Also, in the book, it was said that the tripod or ding, was made of gold. Indeed there's a tripod/ ding with the golden bronze color, but it was not gold. To this day, the White Cloud Temple remains controlled by the Quanzhen school. The abbey was without an abbot for the 1940s and was closed when the Communists came to power in 1949. Unlike many other historical sites which were damaged during the Cultural Revolution, the White Cloud Temple was well-protected and remained safe. Today, it is again a fully functioning temple and is the seat of the Chinese Taoist Association.. It is very easy to go to White Cloud Temple. It's located not far from Beijing Subway line 2 (Changchun Lu). It was located outside off the old Beijing city wall. Therefore, it was actually considered as a suburb during Kangxi's time. In the novel, Kangxi rode a horse, or a chariot to go there. Since it is a taoist monastery, there I saw a taoist practitioner who played guqin over there as part of their worship ritual. It's so relaxing to be there. It's like a retreat place in the middle of metropolitan Beijing. A Taoist master was playing Taichi in a hall with the diorama of Qiu Chujiu met Genghiz Khan.
Finally I managed to go to Shanghaiguan. I've been eager to go to Shanhaiguan, since it's an important place in Chinese history. When I was a child, I saw many tv series, or read novels about Shanhaiguan - the most impressive series is Princess Cheungping (武侠帝女花) Shanhai Guan aka Shanhai Pass. Literary means : Mountain-Sea-Gate. Just like the name, this small county in Hebei Province, in Qinghuangdao City, is a mountainous county by the sea, in which there lies a city wall or great wall. This pass, is famous not only because this is the place where the great wall meets Bohai Sea -this particular site is called 老龙头 (Old Dragon Head). But also because throughout Chinese history, this pass served as a front line defensive outpost against ethnic groups from Manchuria (right now the region is called Dongbei ), including the Khitan, Jurchen and the Manchus. That's why this pass is also called as The First Pass Under Heaven - 天下第一关 because it's a very important defense fort. Shanhai Guan is the place where The Battle of Shanhai Pass, fought on 27 May 1644 happened. It was a decisive battle leading to the formation of the Qing dynasty in China. It is in this battle, that Qing Prince-Regent Dorgon allied with former Ming general Wu Sangui who surrendered to Qing to defeat rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty, allowing Dorgon and the Manchus to rapidly conquer Beijing and replace the Ming dynasty. This Wu Sangui...I'm very familiar with his name. From tv series, history books, and wuxia novels. Last year when I went to Yunnan, I also managed to visit Jindian Temple, a temple founded by Wu Sangui in Kunming. He's definitely one of the most glorious traitor in all Chinese history. First he betrayed Ming Dynasty, and declared loyalty to Qing Dynasty. Then later, he betrayed Qing and created his own dynasty and declared himself as an emperor. So on the site of Old Dragon Head, was an ancient barrack where the military lived and did their training. On this site, people could also see the Eight Diagram Tactics. Also, from Old Dragon Head, Temple of Mazu could be seen clearly. It's pretty easy to go to Shanhai Guan. Just take a train from Beijing Station. There's plenty of train passing Shanhai Guan. It takes around 2.5 hours to go there from Beijing. The train station is pretty modern too. I didn't have too much time to visit the city of Shanhai Guan, but it's pretty modern with a lot of food. This is the view when you get off from the train and entering the station at Shanhai Guan Train Station. After arriving in Shanhai Guan, then I went to Haining Cheng - which is where Old Dragon Head located. Basically Haining Cheng 海宁成 is the place where the ancient soldiers barrack located. Also on this place, there's a Xing Gong 行宫。Basically Xing Gong is a small palace where emperor who came to visit a place would stay at. Now this Xing Gong becomes a museum, where they displayed many articles. Inside the Haining Town Longwu Barrack. 龙武营生活区 Inside, there's a kitchen, dining room, stable, weapon rooms, etc. Basically it was a barrack in ancient time. It also has a quarter where the military general and his family (wife and kids) lived. After finished with Old Dragon Head and great wall on the sea, then we stop by at Xinggong - 行宫. Xinggong literally means 'traveling palace' was a palace which used by the ancient Chinese emperors to stay at during their trips to other cities. The current Xinggong was the latest building after some renovation during Qianlong era. Many emperors visited Shanhaiguan. The first emperor who visited Shanhaiguan was Qin Shihuangdi. Sui Yangdi, and Ming Emperors also visited Shanhaiguan. Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong all visited Shanhaiguan too. The Xinggong in Shanhaiguan now is used as a museum. Inside, there are displays of many interesting items. For me, the most interesting items is the clothing. Apparently the dragon robes wore by the Qing emperors, are hand made embroidery. They look really really beautiful, much more beautiful than what you see on tv series. Finished with Xinggong, then the last stop is The Number One Pass Under Heaven - 天下第一关. This is the famous pass where many battles took place. This is the gate which was opened by Wu Sangui when he surrendered to Manchu. First Pass Under Heaven - 天下第一关 The First Pass Under Heaven - the fortress/ city wall, is so wide and tall. Even for today's standard, it is a great defense wall. But, a great defense wall is not a guarantee that no invader could breaktrough.
This is what Kangxi said about great wall: "When an emperor rules a nation, he relies on internal sources and does not solely depend on barricades. The Great Wall was built during the Qin Dynasty and constantly repaired during the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties. Yet, this did not prevent foreign invasions. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, my ancestor led his army through it, destroying any obstruction. No one could stop them! Therefore, to defend a nation is to cultivate one's virtue and treat the people respectfully. When people are happy, the nation is in harmony and the frontier is fortified. My thoughts concerning this are clearly represented by the proverb 'Unity of the people with the same purpose is a formidable force.'" I love reading history books, and historical fictions. And from them, I learn about Kangxi Emperor. He's the third emperor of Qing Dynasty. He's definitely my most favorite emperor among hundreds of Chinese emperors. And he's one of the greatest Chinese emperor among more than 500 emperors. It's because he's smart, and a good benevolent emperor. He's capable in both military and civil administration, or in Chinese we call him, 文武全才. Recently I've been reading a lot of books about Kangxi. And because in the novels (The Deer and the Cauldron, The Great Emperor Kangxi, etc) mentioned a lot of places inside the Forbidden City, then I took some time to visit those places to see and experience what the novels described. That's the complete site map of Forbidden City. While this is the map of some important buildings inside that often mentioned in books or novels. A. 午门 Meridian Gate B. 神武门 Gate of Divine Might C. 西华门 West Glorious Gate D. 东华门 East Glorious Gate E. 角楼 Corner towers F. 太和门 Gate of Supreme Harmony G. 太和殿 Hall of Supreme Harmony H. 武英殿 Hall of Military Eminence I. 奉先殿 Hall of Ancestors Worship J. 文华殿 Hall of Literary Glory K. 南三所 Southern Three Places L. 乾清宫 Palace of Heavenly Purity - Kangxi had audience with his ministers here. M. 御花园 Imperial garden N. 养心殿 Hall of Mental Cultivation - Kangxi used to live here. O. 宁寿宫 Palace of Tranquil Longevity P. 慈宁宫 Palace of Compassion and Tranquility - this is the palace for Empress Dowager. Below is pictures of 养心殿 Hall of Mental Cultivation - Kangxi used to live here. And after he died, his successor Yongzheng and other emperors continued to make this place as a living quarter for the emperor. The main hall, with the calligraphy 中正仁和, was made by Qianlong. So during Kangxi time, most likely the main hall wasn't like that.
History: After Zhu Yuanzhang toppled the Mongolian led Yuan Dynasty, he took Nanjing in 1358 and making it his capital, his army then attacked the Yuan empire capital of Khanbaliq/ Dadu (now Beijing) and captured it in 1368. He then established the Ming Dynasty. The Ming then burned down the preceding Yuan Dynasty's palaces in Dadu, and Zhu Yuanzhang officially named himself the Emperor of the Ming Empire. Nanjing was the Ming dynasty's first capital city. Emperor Hongwu had several sons and he chose the oldest as his successor. When that son died before he did, he chose his grandson as the next in line. Following the death of Hongwu, the fourth son, Zhu Di, attacked his nephew and took over the throne. Zhu Di (1360 - 1424) became the third Ming emperor in 1402. He chose the name Yongle, 永乐 (Yǒnglè). Yongle captured Nanjing in 1402. The former palace burned down. He purged the former emperor's bureaucracy. In 1403, he moved the capital to Dadu and renamed it Beijing. In 1406, Beijing was destroyed and its people were impoverished. After consolidating his power, Yongle started to build his palace. His palace construction of the palace and the rest of the city required much planning. Many architects and engineers, including Cai Xin, Nguyen An (a Vietnamese), Kuai Xiang, Lu Xiang and others, worked on the Forbidden City's design, and the plans were examined by the Emperor's Ministry of Work. From 1409 onwards, the Emperor spent most of his time around Beijing. Construction lasted 14 years, and they used 100,000 skilled artisans and up to a million workers and slaves. The pillars of the most important halls were made of whole logs of a kind of hardwood tree called phoebe zhennan (楠木 nánmù) that grows about 30 meters tall and is very straight. They were transported from the jungles of southwestern China all the way to Beijing in the northwest. Rock blocks were cut and transported from quarries near Beijing. Some of them were huge. The heaviest of these giant blocks, aptly named the Large Stone Carving, weighed more than 330 tons (300 metric tons) The heavy ones could only be moved along on special trenches that were dug and filled with water in the winter. They were dragged on the ice! For example, according to a written record, one large monolith measured 9.5 meters (31 feet) long and weighed 135 tons (123 metric tons), and it was hauled over ice by a team of men over 28 days in the winter of 1557. Another major construction project was the dredging of the moat and using the dirt to create a small artificial hill north of the palace called Jingshan. The moat is 6 meters (20 feet) deep and 52 meters (171 feet) wide. The Rebuilding of the Grand Canal (1411–1415) The Grand Canal is a big part of the emperor's grand plan to reconstruct Beijing and build his palace was the dredging and rebuilding of the Grand Canal. The canal was necessary because it was difficult to transport enough food to satisfy Beijing's burgeoning population of craftsmen, laborers, army personal, and officials. To build the capital, an enormous amount of materials and supplies from the south were required. Water transport was the cheapest method that they had available to transport the heavy bricks, wood and building materials, but Beijing was an inland city. The old Grand Canal system that was built by the Yuan that linked the Yangtze River valley and Dadu had become largely unusable. To raise the water level in the canal, they built a dam to divert the Wen River into it. Between 1411 and 1415, a total of 165,000 laborers dredged the canal bed in Shandong and built new canal locks. In 1421, when Beijing formally became the national capital, deliveries of grain began to exceed 200,000 tons annually, and so the Forbidden City and Beijing prospered. 1415–1420 Once the canal was finished, materials were transported to the city more quickly, and the court hastened construction. The bricks for paving the floors of major buildings were baked in Suzhou that is 1,000 km (640 miles) away and transported up the newly built canal. Starting from about 1417 large-scale work began on the reconstruction of the capital, and the emperor never returned to Nanjing after that. The Forbidden City palace was completed in 1420, and on New Year’s Day of 1421, he officially inaugurated the Ming capital. The Forbidden City falls into three parts: 1. The Defenses Around the city there is a 52-meter wide moat as the first line of defense. For security the Forbidden City is enclosed by a 10-meter-high defensive wall, which has a circumference of 3,430 meters. At each corner of the Forbidden City, there stands a magnificent watchtower (corner building), which was heavily guarded. There are four gates in each direction of the Forbidden City: the Meridian Gate (Wumen - 午门) on the south, the Gate of Divine Might (神武门 Shenwumen) on the north, East Glorious Gate on the east (东华门 Donghuamen) and West Glorious Gate on the west (西华门 Xihuamen) 2. The Outer Court The outer court has three main buildings, where emperors attended grand ceremonies and conducted state affairs. The first hall is the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian), the most important and largest structure in the Forbidden City. The emperors' Dragon Throne (Longyi) is in this hall. The second hall, behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghedian), the resting place of the emperor before presiding over grand events held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Emperors would rehearse their speeches and presentations here before departing to the Temple of Heaven for the sacrifice rites. The last hall is the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohedian), used for banquets and later for imperial examinations. 3. The Inner Court On the north of the Hall of the Preserving Harmony, there is a huge block of marble carved with cloud and dragon designs. The building is called the Gate of Heavenly Purity (Qianqingmen). This is the main gateway to the inner living court (大内 danei) The inner court has three main structures at the northern rear of the Forbidden City:
Besides the three main buildings there are the six eastern palaces and six western palaces, where the emperor used to handle everyday affairs, and which was the living quarters of the emperor, expresses, and concubines. The famous Empress Dowagers Xiaozhuang, mother of Shunzhi and grandmother of Kangxi used to live at The Palace of Compassion and Tranquility ( 慈宁宫 Cininggong )
Heaven was thought to be Polaris (the North Star), the only seemingly stationary star in the northern sky, and the Forbidden City’s layout points to “Heaven”. ***The emperor's seating throne was positioned on the north, and facing south. Only the emperor had the right to do that. Forbidden City carpenters used interlocking mortise and tenon joints to build its great palace building without nails. Nails were considered violent and inharmonious. Although it sounds superstitious, but actually this interlocking joints system is the best method for this huge wooden building. Engineers have discovered how actually this system is very powerful and earthquake proof. That's how this huge complex building survived so many earthquakes. Surrounding of the Forbidden City was the bigger imperial city, where there gardens, man made lakes, and the residential areas where the court officials and staff lived and worked. It too was enclosed by a wall that has been destroyed during modernization of Beijing. The old inner city wall, was 15 miles long and 20 meters thick at the base. The old inner city wall had nine gates which were called: 1. 德胜门 Deshengmen 2. 安定门 Andingmen 3.正阳门 Zhengyangmen 4.崇文门 Chongwenmen 5.宣武门 Xuanwumen 6.朝阳门 Chaoyangmen 7.阜成门 Fuchengmen 8.东直门 Dongzhimen 9.西直门 Xizhimen The old inner city wall is located around now what is called as Beijing 2nd ring road. While the names of the nine gates are still used until now. The gate of 正阳门 Zhengyangmen is still could be seen until now.
On the inner city wall, there are man made lake on the west side of the forbidden city, they are called Qianhai (Upper Sea), Zhonghai (Middle Sea), Xihai (West Sea) and Houhai (Rear Sea) - although basically it's all lakes. In ancient time, not only they purposed as recreational areas for the imperials and their officers, but also it was a mean of transportation where the emperors could go to southern areas with their imperial boats. Forbidden City in modern Beijing map. The old inner city wall was located around the current 2nd ringroad. The north south axis of Forbidden City shapes Beijing city structure.
|
Author:I am Kangxi's big fan. I read books about him, and I travel and visit places he visited before. D'oh!! :p Archives
February 2020
Categories |