Walking into the Forbidden City
- The cries of the falling plum blossoms part 1
Writer: Yang Yuhao
Empresses in the Palace
Image taken from Fórum (port.hu)
“朔风如解意，容易莫摧残。” (If wind could understand plum blossom’s predicament, please refrain from torturing it any further.) is famously used in the hit Chinese palace drama series Empresses in Palace to describe the melancholic sentiments shared by confined concubines in ancient China. Throughout the recent years, various empress-centric television dramas have surrounded the magnificent palace complex in a shroud of tenderness and desolation. In reality, historical records have shown that many of these empresses held tremendous political power. The saying “牵一发而动全身” (moving a single strand of hair will result in movements through the whole body) perfectly summarizes the relationship between the concubines and the powers structure of the ancient Chinese monarchies. Continuing our journey into the Forbidden City, we will take a look at the residences of the generations of empresses in palace.
The Forbidden City Layout
Image taken from the-forbidden-city-map42f1546b8013.jpg (1550×2000) (chinahighlights.com)
Moving deeper into the forbidden city, past the Palace of Heavenly Purity, we will enter the inner court of the complex. The main structures within the inner court are the Six Western and Six Eastern Palaces used to house the imperial consorts. Six Palaces lay to the West and six to the East of the three main halls, hence the name. The architecture of the 12 Palaces, connected by passageways, is more or less the same. The Western and Eastern Palaces each have a layout of three palaces on either side of an alley that runs from north to south. Every Palace has its own courtyards, main halls, and side halls. The main halls stand in the middle and the side halls are in the east and west. The front courtyard and its main hall were used for receptions, while the back courtyard and its main hall served as living quarters.
A consort with the rank of Concubine and above was given a residence in the main sections of a Palace and was the manager of that Palace. Lower-ranking consorts (Noble Ladies and below) lived in the side-hall of the Palaces and were supervised by the higher-ranking consort. The 12 Palaces were the place where many of the Qing emperors were born and grew up, and they formed the daily life of the imperial family.
The 12 central palaces are surrounded by other palaces and temples around. Towards the west of the palace cluster lies the Cining Palace (Palace of Compassion and Tranquility) and Shoukang Palace (Palace of Longevity and Good Health). Out of the two, Cining palace is a bigger complex taking up the plot besides the Hall of Mental Cultivation. The palaces were the residences of widowed consorts of previous emperors. In accordance with feudal manners, emperors should not live with the wives of late emperors, so they lived in this separate area of the Inner Court. Towards the west side of the Cining palace, cluster resides the Palace of Longevity and Good Health. This palace is the designated living space for the Empress Dowagers (AKA Emperor’s mother) of the Qing dynasty. The standalone complex is the biggest amongst all palace complexes within the inner court of the city, with the exception of Cining palace which houses all the widows’ consorts of the deceased emperor.
The arrangements of these main structures within the inner court reflect the emphasis on symmetry and unity in traditional Chinese beliefs. The power structure within each palace is also clearly divided into a pyramid structure, where the higher levelled consorts occupy the main palace in the centre, while other consorts are situated on the two sides. While the importance of the empresses is also reflected in the distribution and architecture of the palaces. For example, the palaces closer to the emperor’s residence played host to some of the highest-ranking consorts and the empresses of the dynasty. These palaces are usually also well maintained and decorated as they went through a few generations of repair and refinements.
Shoukang Palace
Image taken from 京城探古——故宫文渊阁 - 资讯咖 (inf.news)
The brick-red walls of the forbidden city bore witness to the rise and fall of dynasties, the laughter and tears of concubines and the blossoming and withering of plum blossoms. In the next TASpeak, we will continue to look at each of the 12 central palaces, to unpack the architectural marvels of the ancient times. (To be continued …)