Overview
Chinese Name: 恭王府
English Name: Prince Kung Mansion;Prince Gong’s Mansion;Gong Wang Fu
Location: Beijing
Type: Ancient culture and art
Rating Level: AAAAA (5A)
Website: https://www.pgm.org.cn/
Brief Introduction
Prince Gong’s Mansion is located in Beijing, covering an area of 6.112 hectares. In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong 乾隆 (1780), Heshen 和珅 was ordered to build this mansion. In the first year of Xianfeng 咸丰(1851), the Qing court gave this mansion to Prince Gong’s Aisin Gioro Yixin 爱新觉罗·奕訢, and the name of Prince Gong’s mansion was derived from this.
Prince Kung Mansion is the largest palace complex in the Qing Dynasty, which has undergone the historical process of the Qing Dynasty from its peak to its decline, carrying extremely rich historical and cultural information, so it has the saying that “a Prince Gong’s Mansion, half of the history of the Qing Dynasty”.
In the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780), Heshen was ordered to build the Tenth Princess Mansions 十公主府.
In the fourth year of Jiaqing 嘉庆(1799), the Jiaqing Emperor gave his brother Yonglin 永璘 the mansion of Heshen to be the prince of Qingwang. In the twenty-fifth year of Jiaqing, Yonglin died, and the mansion was inhabited by his son and descendants.
In the thirtieth year of Daoguang 道光 (1850), the Xianfeng Emperor 咸丰 gave the Qingwang Mansion to his sixth brother Prince Gong. In the second year of Xianfeng, Prince Gong moved to this mansion which was originally called Prince Gong’s Mansion. In the 20th year of Guangxu 光绪 (1894), Prince Gong died and was hereditary prince Gong by his grandson.
What are worth visiting and seeing？
Architectures
The Yin’an Hall is commonly known as the Yinluan Hall, the most important building in Prince Gong’s Mansion. As the main hall of the Prince Kung mansion, it can only be opened during major events and important festivals, which plays a role in etiquette. In the early years of the Republic of China, due to accidental fire, the main hall was burned down together with the east and west side halls, and the courtyard of the Yin’an hall was restored.
There are annex buildings in the east and west of the Yin’an Hall, each with nine rooms, covered with ash tiles. Other royal palaces have a maximum of seven rooms, and many more are single-story buildings with five rooms wide.
The architecture of the Heshen period. Hanging on the side of the plaque is “Jiale Tang”. This plaque may have been given to Heshen by the Qianlong Emperor, but the plaque is not signed, so it cannot be confirmed, but Hezhen has the “Jialetang Poetry Collection”, indicating that it is the name of the room of Heshen.
During the reign of Prince Gong, Jiale Hall was mainly used as a place of worship for the royal palace, with tablets for ancestors, gods, etc., mainly shamanic rituals.
Garden. Named “Langrun Garden 朗润园 or Cui Jin Garden 翠锦园”, commonly known as Gongwangfu garden, echoing the mansion, the garden is also divided into three roads, east, middle, and west. The middle road is entered by a white jade arch stone gate in the style of western architecture, centered on the Kangxi 康熙 Emperor‘s Imperial Book “Fu” stele, with Dule Peak 独乐峰 and Bat Pond 蝠池 in the front and Bat Hall 蝠厅 in the back, with a particularly good layout.
The decoration of the large theater hall on East Road is fresh and beautiful, and the purple flowers of tangled vines and roses are in full bloom, making people feel like watching the play under the vines and roses. At the southern end of the theater, the Ming Dao Zhai 明道斋 and the five scenery of the winding path, the weeping green tree, the incense drunken moon, and the Liubei pavilion 流杯亭 constitute the garden.
Architectural layout
The front yard of The East Road is Dofu Xuan 多福轩, and the back courtyard is Ledao Hall 乐道堂.
The front yard of Dofu Xuan is the living room of the piercing hall. The main function of the second hall is to receive guests, relatives, or subordinates, and can also store gifts sent by the emperor. At that time, the hall was surrounded by plaques, and the furnishings in the house were arranged according to historical photos and according to the original situation, and many historical photos of Prince Gong’s mansion were displayed.
The West Road building and courtyard are more elegant than the Middle Road and East Road, and the main buildings are Baoguang Room葆光室 and Xi Jin Zhai锡晋斋.
There are two main buildings on the middle road: Yin’an Hall and Jiale Hall.
Prince Gong’s Mansion, a large mansion left by Heshen
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