Palace Museum

The Hall of Preserving Harmony (Chinese: 保和殿; pinyin: Bǎo Hé Diàn; Manchu: ᡝᠨᡨᡝᡥᡝᠮᡝ ᡥᡡᠸᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠮᠪᡠᡵᡝ ᡩᡝᠶᡝᠨ enteheme hūwaliyambure deyen) is one of the three halls of the Outer Court of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, along with the Hall of Supreme Harmony and Hall of Central Harmony. Rectangular in plan, the Hall of Preserving Harmony is similar to, but smaller in scale than, the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It was used for rehearsing ceremonies, and was also the site of the final stage of the Imperial examination. Both of these halls also feature imperial thrones, though to a slightly smaller scale than that in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall of Central Harmony (Chinese: 中和殿; pinyin: Zhōng Hé Diàn; Manchu: ᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠ ᡳ ᡥᡡᠸᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠮᠪᡠᡵᡝ ᡩᡝᠶᡝᠨ dulimba-i hūwaliyambure deyen) is one of the three halls of the Outer Court of the Forbidden City, in Beijing, China, along with the Hall of Supreme Harmony and Hall of Preserving Harmony. It is smaller than the other two halls, and is square in shape. It was used by the Emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony (Chinese: 太和殿; pinyin: Tài Hé Diàn; Manchu: ᠠᠮᠪᠠ ᡡᠸᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠮᠪᡠᡵᡝ ᡩᡝᠶᡝᠨ;Möllendorff: amba hūwaliyambure deyen) is the largest hall within the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It is located at its central axis, behind the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Built above three levels of marble stone base, and surrounded by bronze incense burners, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is one of the largest wooden structures within China. It was the location where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties hosted their enthronement and wedding ceremonies. The name of the Hall was changed several times throughout the past few centuries, from its initial Fengtian Dian (奉天殿), later to Huangji Dian (皇极殿) in 1562 and to the current one by the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1645. Together with the Hall of Central Harmony and Hall of Preserving Harmony, the three halls constitute the heart of the Outer Court of the Forbidden City. The Hall of Supreme Harmony rises some 30 metres (98 ft) above the level of the surrounding square. It is the ceremonial center of imperial power, and the largest surviving wooden structure in China. It is eleven bays wide – with the main room being nine bays wide – and five bays deep, the numbers nine and five being symbolically connected to the majesty of the Emperor. The six pillars nearest the imperial throne are covered with gold, and the entire area is decorated with a dragon motif. The Dragon Throne, in particular, has five dragons coiled around the back and handrests. The screen behind it features sets of nine dragons, again reflecting the "nine-five" symbolism. The Hall of Supreme Harmony features an exquisite throne made of red sandalwood, and formerly used by the emperors of the Qing dynasty. Set into the ceiling directly above the throne is an intricate caisson decorated with a coiled dragon, from the mouth of which issues a chandelier-like set of metal balls, called the "Xuanyuan Mirror", a reference to the Yellow Emperor, a mythological Chinese ruler. According to legend, the metal balls will fall and strike dead any usurper to the throne. In the Ming dynasty, the emperors held court here to discuss affairs of state. During the Qing dynasty, emperors held court far more frequently. As a result, the location was changed to the Inner Court, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony was only used for ceremonial purposes, such as enthronements, investitures, and imperial weddings.The original hall was built in 1421 during the Ming dynasty, destroyed seven times by fires during the Qing dynasty, and rebuilt for the last time in 1695–1697. After a reconstruction in the 16th century, the dimensions of the hall were reduced from around 95 by 48 metres (312 ft × 157 ft) to its present measurements, 65 by 37 metres (213 ft × 121 ft). Inability to find sufficiently large logs was cited as the cause for this change.

The Forbidden City (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjìnchéng) is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the 22 ha (54-acre) Zhongshan Park, the sacrificial Imperial Ancestral Temple, the 69 ha (171-acre) Beihai Park, and the 23 ha (57-acre) Jingshan Park. It is officially administered by the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City was constructed from 1406 to 1420, and was the former Chinese imperial palace and winter residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming dynasty (since the Yongle Emperor) to the end of the Qing dynasty, between 1420 and 1924. The Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors and their households and was the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese government for over 500 years. Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.The complex consists of 980 buildings, encompassing 9,999 rooms and covering 720,000 m2 (72 ha)/178 acres. The palace exemplifies the opulence of the residences of the Chinese emperor and the traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. It is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. Since 2012, the Forbidden City has seen an average of 14 million visitors annually, and received more than 19 million visitors in 2019. In 2018, the Forbidden City's market value was estimated at 70 billion USD, making it both the world's most valuable palace and the most valuable piece of real estate anywhere in the world.The Forbidden City in Beijing is one of the largest and most well-preserved wooden structures in the world. It was listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics in 1961.

The Palace of Heavenly Purity, or Qianqing Palace (Chinese: 乾清宫; pinyin: qiánqīng gōng; Manchu:ᡴᡳᠶᠠᠨᠴᡳᠩᡤᡠᠩ; Möllendorff: kiyan cing gung) is a palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It is the largest of the three halls of the Inner Court (the other two being the Hall of Union and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility), located at the northern end of the Forbidden City. During the Qing dynasty, the palace often served as the Emperor's audience hall, where he held council with the Grand Council. The Palace of Heavenly Purity is a double-eaved building, and set on a single-level white marble platform. It is connected to the Gate of Heavenly Purity to its south by a raised walkway. In the Ming dynasty, it was the residence of the Emperor. The large space was divided into nine rooms on two levels, with 27 beds. For security, on any one night the Emperor would randomly choose from any of these beds. This continued through the early Qing dynasty. However, when the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, he did not wish to inhabit the palace occupied by his father for 60 years. He and subsequent emperors lived instead at the smaller Hall of Mental Cultivation to the west. The Palace of Heavenly Purity then became the Emperor's audience hall, where he held court, received ministers and emissaries, and held banquets. At the centre of the Palace, set atop an elaborate platform, is a throne and a desk, on which the Emperor wrote notes and signed documents during councils with ministers. A caisson is set into the roof, featuring a coiled dragon. Above the throne hangs a tablet with a right-to-left script reading zhèng dà guāng míng (正大光明), penned by the Shunzhi Emperor. This tablet has been translated several ways but the loose transliteral meaning is "let the righteous shine". It is often used as a Chinese idiom, meaning "to be decent, honest and magnanimous," or "to have no secret or do a shameless deed." Beginning with the Yongzheng Emperor, who himself had ascended the throne amid a succession dispute, Qing dynasty emperors had designated their heirs in secret, with one copy of the will hidden behind this tablet and another carried at all times by the Emperor himself.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation (simplified Chinese: 养心殿; traditional Chinese: 養心殿; pinyin: Yǎngxīn Diàn, Manchu: ᠶᠠᠩ ᠰᡳᠨ ᡩᡳᠶᠠᠨ yang sin diyan) is a building in the inner courtyard of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The hall is a wooden structure with dome coffered ceilings, and was first built during the Ming dynasty in 1537, and was reconstructed during the Qing dynasty. During the early Qing dynasty under the reign of the Kangxi Emperor the hall was mostly used as a workshop, wherein artisan objects like clocks were designed and manufactured. From the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor during the 18th century, the hall was the residence for the emperor. Under the reign of the Qianlong Emperor until the fall of the Qing dynasty, the hall became the centre of governance and political administration. In the Western Warmth Chamber, the emperor would hold private meetings, and discuss state affairs with his mandarins. After the death of Emperor Xianfeng, from inside the Eastern Warmth Chamber, empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi would hold audiences with ministers and rule from behind a silk screen curtain during their regencies for emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu, who both succeeded to the throne as children in the second half of the 19th century.The Hall of Mental Cultivation contained the Hall of Three Rarities, which stored art and cultural relics, and the Qianlong Emperor's collection of 134 model calligraphy works from the Imperial Collection. He also housed three ancient calligraphy artworks by ancient calligraphers Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi and Wang Xun.The hall's interior is decorated with polychrome paintings, glazed tiles, ancient thangkas, and traditional wax paper decorations. From 2006, the Palace Museum instigated a research and conservation project aimed at restoring the hall, and preserving its cultural relics like thangkas.In anticipation of the hall's closure due to restoration in 2018, in 2017 the Palace Museum launched a digital exhibition about the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

The Yuan dynasty (Chinese: 元朝; pinyin: Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (Chinese: 大元; pinyin: Dà Yuán; Mongolian: ᠶᠡᠬᠡᠶᠤᠸᠠᠨᠤᠯᠤᠰ, Yeke Yuwan Ulus, literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai (Emperor Shizu), the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire from the Borjigin clan, and lasted from 1271 to 1368. In Chinese historiography, the Yuan dynasty followed the Song dynasty and preceded the Ming dynasty. Although Genghis Khan had been enthroned with the Han-style title of Emperor in 1206 and the Mongol Empire had ruled territories including modern-day northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Han style, and the conquest was not complete until 1279 when the Southern Song dynasty was defeated in the Battle of Yamen. His realm was, by this point, isolated from the other Mongol-led khanates and controlled most of modern-day China and its surrounding areas, including modern-day Mongolia. It was the first dynasty founded by a non-Han ethnicity that ruled all of China proper. In 1368, following the defeat of the Yuan forces by the Ming dynasty, the Genghisid rulers retreated to the Mongolian Plateau and continued to rule until 1635 when they surrendered to the Later Jin dynasty (which later evolved into the Qing dynasty). The rump state is known in historiography as the Northern Yuan dynasty.Some of the Yuan emperors mastered the Chinese language, while others only used their native Mongolian language and the 'Phags-pa script.After the division of the Mongol Empire, the Yuan dynasty was the khanate ruled by the successors of Möngke. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven. The dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty and accorded him the temple name Taizu. In the edict titled Proclamation of the Dynastic Name issued in 1271, Kublai announced the name of the new dynasty as Great Yuan and claimed the succession of former Chinese dynasties from the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors to the Tang dynasty.In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai also claimed the title of Great Khan, supreme over the other successor khanates: the Chagatai, the Golden Horde, and the Ilkhanate. As such, the Yuan was also sometimes referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, while the claim of supremacy by the Yuan emperors was at times recognized by the western khans, their subservience was nominal and each continued its own separate development.

The Hall of Union (Chinese: 交泰殿; pinyin: Jiāo Tài Diàn; Manchu: ᡤᡳᠶᠣᠣ ᡨᠠᡳ ᡩᡳᠶᠠᠨ giyoo tai diyan) is a building in the Forbidden City, in Beijing, China. It stands between the Palace of Heavenly Purity and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. These three halls together constitute the centre of the Inner Court of the palace complex. The hall is square in shape with a pyramidal roof. Stored here are the 25 Imperial Seals of the Qing dynasty, as well as other ceremonial items, including the clocks that set the official time in the palace (first a water clock, later a mechanical clock, both still displayed in the hall.

The Palace of Eternal Longevity (simplified Chinese: 永寿宫; traditional Chinese: 永壽宮; pinyin: Yŏngshòugōng), also known as Yongshou Palace, is one of the Six Western Palaces in the inner court of the Forbidden City. It is the closest residence to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the living quarters of the Qing emperors since 1722.

The Palace of Earthly Tranquility (simplified Chinese: 坤宁宫; traditional Chinese: 坤寧宮; pinyin: Kūn Níng Gōng; Manchu: ᡴᡠᠨ ᠨᡳᠩ ᡤᡠᠩ kun ning gung) is the northernmost of the three main halls of the Inner Court of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The other two halls are the Palace of Heavenly Purity and Hall of Union. The color red is prominently displayed in the palace as it is the color of love, sex, and reproduction in China. The palace is where emperors traditionally had sex with their new wives soon after their wedding.The Palace of Earthly Tranquility is a double-eaved building, nine bays wide and three bays deep. In the Ming dynasty, it was the residence of the Empress. In the Qing dynasty, large portions of the Palace were converted for Shamanist worship by the Manchu rulers. Thus, the front part of the hall featured shrines, icons, prayer mats, and a large kitchen where sacrificial meat was prepared. From the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor onwards, the Empress moved out of the Palace following the Emperor's move out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. However, two rooms in the Palace of Earthly Harmony were retained for use on the Emperor's wedding night. The wedding ceremony would be held in the main room, and afterwards the Emperor and Empress would retire to one of these rooms.

The Palace of Prolonging Happiness (simplified Chinese: 延禧宫; traditional Chinese: 延禧宮), or Yanxi Palace, is one of the Eastern Six Palaces in the inner court of the Forbidden City, situated behind the Hall for Ancestral Worship. Described as one of the most 'exotic' looking structures in the Forbidden City, the Palace of Prolonging Happiness was built in 1420 as the Palace of Longevity. From the Ming to the Qing dynasty, the palace was home to many imperial consorts and concubines. The palace was later destroyed by multiple fires between 1845 and 1855. The Empress Dowager Longyu ordered the palace to be rebuilt in 1909 with a new three-storey Western-style building included. Known as the 'Crystal Palace' (水晶宮) or Lingzhao Pavilion, the building was surrounded by a moat that was supposed to be filled with spring water from the Jade Source Mountain near Beijing. However, lack of funding and damage from a bombing raid in 1917 prevented the completion of the structure. Today, only the iron cast and marbles remain. In 1931, three two-storey warehouses were added to house the Palace Museum's artifacts. Since 2005, the warehouses have been used for the Ceramics Laboratory, the Research Centre for Ceramics, and the Research Centre for Traditional Calligraphy and Paintings.

The Palace of Earthly Honour (Chinese: 翊坤宫; pinyin: Yìkūngōng), also known as Yikun Palace, is one of the Six Western Palaces in the inner court of the Forbidden City. It is situated north of the Palace of Eternal Longevity, south of the Palace of Gathering Elegance, east of the Palace of Eternal Spring, northeast of the Hall of the Supreme Principle and southeast of the Palace of Universal Happiness.