Today, I want to take you into the Imperial Garden of the Palace Museum, feel the charm of the Royal Garden, explore the footprints of history, and discover beautiful stories. The Imperial Garden of the Palace Museum is a resting and appreciative place for the emperors and concubines of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which was built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), covering an area of 12,000 square meters, and is the last scene of the Forbidden City.
Let's first come to the center of the Imperial Garden, the Qin'an Hall. The Qin'an Hall is the main building of the Imperial Garden and the last palace in the Forbidden City. The name of the Qin'an Hall means "praying for peace", which means that the emperor prays for peace and security of the country and the people, and all the best. The Qin'an Hall is a heavy eaves dome type building, surrounded by beautifully carved stone railings, and there are golden and brilliant dragon chairs in the hall, which is the place where the Qing Dynasty emperor worships his ancestors and receives the prince's ministers. There is a small pavilion at the back of the Qin'an Palace, called Jiangxue Xuan. A bonsai made of fossilized wood placed in front of Jiangxue Xuan looks like a piece of rotten wood at first glance, but it is sonorous when knocked, it is indeed stone, and it is particularly precious. This piece of wood fossil is said to have been transported from **, and it is a rare fossil plant with a history of thousands of years.
We walk along the Yonglu of the Imperial Garden, you can see the colorful stone patterns carefully paved with pebbles of different colors on the road, there are more than 900 pieces, there are characters, flowers, scenes, dramas, allusions, etc., watch along the road, endless fun. These colored stone patterns are not only beautiful, but also have profound meanings, such as one pattern of a deer and a crane, which means longevity, because both the deer and the crane are symbols of longevity. There is also a pattern of a mandarin duck and a lotus flower, which means love, because the mandarin duck is a loyal companion, and the lotus flower is a pure flower.
We continue to walk forward, we can see that there are all kinds of pavilions and pavilions on both sides of the imperial garden, there are nearly 20 of them, whether they are built by the wall or the pavilion ** standing, they are exquisite and chic, sparse and dense. Among them, the most distinctive are two pairs of pavilions, namely Fubi Pavilion and Chengrui Pavilion, Wanchun Pavilion and Qianqiu Pavilion. Fubi Pavilion and Chengrui Pavilion are square pavilions that span the pond, and the south-facing side protrudes from the hugging building, where you can enjoy the lotus flowers and goldfish in the water. The name of Fubi Pavilion means "water is as clear as blue", and the name of Chengrui Pavilion means "water is clear as jade". These two pavilions were built by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in memory of his grandmother Empress Xiaokang, Empress Xiaokang is the empress of the Kangxi Emperor and the biological mother of the Qianlong Emperor.
Wanchun Pavilion and Qianqiu Pavilion are multi-angle pavilions that are surrounded by the upper circle and lower on all sides, forming a cross-shaped plane, which embodies the traditional concept of "the sky is round and the place is round". The names of Wanchun Pavilion and Qianqiu Pavilion mean "Spring and Autumn of Wandai", implying the emperor's eternal foundation and a summary of history. These two pavilions were built by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in memory of his father Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the biological father of the Yongle Emperor, who established the powerful Ming Dynasty and laid the foundation for future generations.
We walked to the northernmost part of the Imperial Garden, and we could see a tall red city wall, which was the Shenwu Gate, which was also the back gate of the Forbidden City. The name of the Shenmu Gate means "sacred and invincible", which means the majesty of the emperor and is also a wish for the future. There is a huge plaque on Shenwu Gate, which reads "Shenwu Gate" three big characters, which is written by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, and the font is strong and powerful, and the momentum is magnificent. There are two corner towers on both sides of the Shenwu Gate, namely the East Corner Tower and the West Corner Tower, which is the highest point of the Forbidden City, which can overlook the scenery of the entire Imperial Garden, and can also overlook the scenery of Beijing City.