In the Palace Museum scenic area, there is such a group of special "staff", they do not need to pay salaries, eat and live in the Forbidden City, and their daily work is to walk, bask in the sun, and play with tourists.
These "workers" whose working conditions and nature are extremely special are the more than 200 cats living in the Palace Museum.
With the continuous opening of the Palace Museum, these cats living in the Forbidden City have also become part of the scenic area. Tourists teased them and took pictures with them. Even these cats have their own names.
Because these cats live in the Forbidden City, netizens call them "royal cats".
Nowadays, in all corners of the Forbidden City, looking for these "noble" royal cats has become a tourist attraction for tourists.
Special "staff" in the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City, formerly known as the Forbidden City, was built during the Yongle period of Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty and became the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is also one of the most iconic 5A-level tourist attractions in China.
As an ancient palace complex, the main building material used in the Forbidden City is extremely expensive wood, but it is also very likely to attract rats.
Surprisingly, however, not a single mouse has ever been seen in the Forbidden City for so many years.
The biggest contributor to this situation is the cat living in the Forbidden City.
About 200 cats live in the Palace Museum. These cats are strange and have their own characteristics, and have now become an indispensable mobile attraction in the Palace Museum.
During the day, most of these royal cats lie in the corners to sleep in, or lie on the palace wall to lazily bask in the sun.
Seeing tourists teasing them, these cats will not be scared and run away, as if they have long been used to it, and often cooperate with tourists to take pictures.
And at night, these cats, who are lazy and idle during the day, become the night guards of the Forbidden City, patrolling everywhere and guarding the tranquility of the deep palace.
Because of this, the Forbidden City has never been eaten by rat invasion for so many years.
In order to thank these royal cats for their hard work, many tourists regularly send cat food to the Palace Museum, solemnly declare that they must "sign for the cat", and ask for photos as proof.
In the face of the whimsical ideas of tourists, the former director of the Palace Museum was not moved, but according to the requirements of tourists, he sent cat food to the cat's paws, and took pictures and uploaded them to the Internet.
Night guards in the Forbidden City.
It can be said that these royal cats have long become a part of the scenic spot of the Palace Museum, and many tourists who have visited the Forbidden City, in order to find these royal cats to "reminisce", still revisit the old place.
The most commendable thing is that the Palace Museum not only has priceless cultural relics worth millions of dollars, but even the Forbidden City itself is the largest cultural relic, and the more than 200 royal cats living here have never been damaged in the slightest.
They are free to walk through the deep palaces and through the display cases where the artifacts are displayed, but they are very light and careful to not worry about damaging the artifacts.
And there is no need to worry about the health of these royal cats. As a noble royal cat, it never defecates anywhere, which affects the beauty of the scenic spot.
But due to the size of the Forbidden City, more than 200 royal cats sound like a lot, and in fact it is difficult to find them in the sprawling Palace Museum.
Therefore, many tourists who come to the Forbidden City continue to look for the traces of the royal cat, but in the end they can only return disappointed.
This is because there are many areas of the Forbidden City that are not open. On weekdays, many royal cats basically hide inside.
But as long as the meal is served and the staff takes out the cat food, the lucky tourists can still see the real appearance of the royal cat with their own eyes.
There are more than 200 royal cats living in the Forbidden City, but they are not homeless stray cats, as their ancestors lived in this deep palace compound.
These cats are no different from normal cats in appearance. In fact, their ancestors were all pets raised by the concubines of the Ming and Qing emperors.
Therefore, these cats will be nicknamed "queen cats" by netizens, which can be described as the noble blood among cats.
Royal cat of noble blood.
And their first generation of ancestors can be traced back to the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty.
At that time, Nanjing was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and Beijing was still called Shuntianfu. Due to the presence of rats in Suncheonfu, Emperor Judy in the last years of the Ming Dynasty chose a group of cats and moved to Suncheonfu to control the rats.
Later, Judy inherited the throne and was known as Yongle the Great. He moved the capital of the Ming Dynasty from Nanjing to Shuntianfu, and when he lived in the newly built Forbidden City, he specially brought this group of royal cats.
So today, the ancestors of these royal cats are actually the earliest residents of the Forbidden City.
As the royal cats in the palace, these cats were deeply loved by the emperor and his concubines, who carefully fed them, and even arranged special palace maids to serve these royal cats.
When it came to Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing's biggest hobby was raising cats in addition to cultivating immortals and refining pills.
Emperor Jiajing chose a lion cat to take care of himself, and he pampered it to the extreme.
The lioness cat died, and Emperor Jiajing was sad for a long time, and specially ordered it to be buried in Wanshou Mountain. Even the coffin was made of pure gold.
Emperor Jiajing also named the lioness "Jilong", and personally inscribed "Jilong Tomb" on the tombstone, and the cypress tree planted next to the tomb was named "Jilong Cypress".
Therefore, the royal cats living in the Forbidden City today are all genuine "royal families".
And these royal cats have been living in the Forbidden City for several generations.
Until the change of dynasty, after the end of the Qing Dynasty, these royal cats became ownerless, and gradually lived on the streets and became stray cats in Beijing.
When the Palace Museum was founded, the management took in the offspring of these royal cats for the purpose of controlling mice.
However, I never imagined that over the decades, these royal cats have become a beautiful scenery in the Palace Museum.
Today, the more than 200 cats that live in the Palace Museum have their own unique numbers and lists, and the Palace Museum staff are also responsible for their daily diet and daily life.
Moreover, these royal cats are very different in appearance and personality, and their names are also very consistent with their personality traits.
For example, a cat is named "Aobai" because of its rough appearance, and an orange cat is named "Fear" because of its timid nature, and its full name is "Aisingiorro Pappa".
In addition, there are also royal cats with names such as "Ping'an, Auspicious, Ruyi, and Qixi", which have become "Internet celebrity cats" loved by tourists and netizens.
Label. In the Palace Museum, which is full of history, the presence of more than 200 royal cats is tantamount to adding vitality and cuteness.
Let all visitors to the Palace Museum not only feel the solemnity of history, but also feel the preciousness of life.
The popularity of these royal cats has also played a positive role in the publicity of the Palace Museum scenic spot.
If you have a chance to visit the Palace Museum, you might as well take a walk around. Maybe you can see a cute royal cat in a corner.