Chapter 2 Anecdotes of the Forbidden City

I forgot to talk about the Hall of Mental Cultivation when I wrote a short anecdote about the Forbidden City last time.The Hall of Mental Cultivation was originally a building in the Ming Dynasty. During the Yongzheng period, the hall was greatly repaired, and the pillars were replaced with beams, which was like a reconstruction.The Hall of Mental Cultivation has a very good terrain in the inner court, close to Yongshou, Yikun, Yanxi, Chuxiu, Changchun, Xianfu, and the officials of Kanghua West District. Every major celebration: such as celebrating New Year's Day, the emperor's ascendance, the emperor's longevity, the issuance of imperial edicts, the dispatch of generals to the expedition, and the Yuan Yuan ceremony, a grand ceremony will be held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony (commonly known as the Jinluan Hall), and the moon will be released from the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Both Huamen and Longzongmen are not too far from the Hall of Supreme Harmony, so after Yongzheng, emperors of all dynasties often summoned ministers and introduced officials in this hall, and even held small celebrations and banquets here.After the Revolution of 1911, the Qing court issued an abdication edict at the Imperial Conference and signed conditions for preferential treatment of the royal family, ending China's thousands of years of monarchy.

There are East and West Nuan Pavilions in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and the West Nuan Pavilion is where the emperor reviewed memorials.On the seventh wall hangs the birth title badges of civil and military officials of the fourth rank and above from all provinces in the country at that time.In order to avoid peeking by attendants, a movable wooden wall was installed outside the nameplate, which was usually locked and covered.Qianlong had a special interest in calligraphy and painting inscriptions. Since he liked to work in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he made Wang Xizhi's "Quick Snow and Sunshine Poster", Wang Xianzhi's "Mid-Autumn Poster" and Wang Yi's "Bo Yuan Poster" etc. The treasures are all hidden in the inner room of Xinuange. This inner room is named "Sanxitang", and the famous "Sanxitang Fatie" is named after it.

It is said that Qianlong had an obsession with plum blossoms, so he planted many different kinds of plum blossoms outside his house, and named it "Meiwu".Daoguang was one of the most simple and unpretentious emperors in the Qing Dynasty. After he came to the throne, he not only abolished Meiwu, but also removed all the graceful plum blossom carvings on the window lattice partitions in the house, and replaced them with other styles of flowers.According to legend, when Daoguang was the crown prince, he had a sad love story related to plum blossoms, so that he hated plum blossoms all his life.If the speaker is like this, let's just listen to it.

The East Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation is the sleeping palace of the emperor when he was fasting. When Guangxu was young, Cixi listened to politics behind the curtain in the West Nuan Pavilion.In the apse of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the "Tishun Hall" to the east is the temporary residence of the emperor and empress; the "Yanxi Hall" to the west is the resting place for concubines.Although the east and west halls belong to the official inner palace, they can be compared with the palace for daily life, so some emperors like to live here temporarily.The palace guards whispered in private, and they also called Tishun Hall a comfortable nest!

Most of the foreign clocks and watches kept in the Yonghe Palace are British, French and Swiss products imported from Qianlong and Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty.After more than two hundred years, these things have become rare treasures, and even the place of origin may not be able to find such amazing clocks and watches.There is a watch clock in the east side hall of the Yonghe Palace, and a wide clock in the west side hall. Those who visit the Forbidden City may not pay much attention to these two clocks. In fact, these two clocks are masterpieces of us Chinese. The watch clock in the east chamber is a giant clock with a height of one foot and five feet made by the manufacturing office.This clock does not need to be wound, and the clock can only move if you walk up the bell tower by following the escalator and twist a few lead weights weighing tens of kilograms.During the day, it strikes the hour with a loud bell, and at night it announces the watch with a long voice.The most wonderful thing is that with the change of the marks on the clock, it can accurately distinguish the length of day and night in any season. After reading it, some foreign watch experts thought that in that era, there was such an actuarial theory, and they also admired it.Who would have known that this inconspicuous watch clock standing upright in the East Side Hall would have canceled the omission of the night watch time for thousands of years!

There is also a tall Guangzhong in the West Side Hall, which is said to be made in Guangdong and presented by a governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. The cost of shipping and the expenses of the escort and technicians cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.In addition to marking hours, quarters, minutes, and seconds, this wide clock can also indicate the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar on the clock face, the naming of the traditional Chinese stars-the changes of the twenty-eight constellations, spring, summer , Autumn, winter four seasons of the Earth's equatorial slope is different, as well as the date, month, week and so on.On the top and upper floor of the clock is a pavilion with a finely chiseled, gold-plated frame and thick crystal inlaid on all sides. In the pavilion, there is a flower of three-changing gemstones. There will be a group of competing music and the singing of a hundred birds facing the phoenix. Two hundred years ago, there was such a complex and precise skill. It is no wonder that Europeans and Americans are amazed when they visit the Forbidden City.

Concubine Jin of Guangxu used to live in Xianfu Palace. After the abdication of the Qing court, Xuantong was young, and everything in the palace was presided over by Concubine Jin. , the Yonghe Palace is a new palace rebuilt during the Kangxi period, with Yuyuxuan steps, spacious and beautiful, and it is an auspicious palace after reconstruction (no emperor, concubine or concubine died in this palace), so I urge Concubine Jin to move her official position.Concubine Jin lived in Yonghe Palace for nearly ten years. Not long before Xuantong left the palace, Concubine Jin died of illness in Yonghe Palace.The catalpa coffin resides in the Chen Palace, and has never been restored for burial. Later, after many negotiations with the aftermath personnel of the Qing Dynasty, the coffin of Concubine Jin was led out of the palace to be buried in the Xiling.After the opening of the Forbidden City, the Yonghe Palace was turned into a watch exhibition room.

The Construction Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is equivalent to the current government's public works department, which is full of five elements and eight works.Although Kui Jun (Le Feng) was born in the Hanlin Academy back then, he was a minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. When he took over, he really wanted to rectify the interior of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There were as many as eight or nine hundred people, even in the Tongguang period there were still five hundred people.Jade ware (carving and grinding new and old jade ware), bronze ware (bronze ware craft, ring copper, bright copper, antique tin ware), and tooth making (doors, windows, tables, chairs, flower teeth) have the most manpower, accounting for about half.The most wonderful thing is the inkstone workers and the ink workers, each of whom has ten errands in the office.

It is said that there is an unwritten old rule in the upright officials, that is, from the time when the elders start to trace and copy characters in red, until they are lucky enough to inherit the throne, that is, the emperor, they have to use new inkstones that have not been used to grind ink.Every time a new master came to the throne, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had to prepare Duan inkstones of 20 to 30 square meters in size for the use of the new emperor.That is to say, the inkstone used by the previous emperor is absolutely not allowed to be used by the heir who inherits the great line, of course, the ancient inkstone passed down from generation to generation is not limited to this.Inkstones are produced in Duanzhou, Guangdong, and Shexian, Anhui.Naturally, Duanzhou and Shexian are the most sophisticated craftsmen of inkstone craftsmen. However, the inkstone craftsmen of the Zaoban office are constantly making new inkstones and repairing ancient inkstones. Beautiful, and Yuan Yi is elegant.If the testers who entered Beijing in the early years can get one party, they will all be regarded as treasures, and they will definitely go to high school.Since the abolition of the manufacturing office, such old inkstone workers are unwilling to return to the south, and most of them live in various brush shops in Liulichang, where they still work on engraving and repairing.The author once saw several endstones obtained by Chen Shiyi's predecessors, which were carved into endstones by the inkstone workers of the manufacturing office, carved with clouds and nine colors, and the snail eyes were spotted. The carving by famous hands is really extraordinary.

As for the origin of the ink workers of the Manufacturing Office, it is said that it has a long history.It is said that Uncle Yuan (Zengxiang) talked about ancient ink in his speech at the Chinese Painting Association. He said: In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, ink pellets were invented for writing. In the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Tingqi and his sons in Shezhou made a great collection of ink-making techniques. The ink made in She, Hui and Wuyuan is collectively called Hui ink, and its name is Naizhang.Although Yi County and Dingzhou were the birthplaces of Mo, they gradually disappeared and no one knew about it.During the year of Qianlong, when he cleaned up the inner library of the study room, he found that the shattered ancient inks left over from the Ming Dynasty were all colorful, soft and rare fine works. prepare.However, the Manufacturing Office never had such craftsmen, so they had to send special personnel to Huizhou south, recruit a group of master ink craftsmen with a lot of money, and go to Beijing to undertake them.As a result, the inks produced are indeed magnificent and elegant, so each of them is engraved with a good name, but the ink workers engraved two very small regular characters "remade" on the frame for identification.This kind of ink is of higher quality than the ink made in the Qing Dynasty. Later, some of these inks were scattered among the people. Two painters, Jin Gongbei and Zhou Zhaoxiang, paid a lot of money to buy them. Many of these remade ancient inks fell into their hands.Therefore, this group of ink workers will become the fixed quota of the Manufacturing Office.

In addition, there is Gu Yue Xuan, which specializes in making small pieces of fine porcelain.Qianlong attached great importance to Gu Yuexuan. Regarding the design, materials, styles, and materials, the emperor often came to give instructions in person, which made the officials of the manufacturing office at a loss.During the Qianlong period, Gu Yuexuan products, such as snuff bottles, were not easy to find even a single trachoma, which shows how strict and meticulous the quality control was at the time. Yuan Xiangcheng vainly hoped to divide, forced the monarchy, and changed Yuan Hongxian.There was an eunuch in the Qing palace who flattered Xiangcheng and told him that Gu Yuexuan had a batch of unused gemstones. Xiangcheng swept through the inventory and burned a batch of Hongxian porcelain. search.Among them, the high-quality goods are more valuable than the products of Kangxi and Yongzheng famous kilns, with exquisite materials and exquisite workmanship, so they are of course popular. Ruyi Pavilion was also affiliated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the beginning of its establishment, but it was not included in the Office of Construction, because Ruyi Pavilion is a bit like the painting garden of the previous dynasty. Not a few.Because the emperors of all dynasties, especially Qianlong, often called for the right meeting, the Ruyi Pavilion is equal to the emperor's own command. When we visit the palaces of the Forbidden City, we often see the emperor Chen Han, the concubine Yubi, the dragon and tiger in one stroke, and the blessings and longevity in fine brushwork. There are always a few Spring Festival couplets with wooden frames and golden paper on the front and rear windows.In terms of painting, the screens are mostly used, either the green and green Suihan Sanyou, or the flowers of the four seasons colored with meticulous brushwork. The strange thing is that there are few landscapes and figures.At first glance, those calligraphy and paintings, no matter which concubine or concubine wrote them, are thick and pure, dignified and euphemistic; looking at the paintings, they are all fresh and luxurious, with soft colors. In fact, no matter the size or style of the characters, they are all enshrined in the Ruyi Pavilion. The characters are written in a double-hook powder leak made by a skilled craftsman, and printed on paper. The person who writes only needs to fill up the ink with a pen and take a picture of the powder leak. , is immediately a masterpiece.As for painting is simpler than writing, the whole picture layout is colored, and it is eighty-nine times completed and mounted, leaving only one and a half leaves uncolored in the picture, or if you use gamboge to dot the stamens and rouge to trace the petals, even if you are done, you can award it. I have given it to my ministers. As for the emperors or concubines who are truly upright, wise, and talented, they can be said to be rare and rare, and anyone who can get one is too rare, and it can be regarded as a rare treasure. Every Dragon Boat Festival in those days, some princes and ministers were honored with rewards and awarded the royal brush "Hate Fortune Late" cinnabar judge. Painting, two dots and one tick with a cinnabar pen, the judge's eyes are shining, and the bat is in high spirits.Ruyi Museum has really put some effort into this painting.Around 20 years of the Republic of China, a piece of imperial paper cinnabar pan'er happened to be available in antique shops, but it took at least ten silver dollars to sell it. There are a lot of calligraphy and paintings left in the Ruyi Pavilion. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, there were small antique shops in the east city of Beiping, and there were dragon and tiger characters written by Cixi and Guangxu, but the prices were frighteningly high. In the Qing Dynasty, the Imperial Pharmacy was originally affiliated to the Imperial Hospital. Since the Republic of China, the Imperial Hospital was abolished, and the Imperial Pharmacy had to be merged into the Ministry of Internal Affairs.The imperial pharmacy organization was originally very large, with more than 170 officials and workers, but it was reduced to 30 after entering the Ministry of Internal Affairs.The main work of the pharmacy is not only boiling soup and water medicine, but also preparing various pills and ointments, as well as various heat medicines needed in summer, such as Wolong Dan, Health Dan, Ping An San, Biwen San, Tongguan San, Ba Precious Zijin ingots, Wanying ingots with ingredients, etc., among which Zijin ingots and Wanying ingots are more valuable.Zijin ingots include Pisces, Jiqing, Eight Immortals, Fushouzi, Bagua, and Double Happiness, with delicate patterns, elegant shapes, and various styles. They are strung together with silk ropes in summer, and can be hung on the two lapels of children for emergency use.The southern part of Wanyingding is called Golden Mouse Shit, and the main medicine is Gumo. The upright officials have a lot of ink, and the Wanying ingot ink they make is ancient and thick with gold leaf. Of course, the efficacy of the medicine is much better than that sold in the pharmacies in the market.At that time, the Wanying ingots from Tongrentang in Dashilan Kyoto were as big as mung beans, and they were also mixed with ancient ink. Unfortunately, the gold foil wrapped outside was too thin, and the patterns were extremely ugly.The Wanying ingot in Qihuitang on Fuchengmen Street is also famous. Although it is surrounded by golden light, it is a pity that the quality of the ink is not good.The particle size of the imperial pharmacy product is indeed like mouse droppings, wrapped in thick gold leaf, the ancient ink is cool in nature, and the gold leaf dissolves phlegm. When people from the south come from the north, they often ask the people in Beijing to collect a bottle or two and bring them back for collection. Fang dare to take it.It is rumored that taking more cold essence may lead to infertility.In fact, children in Beiping regard Wanying Tablets as a safe medicine, and they swallow a dozen or twenty pills to dispel fire and restrain food when they feel angry. I have never heard of any child who took too much Wanying Tablets and got infertility symptoms. Every year on the second day of February when the dragon raises its head, the Royal Pharmacy takes inventory and cleans its inventory as usual, and sells all damaged and mildewed medicinal materials to Yong'an Hall in Donghuamen by the catty.Yong'an Hall knew that there were many precious and unusual medicinal materials in the bottoms of the imperial pharmacy every year, so on the eve of April 28th, the birthday of the king of medicine, Sun Simiao, he took part of the bottoms of the imperial pharmacy and boiled it into a big pot. Plaster, named Baixiao ointment, cures all diseases.There are two stickers for a big one, and there are people waiting in line before dawn.As soon as the sun comes out, they are all sold out. If you want to buy them, please visit early next year. There was a big salt merchant in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province who had a nameless swollen poison. Someone gave him a few pastes of Baixiao ointment, and after putting it on, it worked like a god, so he regarded Baixiao ointment as a magic elixir.One year, the author had a trip to Yangzhen, and he specially asked me to buy Baixiao ointment worth 200 yuan and bring it to Yangzhou.At that time, the two hundred yuan of Baixiao ointment filled a large suitcase, and it was only by asking someone to buy so many pastes. After the car arrived in Zhenjiang, he was about to change boats to cross the river. The customs officer at Zhenjiang Customs inspected the customs. When he opened the box, he found that the whole box was full of plasters. He wondered why a person bought so many plasters. There might be black opium in them. Insist on not letting go.Later, it was someone from Yangzhou who rushed to Jiang to pass and explain, so they were exempted from seizure.Since then, the Baixiao Ointment of Yong'an Hall in Kyoto has become famous in Yang Town, and it is bought in large quantities every year for charity.By the time of the Anti-Japanese War, the bottom of the warehouse of the Royal Pharmacy was probably exhausted. Although Yong'an Tong still sold Baixiao Gao, everyone said that the efficacy of the later Baixiao Gao was not as good as before. Although the imperial dining room is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it is actually only responsible for the prime minister's purchase, distribution, additional utensils, and labor management.As for the arrangement of the daily dishes, the taste is salty or light, because the chief eunuchs are all accompanying the attendants for three meals. It is clear to everyone that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is happy to take less responsibility. Over time, these tasks are simply handled and arranged by the eunuchs. There is a golden rule in the imperial dining room: "It is better to be alive than to be rotten, and it is better to be bland than salty." According to the custom made in the palace, the number of bowls and plates for each table is stipulated according to the grade.There are 108 dishes for the emperor, the emperor, and the empress dowager, 96 dishes for the queen, and 64 dishes for the imperial concubine; as for the concubines, princes, and princesses, there are also a certain number of dishes, which are distributed from the imperial dining room to each palace. Send, no one can mess with the rules. The nearest place between the official and the palace is one mile away, and the kitchen stove in the imperial dining room is always smoky, so it is not too close to the place where the emperor eats.Let’s take the emperor’s 108 dishes. Don’t talk about eating, it’s just arranging the dishes. You can also use a water bowl to support them when stewing, stewing, and frying. Are all the dishes ruined? Don't look down on the Imperial Dining Room, there are really experts in it.After they cooked the dishes, they put them in large glazed bowls, covered the bowls tightly, and placed them in rows on thick iron plates with flying iron eaves and handles, and covered them with an iron plate. It is equivalent to an iron box, with raging charcoal fires roasting on the top and bottom.As long as you pass the meal, put all the dishes in fine porcelain bowls, all with silver lids, some dishes need to be lined with water bowls, put them on the table, lift the table to a square table, one hundred There are five square tables with a variety of dishes, which is enough.However, some stir-fried dishes still have to be cooked fresh, so the Forbidden City has displayed the menus of Qianlong, Cixi, and Xuantong. This is why there are few and few dishes. According to Jin Shoushen, an expert on folklore in the old capital, "the milk house has a long history. Before the Qing soldiers entered the customs, there was a milk house, and it has been with the army. The earliest milk house only prepared cow and sheep milk tea, milk cakes, and milk cakes. A few things for children. Because milk is a nutritious food for cold and hunger resistance, it is small and does not take up space. When marching and fighting, you can hide a few milk cakes in your arms, which can satisfy your hunger and endure war at any time. Therefore, the milk house was the first Qing army. An indispensable logistics supply unit for marching. In the Kangxi period of Haiyan and Heqing, the number of milkhouses increased and the organization expanded, and gradually it evolved into the base camp for making fine milk snacks in the officials." According to Brother Shen, after Xihou Jinliang It is confirmed that there are indeed such records in the Manchurian archives. During the reign of Xuantong, the princes of the alliance flags paid tribute on New Year's Day, and milk cakes were included in the tribute.The milk cake is slightly smaller than a silver round, but three silver rounds are thick, and there are twelve pieces in each box, and they are packed in a thick wooden box brushed with cork water.Eating two or three milk cakes can be worth a meal, which has the same effect as the concentrated dry food of the Second World War. The Naizifang is best at the fruit box, which is really golden and delicious.Milk products include milk rolls, milk cakes, milk otah, cheese, fried crispy snails, small fried food, beans include jujube paste, pea yellow with walnut paste, mung bean yellow, soybean rolls, kidney bean cake, and various candied fruit , all kinds of nuts dipped in rock sugar, it is really the top jade food, light yellow and purple, the color is intoxicating.Some foods are rare for outsiders, and some are available for outsiders, but compared to the fineness and roughness of milk products, there is no way to compare them. The fruit boxes in the nursery are divided into two types: full table and half table, each box has sixteen samples, four boxes are called full table, and two boxes are called half table.If the reward is a fruit box, even half a table is much more affordable than a table of jelly dishes, because everything is tea and food that is not easy to eat.In the 19th year of the Republic of China, Mr. Li Mugong, who gave up his relatives, came to visit Beiping from Shanghai. At that time, he accompanied his venerable Li Zhongxuan (Jingxi) to Beijing to meet his majesty and ate a rewarded fruit box. This time he came to Peiping and always wanted to relive the old dream. , Eat the fruit box of the whole table again. Coincidentally, Beihai Wulongting opened a Fangshan restaurant. It is said that it was opened by two royal chefs in the imperial dining room. It can be said that there is no second copy in Beijing.His Hanging Oven Biscuits are soft and moderately soft and neither thick nor thin. The fried minced meat is not only thin and smooth, but the most rare thing is that the minced meat is sandwiched in the Hanging Oven Biscuits without dripping oil, and the plates are also clean. oil base.Just this hand is enough to prove that he is a chef from the imperial dining room and after his emotional intelligence, he finally made a table of fruit boxes for the price of a table of jelly vegetables, but unfortunately there is only one thing missing in it - milk black him.Because of milk black, he wanted to use good yam medicine, but unfortunately the yam was out of stock at that time, which was a fly in the ointment.Mr. Yuan Bokui from Xiangtan and Mr. Chen Sanyuan from Yining who were present at that time thought that this table of fruit boxes was the most exquisite tea and food they had ever eaten in their life.Mr. Sanyuan also has a chronicle of the Five Ancients. I don't know if it was included in his poetry collection later. Mr. Na Zhiliang talked about the tea storehouse and satin storehouse, which also caused a few short stories that the author experienced in those years.When disposing of those materials in the Forbidden City, some friends like to drink black tea and green tea, so they bought some royal tea to taste.Little do they know that black tea and green tea contain relatively high water content after being smoked. After many times of natural fermentation, the result of mildew, black tea agglomerates, green tea will shatter when touched, and the musty smell is so strong that it is impossible to make tea for drinking.On the contrary, Dali Pu'er tea and Yunnan Tuo tea are made into tea cakes and tea bricks, which contain low water content, and then pressed into bricks to form air-tight blocks, which will not mildew. During the Spring Festival this year, literary friends gathered in Taipei. Brother Zhuang Chan brought a brick of tea from the Qianlong period and made a pot for everyone to taste. It is said that it can cure colds.As soon as I drink it, the charm has not yet developed, and I can't feel the goodness. After drinking the second cup, I feel the fragrance is slightly astringent, and I feel that the essence is rising, and the meaning is refreshing and sweet.When the author was auctioning materials in the Forbidden City, I also bought a few cakes of Tuocha.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, comparing the two newly made Tuocha teas in Yunnan, the former is thick and smooth, while the latter is fresh and sweet at the first sip, but when you taste it carefully, you will feel a bit turbid and condensed, not as leisurely and far-reaching as the former.The author is not good at drinking tea, so I personally feel so, whether it is because the tribute products have been finely processed, and the commercially available Tuocha is relatively extensively produced, I dare not speculate on it. The silk and satin cloth that was cleared out of the satin warehouse in the past has been stored for a long time and the inner warehouse is airtight. After a long time, even the top thirty-three satins still look glorious, but the texture is so bad that they cannot be cut into clothes.Bai Pinsan, the treasurer of Taichang Silk and Satin Co., Ltd. on Qianmen Street in Beiping, visited the auction house of the Forbidden City.He could tell that the silk was rotten at a glance, and of course he would not spend money to be fooled, but he found that there were two lying boxes, which were full of colorful rolls of solid yarn and official yarn.This kind of transparent gauze was originally worn under robes in summer, who needs translucent gauze now!But Bai Pinsan had a discerning eye, he bought all the yarn in the two crates. The upper floors of glass windows in houses in Peiping are large windows, and in winter they are pasted with paper, leaving only the small roll-up windows.Bai Pinsan felt that the patterns and styles of the solid yarn were very elegant and generous, so he chose darker colors such as sky blue, light blue, emerald green, dark green, light crimson, and pasted them on the windows instead of pearls. A cool and comfortable feeling. Later, Yuan Keding, the eldest son of Yuan Xiangcheng, found out, and tried every means to get a few volumes from Bai Pinsan's hands, and put them in the painting room where he lived in the Summer Palace.This is also a short story about the sale of materials in the Forbidden City.As for the sale of fur goods in the Forbidden City, due to the sloppy procedures, some celebrities made a fuss, their faces turned red, and they almost went to court.