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Prince Gongwang's Residence and Garden
Prince Gong's Residence is located at Qianhai
West Street, Xicheng District, Beijing.This mansion originally belonged to He
Shen, the highest official in the reign of Qianlong, the Qing Dynasty (1644 -
1911). He Shen was put in prison for 20 crimes by Emperor Jiaqing, and the
mansions he owned were confiscated by the court. Emperor Jiajing granted this
mansion to his brother Prince Qingxi, whose name was Yong Lin. And the mansion
was renamed as Prince Qingwang's Residence. During the reign of Xianfeng, it was
the mansion of Prince Yixin, the sixth son of Emperor Daoguang and renamed as
Prince Gong's Residence. Yixin was famous in Chinese modern history. When
the British and French allied army invaded Beijing, Emperor Xianfeng escaped to
Rehe (today's Chengde, Hebei Province) and Yixin was appointed as a full-fledged
minister to negotiate with the allied army. Colluding with Dowager Empress Cixi,
he launched the Beijing Coup in 1861and controlled the regime. He was promoted
to the positions of Prince Yizheng and the Minister of Privy Council, taking
charge of foreign affairs. Later, he started the westernization movement.
Because he proposed to eliminate the Taiping Army by the force of foreign
countries, he became the leader of westernizers in the Qing Court. In 1865, he
was dismissed by Cixi, and was dismissed several times after that. He died of
illness in 1898.
Prince Gong's Residence is the most intact mansion preserved in Beijing.
It consists of a mansion and a garden. It occupies 46.5 mu (15 mu
= 1 hectare). Since the residence was extremely luxurious when it was
firstly built by He Shen, the halls in it followed the style of Palace of
Tranquil Longevity in the Forbidden City. Some halls were made of nanmu and
combined the features of both mansions and gardens. From the south to the north,
the halls are divided into five rows with three groups of courtyards from east
to west. At the front of the axis, there are two gates and the second one is
larger than the first one. Originally, there stood the main hall named the
Yin'an Hall, which has collapsed. The extant Jiale Hall features the style of
imperial palaces. The three quadrangles along the eastern line feature Ming
Dynasty architecture style. The main stucture of the western line is shaped like
Chinese character
in a bird's view. The three-bay building in the middle has the blindstory of two
floors in the east, west and north. It was in this building that the calligraphy
titbit Pingfutie by Lu Ji in the Jin Dynasty (265-420) was treasured up. In the
sixth year (1880) of the Guangxu reign, Yixin gained the masterwork from Prince
Cheng's mansion, and its name was changed to be the Xijinzhai. In this building
there were delicately decorated yarn cabinet and banister, etc. In the
thirteenth crime committed by He Shen, there were the following words: the nanmu
house was too luxurious, with the style and pattern akin to that of the Ningshou
Hall. The house mentioned above was just the Xijinzhai. Behind the three
courtyards, there is a back building, which is 160 meters long from the east to
the west. It is a two-storeyed building with more than 40 rooms. The east part
is named the Zhanji Building and the west part the Baoyue Building. The whole
mansion looks very magnificent.
Behind the building there is the Cuijinyuan Garden of 38.6 mu. There are
winding corridors that connect each other, pavilions and terraces here and
there. The bluish green water flows like a jade belt with the craggy hill stones
stand beside. The scenery changes with passage of time. The main building
includes the Yaoyue Hall, Opera Tower, Qinqiu Pavilion, Yu Pass and Duxiu Hill,
etc. The scenery here is as beautiful and serene as that of the Rongguo Mansion
and Daguanyuan Garden described in Dream of the Red Chamber, the masterwork of
Cao Xueqin. Therefore, legend has it that Prince Gong's Mansion was the
residence of Jia Baoyu (dramatis personae in Dream of the Red Chamber), while
some people think Yixin built the garden following the architectural style of
the Daguanyuan Garden. On the east of Prince Gong's Residence lies the
Shichahai Lake, a place for people to enjoy the summer evenings. The nearby
famous gardens, ancient temples and royal mansions also add to the flourish
here.
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