THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Beijing - page 176

the most interesting, as many of the rooms have been restored to their full Qing elegance,
decked out with graceful furniture and ornaments. Even the everyday objects are impressive:
brushes and ink stones on desks, ornate fly whisks on the arms of chairs, little jade trees on
shelves. Other rooms house displays of ceramics, books and exotic martial-art weaponry. The
Qing emperors were fine calligraphers, and examples of their work appear throughout the
palace.
Front Palace
There are 26 buildings in this group, arranged south to north in nine successive compounds,
which correspond to the nine levels of heaven. The main gate leads into the Outer Wumen ,
where high-ranking officials waited for a single peal of a large bell, indicating that the em-
peror was ready to receive them. Next is the InnerWumen , where the emperor would watch
his officers practise their archery. Directly behind, the Hall of Frugality and Sincerity is a
dark, well-appointed room made of cedarwood, imported at great expense from south of the
Yangzi River by Qianlong, who had none of his grandfather Kangxi's scruples about con-
spicuous consumption. Topped with a curved roof, the hall has nine bays, and patterns on
the walls include symbols of longevity and good luck. The Four Knowledge Study Room
behind was where the emperor worked, changed his clothes and rested. A vertical scroll on
the wall outlines the knowledge required of a gentleman: he must be aware of what is small,
obvious, soft and strong.
Rear Palace
The main building in the Rear Palace is the HallofRefreshingMistsandWaves , the living
quarters of the imperial family, and beautifully turned out in period style. It was in the west
room here that Emperor Xianfeng signed the humiliating Beijing Treaty in the 1850s, giving
away more of China's sovereignty and territory after their defeat in the Second Opium War.
The Western Apartments are where the notorious Cixi, better known as the Dowager Em-
press , lived when she was one of Xianfeng's concubines. A door connects the apartments to
the hall, and it was through here that she eavesdropped on the dying emperor's last words of
advice to his ministers, intelligence she used to force herself into power.
Outer complexes
The other two complexes are much smaller. The Pine and Crane Residence , a group of
buildings parallel to the front gate, is a more subdued version of the Front Palace, and was
home to the emperor's mother and his concubines. In the Myriad Valleys of Rustling Pine
Trees , to the north of here, Emperor Kangxi read books and granted audiences, and Qian-
long studied as a child. The group of structures southwest of the main palace is the Ahgesuo ,
where male descendants of the royal family studied during Manchurian rule; lessons began
at 5am and finished at noon. A boy was expected to speak Manchu at 6, Chinese at 12, be
competent with a bow by the age of 14 and marry at 16.