On July 19th 2023 , the multilingual website of the Forbidden City Palace Museum- Beijing, China, People’s Republic of Chinawas officially released at the Digital Cultural Tourism Development Forum of the 2023 China Internet Civilization Conference! The website covers five languages: English, French, Russian, Japanese, and Spanish, and will meet the needs of audiences with different languages.
The multilingual website of the Palace Museum is committed to establishing an international website that is concise, clear, easy to use for overseas audiences, and fits the construction of the modern civilization of the Chinese nation, including tour guides, information, panoramic tours, online exhibitions, collection appreciation, cultural topics, etc. Rich immersive content describing of the most detail collection that housed within the Forbidden City collection….
On the 11th October the anniversary of Daily palace, tonight’s good night comes from the 98-year-old Palace Museum…..
The wind blows and the rain blows, the stars move, and the ancient city remains undefeated through the prosperous years. Today is the 98th anniversary of the founding of the National Palace Museum . The Forbidden City carries the ancient memories of history, and has witnessed and accompanied everyone to open new chapters in life over the long years. On the 98th birthday of the Forbidden City, let us look back on every detail of our visit to the Forbidden City, relive our exclusive memories with the Forbidden City, and jointly protect this precious world cultural heritage!
Let’s read the calendar together During the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, bright yellow satin and flat gold embroidery with dragon and phoenix patterns on the backrest, bedding, and greetings. The Qing Dynasty palace mostly used hardwood furniture. Hardwood furniture is valuable and strong, but it can cause discomfort when sitting or lying down for long periods of time, especially in winter, so soft cushions are needed. The wooden kang is larger, and the mattress, backrest, and handstands are often used together. They are filled with cotton on the inside and wrapped in brocade and other fabrics, making them soft and comfortable. The soft cushion in the picture is embroidered with flat gold, using real gold threads embroidered on the surface of the fabric. Mattress, backrest and handrails are essential items in home life. Although they are trivial details, they are related to personal feelings and can reflect the taste of life, so they are valued by people at the time. Emperor Yongzheng put forward specific requirements for the design of cushions, backrests and hand patterns.
“The Qiang Guan is covered with frost all over the ground.” The autumn wind blows the camel bells, and also blows away the confusion at the end of the eyes of homesick travelers.
[Clothing] Camel gray tufted kui pattern dark flower diameter gauze small simple robe, camel ground dragon and phoenix Ganoderma lucidum Ruyi pattern brocade, beige ground flower pattern woven gold brocade, camel gauze short-waisted women’s socks
[Accessories] Topaz sword head with hooked grain pattern, light camel satin embroidered scratching chrysanthemum pattern waist round purse, gauze head flower
[Daily necessities] Topaz double ear-shaped movable ring bottle with lid, yellow tapestry fan with vines, flowers and butterflies and mahogany carved handles
日面宫# , tonight’s good night comes from Zhu Yunming’s cursive chrysanthemum poem ceremony.
In the Qing Dynasty, the kang blanket was embroidered with red cloth with Chinese characters, dragons and phoenixes, and colorful cloud patterns for generations. The carpet cultural relics in the Palace Museum are divided into carpets, kang rugs, and tapestries according to their uses. The center of this kang rug has a dragon and phoenix character “囍” pattern, and the edges are patterns of bats, gourds, plum blossoms, longevity peaches, and the character “囍”, which symbolize wealth, longevity, and descendants for generations. This kang rug uses Cantonese embroidery stitching and may come from Guangdong. It was a tribute specially purchased for the emperor’s wedding. According to Emperor Guangxu’s “Red Wedding Ceremony”, the East Nuan Pavilion of Kunning Palace used a red felt kang blanket embroidered with dragon and phoenix “囍” patterns.
Forbidden City Autumn Fashionable Color – Fragrant color
“The fragrance of ripe rice is ten miles west. The hibiscus fences fall with long bamboo silk. The hanging mountain fruits hang green and yellow.” In the scene of a good harvest, where does the autumn fragrance come from?
[Clothing] Women’s robe with fragrant yarn embroidered with eight groups of peony and Kuifeng patterns, fragrant satin soap boots with rice beads, fragrant satin velvet mouth with peony pattern oval purse, fragrant silk embroidered flower pattern handkerchief [Accessories] inlaid with pearls and
jade Belt buckle, yellow tourmaline bracelet with pearls and emerald ornaments
[daily necessities] jade flower handle cup, tea powder glazed string pattern bottle, tea powder glazed flower
Qing Dynasty, with dragon and phoenix characters on the mattress. The emperors and empresses of the Qing Dynasty often sat on the kang when they lived in the house, and kang blankets and mattresses were laid on the kang for convenience. According to Emperor Guangxu’s “Red Wedding Ceremony” records, when Emperor Guangxu got married, eight large red satin mattresses embroidered with dragons and phoenixes with “囍” patterns were prepared in the East Nuan Pavilion of Kunning Palace. This cushion was originally stored in Kunning Palace. From the embroidered pattern of dragon and phoenix with the character “囍”, it can be seen that it was used during the wedding of Emperor Guangxu.
Knots are the flowers that decorate the flowers. The mother-in-law is composed of a skeleton, an inner tube, and an exterior mother-in-law flower. The shapes of the flowers are various, including vase-shaped, olive-shaped, long angular, round, etc. They are called knots, hairpins, green strips, etc. according to the yellow strips they are attached to. Among them, the knot is decorated on the lower middle part of the front of the knot. Since most of the knots are equipped with hanging rings on both sides and the bottom edge of the back, beads can be hung; round hairpins are decorated on it, and long angular hairpins are decorated on the left and right sides of the knots..
Qing Dynasty, wood inlaid material, stone, gold and peach leather saddle. The saddle is made of wood, with an asphalt surface and painted with patterns such as butterflies and lotuses. The edge of the saddle is inlaid with rubies, turquoise, coral and other jewels. The attached yellow strips have the words “Happy Saddle” and “Branded Bundle” written on it. , it can be seen from this that it is a wedding saddle specially used for weddings. When the stipulated time came on the day of the emperor’s wedding, the eunuchs used ceremonial carriages to carry the queen to the Kunning Palace in the middle palace. When the queen entered Kunning Palace, the eunuch arrived in advance..
Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, bright yellow silk embroidered with clouds, bats, dragons, phoenixes and 囍 patterns. The napkin is a napkin. The emperor and empress wore it on their chests to avoid staining their clothes when they ate. The main color of this piece of clothing is bright yellow, with red, blue, white, and green colors in between. There is a yellow “囍” pattern in the center, dragon and phoenix patterns on both sides, and the edges are decorated with cranes, bats, deer, and the Chinese characters “Shou” and “Shou”. “囍” character pattern, etc. This bodice was specially made for the weddings or longevity celebrations of emperors and empresses of the Qing Dynasty.
Before the Han Dynasty, there were pre-Qin stone drums and Qin Shihuang carved stones. It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that rectangular standing stones with inscribed characters and a certain shape appeared, which were the stele with the meaning of later generations. With the development of the times, the meaning of stele gradually expanded to include stone inscriptions, such as stone inscriptions, epitaphs, cliff inscriptions, statue inscriptions, stone monument inscriptions, etc.
Most of the steles handed down from the Han Dynasty are rubbings from the Ming and Qing dynasties, with only a few rubbings from the Song Dynasty. The “Xiyue Huashan Temple Stele” of the Eastern Han Dynasty was destroyed in the Ming Dynasty, and only four rubbings survive: the Huayin and Siming editions collected by the Palace Museum, the Shunde edition collected by the Cultural Relics Collection of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Nagagaki edition collected by the Taito Ward Museum of Calligraphy in Tokyo, Japan. . Two of them, the Huayin version and the Shunde version, are on display in the first unit of this Song Tuo Charm exhibition, “Xiyue Huashan Temple Stele and Han and Tang Stele Inscriptions
Ming Dynasty, Zigang style sapphire cup. After the sitting ceremony was completed, the emperor and empress performed the ceremony of union. Before the ceremony, the queen redressed and dressed up. In addition to changing into court robes and gown, she also had to comb her long hair, which is a symbol of an unmarried girl, into the “two hairs” of a married daughter-in-law. At the end of the lunar month, the emperor and empress sat on the mattress, drinking and eating. Under the eaves outside the house, the banner couple sang a song of celebration in Manchu to wish the emperor and empress good luck on their wedding, and the wedding ceremony was completed. This sapphire cup has two connected tubes. A phoenix is carved between the two tubes as the cup handle. The rim of one side of the cup is engraved with the inscription “Zigang Zhi”, and the rim of the other side is engraved with the inscription “Henan Cup”.
Qing Dynasty, clay paint and yellow wine jar. Wedding ceremonies are grand and lively, often with wine added to the fun. This wine jar is made of clay and painted with colorful paint. The body of the jar is painted with auspicious patterns of dragons and phoenixes. There is the word “囍” on the jar body and sealing mud. The jar is filled with rice wine produced in Zhejiang. In ancient China, the best rice wine was brewed in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. This wine may have been specially produced by local officials as a tribute to the emperor’s wedding.
Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, yellow ground pastel magpie plum bowl. In preparation for the wedding in the 11th year of Tongzhi (1872), the palace issued a firing list and official instructions to the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory: “The queen needs to use porcelain for fourteen points and nine colors.” Among them, “Fourteen Points” refers to fourteen sets of porcelain with different patterns, each of which is a sea bowl, a large bowl, a medium bowl, a soup bowl, a rice bowl, a pocket bowl, a nine-inch plate, a seven-inch plate, a five-inch plate, and a four-inch plate. One-inch plates, three-inch plates, two-inch five-plates, wine cups, soup spoons, tea cups, large tea cups, tureens, tea jars, urns, powder boxes, rice bowls, rouge boxes, flower pots, narcissus boxes, etc. The inner wall of this bowl is plain, and the outer wall is painted with magpies and plum blossoms on the yellow ground. The main trunk of the plum tree is curved, the branches are strong, and plum blossoms are dotted on the branches. Black magpies are flying or perching, with vivid postures and delicate depictions. The magpie climbing on the plum blossom is a traditional Chinese auspicious pattern. It is pronounced by the words “xi” and “plum”, which means “happy on the eyebrows”. This patterned bowl is one of the “fourteen points” porcelain fired at Tongzhi’s wedding…
Images and visuals are from – Forbidden City –Palace Museum Beijing- China –People’s Republic of China…..
