Tag: Chinese tradition

On July 19^th 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 26^th October 2023  is World Food Day, let’s get to know the word “rice” in Oracle!
The word “rice” in oracle bone inscriptions is made up of rice grains. The small dots above and below represent rice grains. Some people think that the horizontal drawing in the middle is the shape of a sieve.

“Mi” initially referred to millet that had taken off its shell, and later it gradually referred to rice specifically, which is the rice we are familiar with. my country’s early rice domestication played an important role in the origin of world agriculture. As early as more than 10,000 years ago in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (Shangshan Site), our ancestors had begun the domestication of rice, which was basically synchronized with the domestication of major crops in the world such as wheat and corn.

Today, more than half of the world’s population depends on rice, but there are still 200-300 million people facing severe food crises. Let us join together to respond to the ” palacezerowaste  ” initiative, take action on discs, cherish every particle and never throw it away!

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, Qing Dynasty, yellow ground pastel color 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 ceremony.

From October 12th to 18th, the week-long third “Forbidden City Zero Waste Catering Culture Week” came to an end! During this Catering Culture Week, the Forbidden City has newly upgraded and launched an “immersive zero-waste restaurant” experience. It provides publicity, decoration tips, action guidelines, etc. based on scientific dining procedures to encourage audiences and employees to proactively reduce food waste and develop a “CD-ROM” Actions”, “reduce disposable plastic tableware”, “garbage sorting” and other good green dining habits.

“Grains are the life of all people and the most important treasure of the country.” Palace museum and Vanke philanthropy foundation invite you to participate in palacezerowaste and let the good habit of “zero waste dining” accompany you every day to ensure “food security”

Tongzhi of the Qing Dynasty, a gold-engraved tea bowl with patterns of flowers, longevity and longevity. The tea bowl is made of 80% gold. The round mouth is slightly open, and the upper part of the outer wall and the circle foot are engraved with a pattern around it. The middle of the outer wall is engraved with two pairs of characters “囍” and the character “Shou”, and the lower part is decorated with lotus petals. Inscribed on the sole of the foot is “Two liang equal to seven liang, four qian and two cents in the eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872)”. The eleventh year of Tongzhi (1872) was the year of Emperor Tongzhi’s wedding. The word “囍” was engraved on the bowl, which should be used for the wedding.

Dharma stickers are made by imitating the ink marks of famous people from different eras on stones, making rubbings and spreading them widely. Among them, the ancients said that those with fine imitation, engraving, and rubbing are “first class than authentic works.” Dharma stickers can more realistically reproduce the calligraphy of famous artists, making it easier for people to practice calligraphy. The publication of “Chunhua Pavilion Tie” in the Northern Song Dynasty created the trend of engraving and passing on rubbings, and it is known as the “ancestor of Fati”.

The original stone of “Chunhua Pavilion Tie” was destroyed long ago. Song Tuo Charming The second section of the exhibition “Chunhua Pavilion Calligraphy and Song Dynasty Dharma Calligraphy” displays the Maoqin Palace copy collected by the Palace Museum and the Quanzhou copy collected by the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. They are both rare re-engraved copies of the “Chunhua Pavilion Calligraphy” handed down from ancient times.

Qing Dynasty, golden dragon and phoenix double 囍 pattern plate. This gold plate is 4.8 centimeters high and 30.6 centimeters in diameter. It is made of 80% gold and weighs forty taels. It is the largest gold plate existing in the Qing palace. There are four characters on the plate: “dragon”, “phoenix”, “double” and “囍”. This plate may have been used for the weddings of emperors and empresses.

Painted banquet table with golden dragon and phoenix patterns. In the Qing Dynasty, when the emperors and empresses held wedding ceremonies, they had to share a table and eat together. The table was entered by the female official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The emperor sat on the right and the queen sat on the left, eating and drinking opposite each other. This table is the combined banquet table. The table is made of wood, with a yellow lacquered table top and a painted golden dragon and phoenix “囍” pattern. The legs are slightly curved, making it beautiful and practical. Emperor Guangxu’s “Red Banquet of the Wedding Ceremony” records that the emperor and empress’s banquet table was one foot high, three feet five inches long, and two feet five inches wide. It was decorated with the Chinese character “囍” with dragons and phoenixes on a yellow ground. The size and pattern matched this table.

The scroll of “Guiju Mountain Birds” (Fig. 1) was painted by Lu Ji, a court painter of the Ming Dynasty, and is now collected in the Palace Museum. The subjects depicted on the axis of the picture are red-billed blue magpies, starlings, sweet-scented osmanthus, and autumn chrysanthemums, all of which are auspicious and precious things. The objects in the picture not only truly show the natural nature of the creatures, but also vividly express the beautiful meaning. The starlings on the branches are chirping at each other, highlighting their good singing nature; the four red-billed blue magpies are graceful and their dark blue feathers are particularly eye-catching. Among them, the three in the lower left corner are fighting for an insect, which is lifelike. The red-billed blue magpie is a beautiful bird. The male and female have similar feather colors. Its extraordinary temperament can be called the “face value” among birds. However, their calls are in great contrast to their beautiful appearance and graceful flying posture. They make many different noisy calls and whistles, which are rough and noisy….

Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, the recipe for the Henu Banquet. According to Emperor Guangxu’s “Red Banquet of the Wedding Ceremony”, on the twenty-seventh day of the first lunar month in the fifteenth year of Guangxu’s reign (1889), the emperor and his empress had a banquet. The meal list was as follows: red gold plate with two items: pig black fork and sheep black fork; red gold bowl The fourth product: bird’s nest with the character “Eight Immortals” duck, the bird’s nest with the character “囍”, shredded duck, thin pork shreds soup; the second product of the red gold plate: the bird’s nest with the character “dragon” mixed with shredded smoked chicken, the bird’s nest with the character “phoenix”, golden and silver elbow flower, the bird’s nest with the character “Cheng”, spiced chicken , bird’s nest with auspicious characters, gold and silver duck silk; red gold snail plate with side dishes, second item; red gold plate with side dishes, second item; red ground with golden flower characters, porcelain bowl, second item: bird’s nest and eight immortals soup, second item; colorful Bai Zi porcelain bowl, second item: old rice meal; second item; The second product of the colorful Baizi porcelain bowl: the second product of Zisun Pastry. The dumplings are dumplings brought by the queen from her natal family and cannot be cooked. When the emperor and empress were eating them, a boy outside the window asked if they were alive, and the emperor and empress had to answer “live”. Eating cakes for descendants should be done before the Henu Banquet, which shows that the royal family attaches great importance to the inheritance of descendants. The tableware for the Hexin Banquet is luxurious, and the dishes contain the beautiful meaning of dragons and phoenixes, and the succession of descendants…

Qing Dynasty, red sandalwood inlaid glass with the word “囍” hanging on the corners. Emperors of the Qing Dynasty mostly married their queens in the afternoon or evening. Emperor Tongzhi married during the Shen hour, that is, between 3 pm and 5 pm, while Emperor Guangxu chose the Zi hour, which was between 11 pm and 1 am. When a wedding is held at night, lights and candles are naturally indispensable. There are poke lamps that can be inserted on the base, hand-held lamps, table lamps placed on the table, and hanging lamps hung on the room. Poke lamps and holding lamps are mostly used outdoors, while table lamps and hanging lamps are mostly used indoors. This hanging lamp consists of two parts: a lamp cap and a lamp body. The red character “囍” is pasted on the lamp body, which means prosperity and joy.

Today is #Double Ninth Festival# , it is advisable to climb high and face the open air, and express your feelings with your eyes wide open. # fall in love with the forbidden city #

Qing, the horny character holds the lamp. The lamp consists of two parts: cover and base. The lampshade is round in shape, with the upper and lower parts slightly tightened, and the word “囍” is written in red on both sides. The handle is connected to the base, and a bracket is installed on the base to fix the lampshade. The cover is made of horn, heated and boiled with cow and sheep horns and solvent until soft, and then different types of lasts are used to gradually expand it. The cover wall is thin and seamless, has good light transmission and is windproof. However, the production of lampshades is difficult, the yield is low, and those with large diameters are particularly rare. This kind of horn lamp is controlled by eunuchs and is not only used to illuminate the queen’s carriage when walking in the palace, but can also be placed in the wedding room to create a festive atmosphere…..

On the 24th October 2023 .. Fall in Love with the Forbidden City…. Turtles and cranes watch the sun and moon from a distance, while divine lins spit out mist and turn into frost. Repost three auspicious beasts and reap Frostfall…… good luck!

The autumn air is crisp and the autumn clouds are light. After mid-autumn, galloping horses and sentrying deer in the forest were seasonal leisure activities for the Qing Dynasty court. The method of sentrying a deer is to “put on the deer’s head and lie down in the forest ravine, and use the whistle to call the deer.” It can be seen that the deer whistle is an important tool for hunting deer. Deer whistles are shaped like horns, about two to three feet long, and can simulate the sound of a deer. According to the habits of deer, deer hunters need to start from the camp before the fifth watch, go to the predetermined location to hide, and wait with bated breath after the deer whistle blows. After the deer appears, because the distance is close and the target is clear, the deer will hit more; if occasionally If you fail to hit, the pursuit will generally not continue. Figure 8 is one of the imperial deer whistles collected by the Palace Museum that is on display in the exhibition….

Qing Dynasty, filigree enamel candlestick with the word “囍”. Before the advent of electric lights, people used oil lamps or candles for lighting. There were many candles and candlesticks in the Qing palace. Candlesticks are mostly made of metal, which is stable and difficult to ignite. Menorah styles vary depending on where they are used. This cloisonné enamel candlestick has a sky blue glaze base and is decorated with lotus patterns. Yuanbao symbolizes wealth and can prevent wax oil from spilling. The word “囍” indicates that this candlestick is specially made for weddings.

Wang Xizhi’s “Lanting Preface” of the Eastern Jin Dynasty is known as “the best running script in the world”. The “Lanting Preface” that has been handed down from generation to generation is divided into two types: later generations’ copy, copy and stone rubbing. During the Song Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, engraving and calligraphy flourished. “Preface to Orchid Pavilion” was carved in stone and passed down, which became a fashion. Collecting rubbings of “Lanting Preface” has gradually become a hobby among literati, ranging from a few to more than ten, or even hundreds or even hundreds.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Lizong, the Prime Minister of Yousi, collected hundreds of rubbings of Wang Xizhi’s “Lanting Preface”, which were later called “Youxiang Lanting”. According to the heavenly stems, there are ten types of each stem from A and B to Ren and Gui. In the third section of the #松图charm exhibition, “You Xiang Orchid Pavilion”, the Palace Museum and the Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong jointly displayed fourteen of them for the audience to compare and appreciate.

日国宫 , tonight’s good night comes from the book “Yuemanqingyoutu”·Chrysanthemum Appreciation on the Double Ninth Festival.

Images and visuals are from – Forbidden City –Palace Museum Beijing- China –People’s Republic of China…..