China News Service, Beijing, March 30th: How to understand the Chinese cultural context from the layout of the civil and military buildings in the Forbidden City?
——Exclusive interview with Wang Zilin, director of the Research Office and Research Librarian of the Palace Museum
China News Service reporter Ying Ni
The Forbidden City is the largest and most complete ancient wooden palace complex in the world, with a history of more than 600 years. Walking in it, one can easily feel its magnificence. The lifeline of the Palace Museum is attached to the palaces of the Forbidden City, growing and extending along its cultural context.
What is the beauty of this architectural complex? How can we understand the ever-growing Chinese context from the layout of the civil and military buildings in the Forbidden City? Wang Zilin, director of the Research Office and Research Librarian of the Palace Museum, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" to explain it.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
China News Service reporter: What do you think of the characteristics of the architectural layout of the Forbidden City?
Wang Zilin:
Walking around the Forbidden City in Beijing, attentive viewers may find that most of the buildings and facilities related to culture and civil service in the city are on the east side, while palaces and facilities for military punishment and armaments are mostly on the west side. For example, there are two double-eaves pavilions on the east and west sides in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Tiren Pavilion in the east and the Hongyi Pavilion in the west. The yellow glazed tiles on the roof of the verandah form a pattern of confrontation between east and west to protect the main hall.
This architectural pattern of Dongwen and Xiwu can be traced back to the Nanjing capital during the Hongwu period. Zhu Yuanzhang made Nanjing his capital, built the Forbidden City, and built the Wen Building, Wenhua Hall, Wu Building, and Wuying Hall on the east and west sides of the main hall, Fengtian Hall. Before the Ming Dynasty, although there were two groups of civil and military buildings on both sides of the main hall of important buildings, the characteristics of civil and military buildings were not emphasized. Instead, they were regarded as bell towers and drum towers, which were isolated in the entire palace and capital.
A model of the Temple of Supreme Harmony and its surrounding buildings at the exhibition "Traveling through the Forbidden City - Building Architecture" on display in Hong Kong. Photo by Zhang Wei
The construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing began during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. It also emphasized the characteristics of civil and military affairs. Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall were built behind the second floor of the civil and military buildings. They echoed the Chongwen Gate and Xuanwu Gate in Beijing, forming a new urban layout characteristic, that is, with the Chinese The city is divided into a symmetrical distribution pattern of civil and military forces based on the axis.
"Separate civil and military forces to create differences", this is the capital plan of the Forbidden City.
China News Service reporter: What is the significance of the architectural layout of Dongwenxiwu in the Forbidden City?
Wang Zilin:
The tradition of Eastern culture and Western martial arts can be traced back to "Historical Records". This architectural pattern is the embodiment of traditional civil and military principles, benevolence and righteousness, and Yin and Yang principles. It shows that the universe, heaven and earth, and the world are combined in this way, so the city is also combined in this way, which constitutes the extraordinary temperament of a city.
The Forbidden City after snow. Photo by Han Haidan
The way of civil and military affairs originated from the way of Yao and Shun. Mencius said, "The way of Yao and Shun could not govern the world without benevolence." The way of Yao and Shun was benevolence, and its core was literary virtue. The ancients believed that cultivating literary virtues can make people from far away submit to them. Literary virtues have meanings such as kindness, honesty, gentleness, and purity. Just as "The Analects of Confucius·Ji's Sixteenth" said, "If people from far away are not convinced, then cultivate literary virtues and bring them back." ".
In the Ming Dynasty, the capital city of Beijing and the palace city of the Forbidden City were laid out according to civil and military arrangements, with the purpose of "adhering to the virtue of literature" and "confronting Vietnam in the sky" and pursuing the ideal of world peace.
View of the Palace Museum in Beijing from the Meridian Gate. Photo by Du Yang
During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Wen Zhao Pavilion (Wen Pavilion) in the Forbidden City in Beijing was renamed the Ti Ren Pavilion, and the Wucheng Pavilion (Wu Pavilion) was renamed the Hongyi Pavilion, replacing "Wen" with "Ren" and "Martial" with "Yi". It was renamed Tiren and Hongyi in order to emphasize that "keeping the world is called benevolence".
It should be pointed out that although the Qing Dynasty changed its name, it still essentially inherited the core values in traditional cultural cognition. Hongyi means great justice, which means that a gentleman should abide by social ethics and morals. Physical benevolence means that as a gentleman, you must first be benevolent and then you can teach others.
Reporter from China News Service: How should people today understand the endless Chinese cultural context from the layout of the civil and military buildings in the Forbidden City?
Wang Zilin:
The ancient Chinese believed in the Yin-Yang theory, which is one of the very important theories in traditional philosophical thought. People combine opposites, opposites, and contradictory things to form a unity of opposites, which is an interpretation of the way of heaven.
On March 8, 2024, the weather was fine in Beijing, and many citizens and tourists came to visit the Palace Museum. Photo by Zhao Wenyu
The civil and military structure of the Forbidden City is actually a Yin-Yang structure. On the one hand, this is reflected in the layout of civil and military buildings. On the other hand, the civil and military bureaucracy of the political system is set up according to the Yin and Yang principle.
Since the Zhou Dynasty, the system for officials to go to court has been arranged according to taste and rank. In the Tang Dynasty, although there was no second floor with the names of civil and military officials, civil servants entered from the east gate and military officers from the west gate. The Ming Dynasty inherited According to this tradition, according to the provisions of the "Da Ming Huidian", when going to court, civil servants must be located in the north-west direction of the Wen Building, and military officers must be located in the north-east direction of the Wu Building.
From the way of civil and military affairs, the way of benevolence and righteousness to the way of yin and yang, the layout of civil and military buildings in the Forbidden City has been elevated to the level of cognitive ontology. This civil and military architectural pattern reflects the concept of benevolence and righteousness. Benevolence and righteousness are not only the basic values of Chinese culture, but also an important manifestation of the Chinese national spirit. As a carrier of culture, the Forbidden City is like a spark of fire, embedding thousands of years of civilization into the architectural layout and passing it on from generation to generation.
China News Service reporter: What are the differences between Chinese and Western architectural concepts? What impact did the layout of the Forbidden City have on the traditional architecture of surrounding countries?
Wang Zilin:
The Forbidden City is a product of China's local culture. It was built under the guidance of Confucianism, which resulted in a unique architectural language, such as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Palace of Qianqing, the Kunning Palace, the Shenwu Gate, the Meridian Gate, etc. Although the architecture of the Forbidden City has not changed much in appearance, its layout and the orientation of its name are very important, and are directly related to the function of the building and the rich spiritual realm it embodies.
On March 28, 2023, the "Brilliant Central Axis" exhibition was launched at the Capital Museum in Beijing, and the central axis sand table attracted visitors. Beijing’s central axis has become a representative of urban culture. Photo by Yi Haifei
As Swedish scholar Osvald Siren said after visiting the Forbidden City more than a hundred years ago, the accumulation of continuous levels and spaces and the artistic conception of rhythm are the basis for the decisive equilibrium state of the Forbidden City. This equilibrium The state also represents the crystallization of legendary, philosophical, and scientific wisdom, making the city exquisitely a symbol of the center of the universe.
Western architecture is quite different. Many Western building names reflect the form of the building itself. For example, the Palace of Versailles directly used the name of a small town on the outskirts of Paris as its official name, and Buckingham Palace in the United Kingdom. This name has no deep meaning literally.
The mysteries of the universe discovered by ancient Chinese sages who observed astronomy and geography were sanctified and emotionalized, and became unquestionable rational principles. People associate the movement of celestial bodies with the changes in time and seasons on the earth, and this ideological understanding is also reflected in architecture. Therefore, ancient buildings, including the Forbidden City, can "dialogue" with the universe, and the heaven, earth, mountains, rivers and buildings are integrated. The formation of the Fengtian Hall in Nanjing and the Taihe Hall in Beijing reflects the ancients' understanding of the way of the universe.
On July 28, 2022, a Fuxing EMU passed through the Yongding Gate of the landmark building at the southern end of Beijing's central axis. Beijing’s Central Axis is a spatial complex composed of a series of buildings, historical landmarks, historical streets, bridges and ruins. Today, it has been integrated into modern life, returned to society, and serves the people. Photo by Tomita
The layout of the Forbidden City influenced the traditional architecture of surrounding countries. The late architect and professor Guo Daiheng of Tsinghua University once pointed out that the Vietnamese Royal Palace is located in Hue City, and Hue City and the Royal Palace were built based on the ancient city and imperial city of Beijing.
China News Service reporter: As an old "Forbidden City resident" who has worked for 35 years, how do you feel when walking in the Forbidden City?
Wang Zilin:
Whenever I stand on the platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony and look around, to the east is Tiren Pavilion and to the west is Hongyi Pavilion. All buildings related to Wen, Ren and Chun are located in the east, and all buildings related to Wu and Yi are located in the east. , autumn-related buildings are all located in the west. The east is where the sun rises, spring returns to the earth, and the yang energy rises; the west is where the sun sets, and the fire flows in July, and the yin energy condenses to form the yin and yang in the city. I believe that Chinese people have been benevolent from ancient times to the present, and this is the foundation for the Chinese culture to be passed down from generation to generation.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony and Tiren Pavilion and Hongyi Pavilion in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Photo by Feng Jun
To fully understand the architecture of the Forbidden City, one must not only see the magnificent buildings and exquisite construction techniques, but also understand the cultural connotations behind them. In the construction process of the Forbidden City, craftsmen played an important role. What cannot be ignored is that behind the construction planning, there is also a large group of literati who are familiar with Chinese culture making suggestions. From Yao, Shun, and Yu to Confucius and Mencius, from Dong Zhongshu and Han Yu to Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, this is a clear cultural context, and the Forbidden City is the expression of the Chinese cultural context. (over)
Interviewee profile:
Wang Zilin graduated from the Department of Archeology of Peking University in 1989. In the same year, he joined the Palace Museum and was engaged in the storage, display and research of palace cultural relics. He is currently the director and research librarian of the research office of the Palace Museum. The main research objects are the palace buildings and original furnishings of the palaces in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, focusing on exploring their development and evolution from birth, growth, strength and subtlety, as well as the way of benevolence and sainthood in the end of virtue and wealth. Representative works: "The Original Condition and Originality of the Forbidden City", "Furnishings of the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties", "Awakening the Sleeping Palace: An Investigation of the Original Condition of the Forbidden City", "Embracing Shu without Saying a Word: The Seventy-Three Years of Qianlong's Perseverance", "The Construction of the Forbidden City", "Qin'an Palace" "The Original Situation" (Editor-in-Chief), "The Sun Rising and the Moon Eternal: The Glory of the Forbidden City". Hosted exhibitions: "Seeing the Heart of Heaven and Earth: The Meaning and Image of the Chinese Study Room", "All Things Open: Joint Exhibition of the Forbidden City and Tibetan Cultural Relics" and the original display of the Taishang Palace.