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The Palace Museum - Hall of Mental Cultivation

Yangxin Palace

Yangxin Hall was just an ordinary hall in the Forbidden City, the Yongzheng Emperor converted as a bedchamber, followed by his eight Qing successors. During Tongzhi and Guangxu period, Empress Dawagers Cixi and Ci'an reigned behind a curtain here, controlling the Qing regime for decades.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin Hall 养心殿) is located in the west road of the Inner Court of the Forbidden City, with Qianqing Palace to the east, the Six Palaces of West Road to the north, the Imperial Cuisine department and military offices to the south, and it’s also close to the Three Halls of the Outer Court, which makes It an easily accessible place in all directions.

Yangxin Hall was built in the Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing years, initially just an ordinary side hall next to the Qianqing Palace. The bed-chamber of Yongzheng and the next eight emperors located here, thus Yangxin Hall had become the most important place in the Forbidden City. It is no exaggeration to say that the Yangxin Hall was the center of national politics and power during the Qing dynasty.

The asymmetrical, single-saddle-roofed building behind a Glazed Yangxin Gate and wooden screen wall is the Yangxin Hall. From the outside, Yangxin Hall has a much lower rank in specifications than the Taihe Hall, Qianqing Palace, etc., and its structure is very unique, too.

When you look closer, the inner Yangxin Hall is divided into a number of compartments of varying sizes, roughly divided into The Opening Space in the Middle, as well as the left and right side of the West Chamber 东暖阁 and East Chamber 西暖阁. The East and West Chambers, according to different functions, is divided into Sanxi Hall 三希堂, “Qinzhengqinxian” hall 勤政亲贤殿, Wujuanzhai 无倦斋, Meiwu 梅坞, etc.

Sanxi Hall, located in the western end of Yangxin Hall, is the study of the Emperor Qianlong, where there was a collection of Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi’s timeless work “Timely Clearing After Snowfall 快雪时晴帖”, Wang Xianzhi’s “Mid-Autumn 中秋帖” and Wang Xun’s “Boyuan 伯远帖”, the three calligraphic treasures were called Sanxi (Three Rares 三希), and the hall was named after them.

The famous Yangxin Hall East Chamber is the place where the Empress Dowager Cixi reigned behind the curtain. In Tongzhi, and Guangxu periods, Empress Dowagers Cixi and Cian ruled China together here. In the late Qing Dynasty, Cixi’s reign lasted for half a century.

In addition to Yangxin Hall in the center of this area, there are also Tishuntang, Yanxi Hall, East and West side halls here, as the living spaces for the Empress and concubines.

Because of the special political position of Yangxin Hall, there are many rumors about it. It is said that there is a small passageway for one person only between the military office in the northwest corner of the Qianqing Gate Square and the palace wall on the north side, and this passageway can pass through the imperial dining room and go straight to the Yangxin Hall, but because the palace wall is now blocked, there is no way to verify this claim.

Next let’s go on and visit the royal family shrine in the Forbidden City, the Hall for Ancestral Worship (Fengxian Hall 奉先殿), and admire the exquisite collection of clocks and watches in the Palace Museum:

The Palace Museum - Hall for Ancestral Worship / The Clock Gallery

Fengxian Hall

Fengxian Hall was originally a family shrine in the Forbidden City, where the emperor worshipped his ancestors. Nowadays, the Fengxian Hall has been transformed into a clock and watch gallery within the Forbidden City, displaying over a hundred precious and exquisite clocks and watches from the collection of the Palace Museum.