Palace of Earthly Honour

Palace of Earthly Honour (翊坤宫，pinyin: yikungong) is one of the Six Western Palaces in the Forbidden City, which used to be a residence of imperial concubines. The palace is northern to Palace of Eternal Longevity, southern to Palace of Gathering Elegance, eastern to Palace of Eternal Spring, north-western to Hall of the Supreme Principle and south-western to Palace of Universal Happiness.[1]

History

Palace of Earthly Honour was built in 1420, like most of Western Palaces as Palace of Ten Thousand Peace (万安宫；pinyin: wan'an gong). In 1535, the palace was renamed as Palace of Earthly Honor (翊坤宫) by Jiajing Emperor. The current name of the palace corresponds with trigram "kun" ("earth") present in the name of Palace of Earthly Tranquility and means "assisting the ruler of earth". In a nutshell, the name of palace indicates the status of imperial consort being assistant empress. Paradoxally, the palace wasn't a residence exclusively reserved for highly ranking imperial consorts (noble consorts, imperial noble consorts and empresses). [2]

In 1885, the palace was connected with Chuxiu palace, a residence of Empress Dowager Cixi and was used as a place for Elegant Women Selection in 1889.[3]

Accidents

On 4 May 2013, an armed man broke into the main hall through window. During the breakdown, the Qing dynasty brass-plated gilded flowery chime (made in Great Britain in XVIII century) fell down from a table. A craftsman working in the Palace Museum was controlling that man for 15 seconds. Thereafter, the glass window was substituted, and the gilded flowery chime was sent to a storage for an expertise.[4]

Residents

Ming Dynasty
Year Imperial Consort Emperor Note
1560-1572 Empress Dowager Xiaoding Longqing Emperor She became empress dowager in 1572
1581-1620 Noble Consort Zheng Wanli Emperor[5] She died in 1630
1629-1644 Noble Consort Yuan Chongzhen Emperor She hung herself in 1644[6]

Qing Dynasty
Year Imperial Consort Emperor Note
1677-1722 Consort Yi Kangxi Emperor She died in 1733
1722-1725 Imperial Noble Consort Dunsu Yongzheng Emperor
1735-1766 The Step Empress Qianlong Emperor She humiliated the Emperor and Empress Dowager by cutting her hair in retaliation for the formers frequenting of prostitutes in Hangzhou during southern inspection in 1765. As a result she was removed as manager of the harem, stripped of all servants (apart from two), stripped of her Empresses seal and scroll and her titles (except that of Empress) and was confined to Yikun Palace. She died in August of 1766 unfavored and disgraced; she did not receive a posthumous title. [7]
1763-1795 Consort Dun She began supervision of younger consorts in 1775 and died in 1806[8]
1735-1795 Dowager Noble Consort Wan She began supervision of younger consorts in 1750 and died in 1807[9]
1801-1820 Concubine An Jiaqing Emperor She lived under supervision as first attendant[10]
1822-1850 Consort Xiang Daoguang Emperor She was demoted in 1839 and died in 1861
1885 Empress Dowager Cixi Xianfeng Emperor She celebrated there her birthday during a regency under Guangxu Emperor
1889 She conducted an Elegant Women Selection
1889-1908 Her main residence was Chuxiu palace[11]
1922-1924 Empress Wanrong Puyi Although her main residence was Chuxiu palace, she also visited Yikun palace. She was evicted in 1924.[12]

References
  1. 魏/Wei, 莉/Li (2004). 从北京故宫到避暑山庄/"A review of the Forbidden city in Peking". 山东画报出版社/Shandong Typography. p. 2004.
  2. "Palace of Earthly Honour (Yikungong), Forbidden City, Beijing". www.travelchinaguide.com. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  3. "翊坤宫 - 故宫博物院". www.dpm.org.cn. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  4. "游客击碎故宫翊坤宫玻璃 致一文物钟表受损(图) - 延展阅读-新华网". 2013-11-16. Archived from the original on 2013-11-16. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  5. 沈/Shen, 德符/Defu. "萬曆野獲編·卷三"/"Compilation of Wanli era catastrophes", Volume 3.
  6. 《崇禎朝野紀 第五卷》/ "Chongzhen era chronicles", book 5.
  7. 《雍和宮滿文檔案譯編》.
  8. 《宮中雜件》/"Central Palace records".
  9. 《乾隆三十二年九月份各處用馬清單》.
  10. Zhao, Erxun (1928). 'Draft History of Qing".
  11. "Palace of Earthly Honor (Yikun gong)|The Palace Museum". en.dpm.org.cn. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
  12. "Palace of Earthly Honor (Yikungong), Forbidden City, Beijing". www.travelchinaguide.com. Retrieved 2020-10-01.
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