ABriefHistoryofthePalaceMuseum

1、A Brief History of the Palace Museum Established in 1925, the Palace Museum was installed in the imperial palace of two consecutive dynasties - the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911). The magnificent architecture, also known as the Forbidden City, and the vast holding of the imperial collecti

2、ons of paintings, calligraphy, ceramics, and decorative objects make it one of the most prestigious museums in China and the world at large. In 1961 the imperial palace was designated by the State Council as one of Chinas foremost-protected cultural heritage sites, and in 1987 was made a UNESCO Worl

3、d Heritage site. Location, Area, and Layout Situated at the heart of Beijing, the Palace Museum is approached through the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tianan men). Immediately to the north of the Palace Museum is Prospect Hill (also called Coal Hill), while on the east and west are Wangfujing and Zhongna

4、nhai neighborhoods. The location was endowed with cosmic significance by ancient Chinas astronomers. They correlated the emperors abode, which they considered the pivot of the terrestrial world, with the Pole Star (Ziwei yuan), which they believed to be at the center of the heavens. Because of its c

5、entrality as well as restricted access, the palace was called The Forbidden City. It was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1420) who, upon usurping the throne, determined to move his capital northward from Nanjing to Beijing. The Ming dynas

6、ty fell to the Manchu Qing in 1644 and in 1911 the Qing dynasty was overthrown by the republican revolutionaries. The last emperor Puyi (ruled from 1909 to 1911 under the reign name Xuantong) continued to live in the palace after his abdication until he was expelled in 1924. During nearly six hundre

7、d years, twenty-four emperors lived and ruled from this palace. The Forbidden City is surrounded by 10-metre-high walls and a 52-metre-wide moat. Measuring 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters. Each of the foursides is pierced by

8、 a gate: the Meridian Gate (Wu men) on the south, the Gate of Divine Prowess (Shenwu men) on the north, the Eastern and Western Prosperity Gates (Donghuamen and Xihuamen). Once inside, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of an invisible central axis. The

9、buildings glowing yellow roofs levitating above vermilion walls is a magnificent sight. The painted ridges and carved beams all contribute to the sumptuous effect. Known as the Outer Court, the southern portion of the Forbidden City centers on three main halls - Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe dian),

10、 Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghe dian), and Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohe dian) - with Belvedere of Embodying Benevolence (Tiren ge) and Belvedere of Spreading Righteousness (Hongyi ge) flanking them. It was here in the Ourter Court that the emperor held court and conducted grand audiences Mirr

11、oring this arrangement is the Inner Court comprising the northern portion of the Forbidden City. The Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing gong), the Hall of Union (Jiaotai dian), and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility (Kunning gong) straddle the central axis. On the east and west are residences called

12、 the Six Eastern Palaces and the Six Western Palaces. An Imperial Garden is laid out at the north end. Other major buildings in the Inner Court include the Hall for Abstinence (Zhai gong) and Hall of Sincere Solemnity (Chengsu dian) in the east, and the Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin dian), the

13、 Belvedere of Raining Flowers (Yuhua ge), and the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility (Cining gong) in the west. The Inner Court is comprised of not only the residences of the emperor and his consorts but also venues for religious rituals and administrative activities. In total, the buildings of th

14、e two courts account for an area of some 163,000 square meters. These were precisely designed in accordance with a code of architectural hierarchy, which designated specific features to reflect the paramount authority and status of the emperor. No ordinary mortal would have been allowed or would eve

15、n have dared to come within close proximity to these buildings. Founding of the Palace Museum The Xinhai revolution in 1911 ended with the abdication of the last emperor Puyi. The provisional government allowed him to continue to live in the Inner Court of the Forbidden City. Meanwhile, all of the i

16、mperial treasures from palaces in Rehe (todays Chengde in Hebei province) and Mukden (todays Shenyang in Liaoning province) were moved to the Forbidden City for public display in the Outer Court in 1914. While confined to the Inner Court, Puyi continuously used such vestiges of influence as still re

17、mained to plot his own restoration. He also smuggled or pawned a huge number of art works under the pretext of granting them as rewards to his courtiers and minions or taking them out for repair. In 1924, during a coup launched by the warlord Feng Yuxiang, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City.

18、The management of the palace fell to a committee that was set up to deal with the concerns of the deposed imperial family. The committee also counted and audited the imperial collections. After a year of intense preparations, on 10 October 1925, the committee arranged a grand ceremony in front of th

19、e Palace of Heavenly Purity to mark the inception of the Palace Museum. News of the opening flashed across the nation, and such was the scramble of visitors on the first day that traffic jams around Beijing brought the city almost to a standstill. According to an inventory of twenty-eight volumes pu

20、blished in 1925, the treasure trove left by the Qing numbered more than 1,170,000 items including sacrificial vessels and ancient jade artifacts from the earliest dynasties; paintings and calligraphy dating to as early as the seventh century; porcelain from the Song and Yuan; a variety of enamel and

21、 lacquer ware; gold and silver ornaments; antiques made of bamboo, wood, horn and gourds; religious statues in gold and bronze; as well as thousands of imperial robes and ornaments; textiles; and furniture. In addition, there were countless books, literary works, and historical documents. All these

22、were divided into separate collections that were placed under teams of staff to sort and collate. Exhibition halls were opened to display some of the treasures, while writers and editors worked away at publishing in book or journal form all the new areas of research and academic inquiry that the est

23、ablishment of the museum had ushered in. The Palace Museum was soon a hive of activity. Collection Evacuation during World War II and the Ensuing Split Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese, having annexed territory in Chinas northeast, proceeded to march on Beijing. With this lo

24、oming threat, the museum authorities decided to evacuate its collection rather than let it fall into enemy hands or risk destruction in battle. For four frantic months between February and May 1933, the most important pieces in the collection were packed into 13,427 crates and sixty-four bundles and

25、 sent to Shanghai in five batches. Another six thousand some crates were assembled from the Antiquities Exhibition Institute, the Summer Palace, and Imperial College. In 1936 they were dispatched to Nanjing where a depository had been built and a branch of the Palace Museum was to be established. On

26、 7 July 1937 shots fired at the Marco Polo Bridge west of Beijing heralded the eruption of the Sino-Japanese War. Within a year, the Japanese had penetrated to most of eastern China. Then the treasures stored in Nanjing had to be moved again, this time by three routes to Sichuan, where they were sec

27、reted in three locations, Baxian, Emei and Leshan. Only at the end of the war were they consolidated in Chongqing, whence they were returned to Nanjing in 1947. By then the Kuomintang were considerably weakened, and with the imminent takeover by the Communist armies of areas south of the Yangtze Riv

28、er, they began their retreat to Taiwan. Between the end of 1948 and the dawn of 1949, the Kuomintang selected 2,972 crates for shipping across the Strait to storage in Taichong. A rival Palace Museum was built in Taipei to display these antiquities, opening to the public in 1965. Most of crates left

29、 in Nanjing were gradually returned to Beijing, although to this day 2,221 crates remain in storage in Nanjing. During this tumultuous decade of war and revolution, none of the treasures was lost or damaged even though the volume involved was enormous. This was largely due to the dedication of the P

30、alace Museum staff, whose achievement in preserving these treasures was nothing short of heroic. But it was also as a result of this long period of upheaval that the treasures were dispersed. Yet the rationale for keeping the collection together, representative as it is of traditional culture, seems

31、 so incontestable that most people believe the treasures will be re-united one day. In the early 1950s, shortly after the establishment of the Peoples Republic, the Palace Museum staff worked with a new will and enthusiasm to restore the Forbidden City to its former glory. Where previously the dirty

32、 and dilapidated halls and courts lay under weeds and piles of rubbish, some 250,000 cubic meters of accumulated debris were now cleared out, giving the palace a sparkling fresh look. A policy of comprehensive restoration was also launched, and in time the crumbling palace buildings, repaired, and r

33、edecorated, once again looked resplendent. All the tall buildings were equipped with lightning rods, while modern systems of fire protection and security were installed. It has been a priority of the government, particularly since the beginning of the reform era in the early 1980s, to keep the surro

34、unding moat dredged and clean. Collections The collections of the Palace Museum are based on the Qing imperial collection - ceramics, paintings and calligraphy, bronze ware, timepieces, jade, palace paraphernalia, ancient books and historical documents. During the 1950s and 1960s, a systematic inven

35、tory was completed redressing the legacy of inaccurate cataloguing. After the founding of the Museum, the collection was moreover augmented, for example by the salvage of a number of precious artifacts from a jumble of apparently worthless objects. After more than a decade of painstaking efforts, so

36、me 710,000 objects from the Qing palace were retrieved. At the same time, through national allocations, requisitions and private donations, more than 220,000 additional pieces of cultural significance were added, making up for such omissions from the original Qing collections as colored earthenware

37、from the Stone Age, bronzes and jades from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, pottery tomb figurines from the Han dynasty, stone sculpture from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and tri-color pottery from the Tang dynasty. The ancient paintings, scrolls and calligraphy added to the collections were pa

38、rticularly spectacular. These included, from the Jin dynasty, Lu Jis A Consoling Letter (Pingfu tie) in cursive script, Wang Xuns Letter to Boyuan (Boyuan tie) and Gu Kaizhis Nymph of the Luo River (Luoshenfu tu); from the Sui dynasty, Zhan Ziqians landscape handscroll Spring Excursion (Youchun tu);

39、 from the Tang dynasty, Han Huangs Five Oxen (Wuniu tu), Du Mus running-cursive script handscroll Courtesan Zhan Haohao (Zhang haohao shi); from the Five Dynasties, Gu Hongzhongs The Night Revels of Han Xizai (Han Xizai yeyan tu) ; from the Song dynasty, Li Gonglins Painting after Wei Yans Pasturing

40、 Horses (Lin Wei Yan mufang tu), Guo Xis Dry Tree and Rock, Level Distance Landscape (Keshi pingyuan tu), and Zhang Zeduans Life along the Bian River at the Pure Brightness Festival (Qingming shanghe tu) - all masterpieces without exception. Unremitting though this attempt at recovery has been, howe

41、ver, there have been further exertions to acquire such works as Zhang Xians Illustrating Ten Poems (Shiyong tu) (Song dynasty), Nai Xians calligraphy Poems Reflecting on the Past in the Southern City (Chengnan yonggu shi) (Yuan dynasty), Shen Zhous landscape handscroll After Huang Gongwangs Dwelling

42、 in the Fuchun Mountains (Fang Huang Gongwang fuchun shanju tu) (Ming dynasty), Shi Taos ink bamboo Loudly Calling Yuke (Gaohu Yuke tu) (Qing dynasty). The first two were spirited out of the palace by Puyi on the excuse of bestowing them on his brother Pujie; they fell into the hands of others and i

43、t was not until the 1990s were they returned to their rightful place in the Palace Museum collections. Development and Efforts at Accessibility From the 1950s onwards, the museums existing storehouses were completely overhauled to provide a damp-proof and insect-proof environment for the treasures.

44、In the 1990s a new storehouse with a capacity of over 600,000 items was built, equipped with controls for maintaining constant temperature and humidity, as well as safeguards against fire and theft. A workshop was established in the 1950s and expanded in the 1980s into the conservation department. T

45、hese not only continued traditions of craftsmanship, but also drew upon scientific discoveries to facilitate the restoration of damaged artworks. In the past few decades the conservation department has treated as many as 110,000 objects from the Palace Museum and other public collections. Besides its continuous refurbishment of the main courts and halls, the museum has opened galleries to display bronzes, porcelain, crafts, pa