When Li Hong became emperor, his mother Niu Zhilu naturally became the filial empress dowager. At this time, the Imperial Palace was mainly composed of Cining Palace and Xian 'an Palace. At that time, after Xiaozhuang, Cining Palace had not been inhabited for decades except for some ceremonies.
Xian 'an Palace was changed to "Gongxue" by Yong Zhengdi, and other temples were places where old concubines lived. So, as the queen mother of Li Hong, where should you live?
After many considerations, Li Hong decided to demolish the palace wall on the west side of Cining Palace and build a new palace.
1736, in the second year of Li Hong's accession to the throne, a brand-new palace was successfully completed, located on the west side of Cining Palace on the west road outside the palace. Emperor Qianlong named this palace "Shoukang Palace".
The existing main palace area of Shou Kang Palace in the Forbidden City is rectangular in north-south direction, with a length of148m from north to south and a width of 57m from east to west, surrounded by red walls, covering an area of about 8,436 square meters. Palace architecture includes palace gate, main hall, back hall, east-west annex hall, east-west annex room and so on.
The palace consists of three courtyards, north and south. There are passages in the east, west and north outside the courtyard wall, and there are several rooms outside the west passage. The Shou Kang Gate at the southern end of the courtyard is a glazed door with a closed Little Square in front, and the right gate of Yin Hui on the east side of the square leads to Cining Palace.
The main hall of Shou Kang Gate is Shoukang Palace. The palace faces south, with 5 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep.
The yellow glazed tile rests on the top of the mountain, on the front porch, with two rooms with three or six beams and four doors, and the top room with three or six beams and four sill windows. The back eaves are the same as the front eaves, and the rest are open.
There is a plaque inscribed by Emperor Qianlong "From Shouning West" in the hall. There is a warm pavilion at the east and west ends, and the east warm pavilion is a Buddhist temple for the daily sacrifice of the Empress Dowager. Out of the platform in front of the temple, there are three steps in front of the platform, with a curb in the middle, and one step on the left and right of the platform.
Shoukang Palace has three east-west halls, with yellow glazed tiles and a front porch on the top of the mountain. A door was installed in the Ming room of the East Attached Pavilion, and the fan and damper of the Ming room of the West Attached Pavilion were later modified. The second room is a windowsill window. The pillars of each room are divided into two groups, and the window lattice is three-piece. The two annex halls have ear rooms in the south and ridge connecting rooms in the north, which are connected with the back cover room.
To the north of Shoukang Palace is the second courtyard, and the back hall is the sleeping hall of Shoukang Palace. The words "Changle Hua Fu" are written on the forehead of the door, and there is a tunnel connected with Shoukang Palace.
This hall is 5 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep, with yellow glazed tiles resting on the top of the mountain. The front eaves come out of the corridor, and the bright room has a step brocade fan and a glass baffle, and there are windows in the second and slightly rooms, with a step brocade pane on the top and a glass square window on the bottom. The room was divided into five rooms by fans. Open the door between the back eaves, connect with the folding hall, and go straight to the back building.
In addition, the colored paintings in Shoukang Palace are painted as "dragon and phoenix seals" according to their shapes, and the dragon and phoenix patterns symbolizing imperial power are dominant, with rigorous composition, complex patterns and large areas covered with pink gold. This kind of color painting with seal is only used in important buildings such as royal palaces, temples, halls and gates, and it is the highest level form of color painting.
Shoukang Palace was rebuilt in Jiaqing and Guangxu years. Among the buildings in the Forbidden City, Shoukang Palace is not grand in scale, but it is an important building complex with complete structure and complete facilities.
In the Qing Dynasty, this was the place where the Empress Dowager and the Toffees supported the elderly. Empress Dowager Xiaohe and Empress Rui in Daoguang period and Empress Kangci in Xianfeng period all lived here, and Empress Dowager Cixi also stayed here in her later years. There are three palaces, four palaces and so on. This place is for Tai Fei Tai Kun and others to live in. The resident doctors in Shoukang Palace are equipped with commonly used herbs, chefs and guards.
In the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi had 12 ladies-in-waiting. Empress Dowager Cixi received 20 taels of gold, 2,000 taels of silver, 24 pieces of expensive leather 124 pieces of silver buckle every year, which was the highest treatment in the harem.
Besides, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty was a famous dutiful son. According to historical records, when Empress Xiao Sheng lived in Shoukang Palace, Qianlong visited her almost every day. He got off at the left gate of Shou Kang and walked into Shoukang Palace. After arriving at the NuanGe where Empress Dowager Cixi lived, Gan Long would kneel on the ground to greet her daily life.
Because of this, Emperor Qianlong not only built Shoukang Palace for his mother, but also rebuilt a garden for his mother in the Forbidden City, called Cining Palace Garden.
This garden is located in the southwest of Cining Palace, West Forbidden City Road. It was built in the Ming Dynasty. It used to be a place where the Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager and concubines of Ming and Qing Dynasties enjoyed leisure and worship Buddha. There are some buildings in the garden, such as Linxi Pavilion and Xianruo Pavilion. 1583 was renamed as Linxi Pavilion and Xianruo Pavilion.
1769 for large-scale transformation. Although great changes have taken place since then, the overall scale and layout of the garden have not changed much.
The existing Cining Palace Garden in the Forbidden City is about130m long from north to south and 50m wide from east to west, with a total area of 6,800 square meters. There are only 1 1 buildings in the park, accounting for less than 1/5 of the total area. Concentrated in the north of the garden, the south is flat and open, with flowers and trees, stone ponds, so that the queen mother and concubines can enjoy the beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers without trekking.
In addition, on the occasion of the 60th birthday of Empress Xiao Sheng, Qianlong transformed the Xian 'an Palace in the Imperial Palace of the Forbidden City into Shou 'an Palace as a birthday gift for her mother. At this point, the Taihou Palace area of the Forbidden City, which is dominated by Cining Palace, Shoukang Palace and Shouan Palace, has basically taken shape.
The existing Shou 'an Palace in the Forbidden City is divided into three courtyards, each with different courtyards for storing things. There are three glazed doors along the wall at the main entrance, and four wooden screen doors at the middle door are facing the wall and covered with yellow glazed tile roofs. Shouan Palace, the main hall of the Intermediate People's Court, is 5 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep, with yellow glazed tiles resting on the top of the mountain.
1773, Empress Dowager Xiao Sheng was 80 years old. Because of his advanced age, Emperor Qianlong ordered people to "decorate" the Cining Palace, upgraded the "single eaves" structure of the roof to a more standardized "double eaves", and let his mother move to the Cining Palace.
Four years later, Empress Xiao Sheng died in Cining Palace. Since then, there has been no one living in Cining Palace. Even the Empress Dowager Cixi later found it difficult to compete with this palace and only stayed at Shoukang Palace.