The House of the Huangcheng Chancellor,also known by its Chinese name,Huangcheng Xiangfu,[a] is a 10-hectare (25-acre)[5] walled estate on Phoenix Hill (Fenghuangshan) comprising Huangcheng,[6] a village occupying a hollow above the Changhe Valley between Yangcheng and Jincheng in southeastern Shanxi,China. It is composed of numerous siheyuan-style courtyards built into the side of a hill,overlooked by defensive towers and enclosed by high crenellated walls that divide it into two sections. The fortifications were built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The Chen family in Shanxi began erecting buildings on Phoenix Hill overlooking the Fanxi River[8] around the 1440s under China's Ming dynasty.[9] The family began as farmers,built a fortune through coal mining,and then began emphasizing the education of their children.[10] During the Ming and Qing dynasties,the family produced 66 mandarins,[10] 33 poets,and 9 first-place winners of Shanxi's provincial examinations.[11]
The property was encastellated for Chen Changyan in 1633.[11] The fortifications served to protect the household and its attendant villagers from unrest during the reign of the Chongzhen Emperor.[12] This "inner city" (内城,Nèichéng)[13] runs along a north–south axis along the side of the hill,facing downhill toward the west.[6]
The compound was expanded in 1703 for Chen Tingjing,tutor to the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing and the chief editor of the Kangxi Dictionary.[11] His "outer city" (外城,Wàichéng) lies on flat ground against the entrance to the upper section of the estate,facing south toward the warehouses and shops lining the Street of Ancient Culture.[6] Supposedly,the grand nature of the finished complex drew charges of disloyalty and imperial pretensions from Chen's political opponents,but he claimed to have established it to please his mother,who wished to see Beijing,but was too frail to complete the journey.[6][14] In any case,the Kangxi Emperor visited the location twice,praising it and its owner,who never fell from his favor.
The walls have nine gates and enclose 19 gardens and 640 rooms.[11] In its present form,almost all of the structures are organized in the siheyuan style,with most buildings opening onto enclosed and interconnected courtyards.[12]
The Shideyuan[b](世德院,Shìdéyuàn;1505x 1521) encloses three lofty rooms on the hilltop,[8] now at the southeast corner of the "inner city".[18] It was the site of Chen Tingjing's birth in 1638.[8] The yard to its rear is flanked to the north by the Zhongyi and to the south by the Yongkun. Both are composed of a three-story main building with two-story wing buildings extending forward at each side.[18]
The Clan Temple[c]( t陳氏宗祠,s陈氏宗祠,ChénshìZōngcí;1521x 1567) is the Chen's ancestral shrine,placed on the central axis of the estate,with a worshipping hall in the front and a hall of celebrated ancestors in the back.[20]
The Tower of Rivers and Mountains[d]( t河山樓,s河山楼,Héshānlóu;1632) was a defensive structure used to protect the family and its attendants during periods of unrest and war.[22] Counting the basement,[7] it has seven stories,totaling tenzhang[21] (about 30m or 100ft).[7] The entrance is located on the second floor and is accessed only by a bridge to another level of the complex.[23] The base is 3zhangs,4chi wide (kaijian) by 2zhangs,4chi long (jinshen).[21] Its basement accesses multiple secret tunnels;it also includes a well and room for food stores to wait out longer sieges.[23] It was completed in a span of seven months [21] and supposedly proved its worth shortly after construction,when locals easily weathered a raid that devastated the neighboring village of Guoyu.[23]
The Villa of the Golden Mean[e]( t中道莊,s中道庄,Zhōngdàozhuāng;1642)[24][f] was Chen Tingjing's primary residence.[24]
The House of the Academician( t大學士第,s大学士第,DàxuéshìDì) or Chancellor[g](相府院,Xiāngfǔyuàn;1644–1703)[26] is a complete household with gardens,a hall,a study,bedrooms,and servant quarters.[27] It was visited by the Kangxi Emperor twice,[26] and he wrote a plaque in its honor.[27]
The Studying Rooms[h]( t南書院,s南书院,Nánshūyuàn;1651) are a courtyard and adjacent classrooms used for centuries by tutors to educate the younger members of the family.[28]
The Zhiyuan Garden( t止園,s止园,Zhǐyuán;1661) is the biggest garden in the estate,covering 1.1 hectares (2.7 acres).[29][i]
The Stone Portal(石牌坊,Shípáifāng;1699) is a paifang that was erected while Chen Tingjing was the imperial Minister of Personnel. It is decorated with panels detailing the accomplishments of the Chens over the preceding five generations.[31] A plaque by the Kangxi Emperor reads "Nine winners of the state examination within one family full of virtues and good deeds,and six academicians throughout three generations bearing the favor and trust of the Emperor".[6]
The Tower of Imperial Handwriting( t禦書樓,s御书楼,Yùshūlóu;1714) was built to store plaques and other written documents given to the family by the Kangxi Emperor.[32]
Other areas of the estate include the Douzhuju Residence[33](斗筑居,Dòuzhùjū);the Wenchang Tower ( t文昌閣,s文昌阁,Wénchānggé) with its Confucian shrine;[34] the Chunqiu Tower of General Guan[j]( t春秋閣,s春秋阁,Chūnqiūgé) with its shrine to the war godGuan Yu;[35] the Xishanyuan Courtyard (西山院,Xīshānyuàn) with its area for Taoistrituals;[36] the "Cave of Fighters" garrison[37] (藏兵洞,Zàngbīngdòng),whose rooms are built into the side of the hill;[23] the Qilin Yard (麒麟院,Qílínyuàn) first built for Chen Tingjing's grandfather Chen Jingji,with its stone decorations of the "Chinese unicorn" or qilin;[38][k] the Wanghe Pavilion[40](望河亭,Wànghétíng) and Yard of Young Ladies[41][l](小姐院,Xiǎojieyuàn) in the women's quarters on the lowest level;[18] the Ziyunqian Graveyard (紫芸阡,Zǐyúnqiān) with memorials to Chen Tingjing by his family and the Kangxi Emperor;[42] the southern-style West Garden[30][m]( t西花園,s西花园,Xīhuāyuán),consisting of Clam Pool and surrounding rockeries imitating Shandong's Mount Tai;[7] the Housekeepers' Yard (管家院,Guǎnjiāyuàn) with the small,[18] lower-ranking servants' quarters;[43] and a Street of Ancient Culture (古文化街,GǔwénhuāJiē) in the estate's old trading and warehousing area.[44]
Performances
The estate holds a ceremony imitating those held to welcome the Kangxi Emperor.[7]
Museums
The Chinese Dictionary Museum
The Inspector's House (御史府,Yùshǐfǔ) was originally the home of Chen Changyan,an uncle of Chen Tingjing,who served as the imperial inspector for Zhejiang. It is now used as a museum to describe Yangcheng County's history of iron casting.[45]
The complex now also houses the Chinese Dictionary Museum ( t中華字典博物館,s中华字典博物馆,ZhōnghuáZìdiǎn Bówùguǎn).[46] The museum,established in May 2016 with a private donation of 4,000 works,[citation needed] now holds more than 15,000 volumes.[7] It describes the history of Chinese encyclopedias and dictionaries,with a special focus on the Kangxi Zidian,compiled under Chen Tingjing.[46] The museum has 128 editions of the dictionary,the earliest copy having been donated by Hua Shaofeng in 2014 and dating to the Kangxi Era. It is so fragile that special tools are used to turn its pages.[2]
↑ Also known as the "Premier's Mansion",[1] "Royal Residence of the Premier",[2] the "Royal Prime Minister's Palace",[3] and the "House of the Chancellor at Huangcheng".[4]
Zhongnanhai is a compound that houses the offices of and serves as a residence for the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council. It was a former imperial garden, and is located adjacent to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. The term Zhongnanhai is often used as a metonym for China's central government and its leadership at large.
Taiyuan is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base focusing on energy and heavy chemicals. Throughout its long history, Taiyuan was the capital or provisional capital of many dynasties in China, hence the name Lóngchéng.
The Kangxi Dictionary is a Chinese dictionary published in 1716 during the High Qing, considered from the time of its publishing until the early 20th century to be the most authoritative reference for written Chinese characters. Wanting an improvement upon earlier dictionaries, as well as to show his concern for Confucian culture and to foster standardization of the Chinese writing system, its compilation was ordered by the Kangxi Emperor in 1710, from whom the compendium gets its name. The dictionary was the largest of its kind, containing 47,043 character entries. Around 40% of them were graphical variants, while others were dead, archaic, or found only once in the Classical Chinese corpus. In today's vernacular written Chinese, fewer than a quarter of the dictionary's characters are commonly used.
Kangxi Dynasty is a 2001 Chinese television series based on the novel Kangxi Da Di by Eryue He. The series is a prequel to the 1997 television series Yongzheng Dynasty, and was followed by Qianlong Dynasty in 2002.
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Pingyao, officially Pingyao Ancient City, is a walled city in central Shanxi, China, famed for its importance in Chinese economic history and for its well-preserved Ming and Qing urban planning and architecture. Administratively, it comprises the town of Gutao in Pingyao County, Jinzhong. According to the seventh Chinese census data, the permanent resident population of the county is 450,697. Compared with the 502,712 people in the sixth national census in 2010, it has decreased by 52,015 people in ten years, a decrease of 10.35%, and the average annual growth rate is -1.09%.
A siheyuan is a type of dwelling that was commonly found throughout China, most famously in Beijing and rural Shanxi. Throughout Chinese history, the siheyuan composition was the basic pattern used for residences, palaces, temples, monasteries, family businesses, and government offices. In ancient times, a spacious siheyuan would be occupied by a single, usually large and extended family, signifying wealth and prosperity. Today, remaining siheyuan are often still used as subdivided housing complexes, although many lack modern amenities.
Chengde Mountain Resort is a large complex of imperial palaces and gardens situated in the Shuangqiao District of Chengde in northeastern Hebei province, northern China, about 225 kilometres (140 mi) northeast of China's capital Beijing. This resort was frequently used as a summer palace during the Qing dynasty. Because of its vast and rich collection of Chinese landscapes and architecture, Chengde Mountain Resort in many ways is a culmination of all the variety of gardens, pagodas, temples and palaces from various regions of China. In 1994, The Mountain Resort was awarded World Heritage Site status.
There are two types of dictionaries regularly used in the Chinese language: 'character dictionaries' list individual Chinese characters, and 'word dictionaries' list words and phrases. Because tens of thousands of characters have been used in written Chinese, Chinese lexicographers have developed a number of methods to order and sort characters to facilitate more convenient reference.
Prince Gong's Mansion, also known as the Prince Kung Mansion, is a museum and tourist attraction located in Xicheng District, Beijing, just north of the Shichahai Lake. It consists of large siheyuan-style mansions and gardens. Originally constructed for Heshen, an official renowned for being the most corrupt official in Chinese history, it was later renamed after Prince Gong, a Manchu prince and influential statesman of the late Qing dynasty, who inhabited the mansion in the late 19th century.
The courtyard houses of Shanxi or the Shanxi family compounds are located in Jinzhong, Shanxi Province, People's Republic of China, approximately 500 km south of Beijing. "These castle-like structures were constructed in the Qing dynasty by local merchants, and offer a glimpse into the architecture and traditional building techniques of the times."
Yangcheng County is a county in the southeast of Shanxi Province, China, bordering Henan Province to the south. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Jincheng and located in the latter's southwest confines. It is home to the AAAAA-rated House of the Huangcheng Chancellor.
The Palace of Tranquil Longevity, literally, "peaceful old age palace", also called the Qianlong Garden, Qianlong Palace, Qianlong District or the Palace of Tranquility and Longevity, is a palace in Beijing, China, located in the northeast corner of the Inner Court of the Forbidden City.
AAAAA is awarded to the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in the People's Republic of China, given the highest level in the rating categories used by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. As of 2020, there are 279 tourist attractions listed as 5A.
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The Wang Family Compound is the largest of the Shanxi Courtyard Houses. Located in Lingshi County, Shanxi, the fortress compound is a tight arrangement of courtyard residences. It is one of 123 residences listed as part of the "Ancient Residences in Shanxi and Shaanxi Provinces" entry in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2008 in the cultural category.
Chen Tingjing was a Han Chinese politician and scholar who served as tutor to the Kangxi Emperor and was chief editor of the Kangxi Dictionary.
Zhang Yushu was a Han Chinese politician and scholar in the Qing dynasty. He was one of the chief editors of the Kangxi Dictionary alongside Chen Tingjing.
↑ "皇城相府", Scenic Spots, Taiyuan: Shanxi Provincial Tourism Bureau, 2012, archived from the original on 18 July 2017, retrieved 23 November 2017. (in Chinese)
↑ "5A级景区", Official site, Beijing: China National Tourism Administration, 7 November 2017, archived from the original on 5 September 2008, retrieved 23 November 2017. (in Chinese)
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