How many fires occurred in the Forbidden City during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and how were they prevented?

The architecture of the Forbidden City is mainly wood structure, and fire prevention has always been a big problem. During the 500 years from the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (1420) to Puyi's coming out of the palace in Qing Dynasty (1924), there were 40 or 50 well-documented fires, including more than 30 caused by natural disasters such as lightning. In the 19th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (142 1), Judy, the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty, planned to move the capital. Unfortunately, on the eighth day of April, the newly built palace was struck by lightning and caused a fire, and all three halls were destroyed. It was the storm of moving the capital, and lightning strike was regarded as a warning from heaven. At that time, there was a lot of discussion between the government and the public, and Cheng Zu was forced to write a letter to review his mistakes. Similar to the lightning strike scene in Yan Xi Palace, it was actually staged in the palaces of Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The intrauterine fire caused by human factors such as fire is another main reason. In the second year of Jiaqing (1797), a fire broke out in Gan Qing Palace, which was dry in early winter. At that time, the fire soared, Gan Qing Palace was destroyed by the fire, and all the books in the palace were destroyed. After investigation, it was found that the fire was caused by Hao Shitong, the eunuch in charge of the fire. At that time, the coal used for heating in the palace was rekindled, and the smoke from burning wooden partitions caused the fire. This incident also caused the anger of Emperor Qianlong who survived.

Another legendary fire happened in the winter of the 14th year of Guangxu. While preparing for the wedding, Zhendumen in the palace suddenly caught fire, and the fire quickly spread to Taihe Gate and Zhaodemen. Because the wedding is scheduled for more than a month, the queen will enter the palace from the Qing Gate according to the etiquette, and she will pass through the Taihe Gate. Now the destruction of Taihe Gate will delay the great event. This matter is really nerve-racking. In order to ensure the wedding as scheduled, I finally figured out a way to build a temporary door! So, relying on memory and the wisdom of skilled craftsmen, a temporary color shed was set up before the wedding, and the wedding was finally handled, but this seems to be a sign of disagreement after Emperor Guangxu.

In the hundreds of years of the Forbidden City in Ming and Qing Dynasties, fire prevention has always been a major event. In order to meet the needs of court life, a set of fire prevention methods were summarized and explored, and many fire prevention facilities can still be seen today.

(1) "Taiping cylinder"

People who have been to the Forbidden City will surely see the big jars around the palace. They are "peace jars", also known as "auspicious jars". Generally, there are two kinds of copper cylinders and iron cylinders, which are used for fire prevention. Clear water is stored in the jar all the year round. Once a fire breaks out in the palace, you can take water to put out the fire. According to the regulations, the water in the tank is added daily, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs checks the water storage in the tank every five days.

(Taiping jar in the Forbidden City)

(2) The Algae Well and The Golden Owl.

In the building of the Forbidden City, we will notice that there is such a thing, which is made of octagonal and quadrilateral Xiao Mu members contracted in vertical layers, with a faucet sticking out in the middle and a black ball in its mouth. This is the "algae well", which symbolizes water fire prevention.

In addition, in the main halls of the Forbidden City, such as the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Hall of Baohe, there is an ornament shaped like an owl's tail. This kind of ornament is called "golden owl", and its meaning of fire prevention has long been used. According to Li Jie's "Building French Style", "After the disaster in the Han Bailiang Temple, it was said that there were fish in the sea, and the owl's tail was like a owl, and the storm was raining.

According to Cabriolet Damagan, a French traveler who has been to China, "Golden Owl" has lightning protection function similar to lightning rod. He wrote in "New Things in China": "At both ends of the roof in China, there is an upturned faucet. The faucet spit out a twisted metal tongue and stretched out into the sky. The base of the tongue is connected with a thin iron wire and goes straight to the ground. If such a clever device encounters lightning current, it will be led underground along the faucet to avoid damage to the house. " This design is not exquisite.

(3) Building fire protection design

In order to prevent fire, the palace designed a hard mountain yellow glazed tile roof, surrounded by thick brick walls, and there were no exposed wooden components that could easily cause fire. However, due to the high building density of the Forbidden City, the cloisters in later halls and courtyards were gradually cancelled, and gables were used as fire partitions in the six palaces.