Prince Gong’s Mansion, a Chinese mansion: There are 108 houses in ***, and the first owner is He Shen. Have you visited it?

When asked what is the most expensive thing in today’s society, people will say it must be houses. The rising house prices year by year have become the biggest pressure on young people. But buying a house should not be difficult for the world's richest man, but there is such a mansion in Beijing. Just one pillar in the house costs 2.4 billion. This is the famous Prince Gong's Mansion, the largest palace in the Qing Dynasty. , its first owner was the famous corrupt official Heshen, and everyone said that no wonder the mansion was built so luxuriously.

He Shen, the first owner of Prince Gong’s Mansion

Prince Gong’s Mansion is located on Qianhai West Street, Xicheng District, Beijing. The front and rear of the mansion are composed of houses and gardens, covering an area of ??330 meters from north to south, east to west. It covers an area of ??more than 180 meters and was built according to the highest regulations. The mansion is divided into three roads: east, middle and west, with a total of 108 houses. Prince Gong’s Mansion is now a national key cultural relic protection unit. Many people visit it every day. To trace the history of Prince Gong’s Mansion, we have to start with the famous minister He Shen.

Heshen was born in Fengtian Prefecture in 1750, with the surname Niu Hulu and the Manchurian Zhenghongqi. Heshen was very smart since he was a child and knew four languages: Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan. His innate talent made his family have high hopes for He Shen. In 1773, Heshen took up the post of Minister of Finance and learned financial knowledge. Two years later, he was promoted to imperial guard. As his position rose and his family wealth increased, Heshen began to build his own mansion.

In 1776, He Shen chose this land on the line connecting Houhai and Beihai to build his mansion. This is an excellent Feng Shui land. Within a year of building the house, Heshen was promoted to the left minister of the household department and the right minister of the administrative department, and also served as the commander of the infantry. It can be seen that the emperor really loved Heshen. Even the tenth princess whom the emperor loved most also He was given a marriage to Heshen's son Fengshen Yinde, and they also lived in this mansion together after they got married.

Heshen was impeached in 1778. When he first became an official, Heshen also wanted to be a good and honest official. However, there were many temptations in the officialdom, and the famous An An incident occurred. After that, the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty began to impeach Heshen one after another, and Heshen held a grudge in his heart. In 1780, Heshen began to launch a large-scale literary prison, but his power was no longer something that ordinary courtiers could overthrow. In 1784, Heshen was promoted to Minister of Civil Affairs and became one of the four major forces in the court.

Later, when Qianlong became seriously ill and Jiaqing ascended the throne, Heshen began to expand his ambitions. He took control of the government on the grounds that he was conveying Qianlong's orders, and Jiaqing saw all this. After Qianlong's death, He Shen had just taken care of his affairs when Jiaqing announced 20 charges and ordered his house to be searched. In this search, hundreds of millions of taels of silver were found, which was more than the country's annual tax revenue. He was finally remembered. Shen had also committed suicide in the past, and the palace was given to Prince Qingxi.

The old mansion changed owners several times

The first thing Yonglin did after acquiring Heshen’s mansion was to renovate the house, not because Heshen lived in it. It was bad luck, but because this mansion was too luxurious, and even this mansion was one of the targets of bribery for He Shen, who was impeached by the court officials.

At that time, the silver in Heshen’s home would have been worth more than 80 billion today, but none of it was in the room. A soldier accidentally broke the wall to reveal the treasure. It turned out that the treasure had been sealed. within the wall.

There is also a hall made of golden nanmu in the room called Jiale Hall. How luxurious is this hall? Even the pillars are made of golden nanmu. The current market price of golden nanmu is Just look at it, it's as high as 2.4 billion yuan. It's so luxurious to build such a house. It's really something that even the richest man in the world can only admire and admire, but can't afford to buy it at all. People can't help but feel that a house built like this He Shen is indeed the most corrupt official.

After Yonglin got this mansion, because the ten princesses of the late emperor still lived in the mansion, the mansion was divided into two parts, one part was the Qing Palace where Yonglin lived, and the other part was the ten princesses. The princess's mansion where she lived did not get all the mansion until three years before Yonglin's death. After Yonglin's death, the mansion belonged to his descendants. In 1851, Emperor Xianfeng ascended the throne. Since his grandson Yi's title was only that of General Fuguo, the mansion was taken over as state-owned property.

Not long after, Cixi received help from Prince Gong Yixin during the turbulent period of the Qing Dynasty. In order to reward Yixin, Cixi gave this mansion to Yixin, and from then on the name of the mansion was changed to Gong. The palace.

During the frequent wars at that time, many houses were sold, as was Prince Gong’s Mansion. The mansion was sold to the church by Yixin’s grandson Puwei. After that, the mansion and garden were divided into two parts. Pu Wei's second brother Pu Ru sold the garden to Fu Jen Catholic University.

In 1979, the country began to restore and rectify Prince Kung's Mansion. In 1982, Prince Kung's Mansion was listed as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units. After many years of restoration, the restoration of Prince Kung's Mansion was completed in 1986. The construction and renovation of Prince Kung's Mansion went through numerous meetings and studies over the past few years. It was not until 2012 that Prince Kung's Mansion was designated as a national 5A tourist attraction for people to visit.

Prince Gong’s Mansion has preserved its historical appearance to the greatest extent before people’s eyes

Prince Gong’s Mansion has gone through hundreds of years of ups and downs, and no one repaired it during the war, causing the walls and some houses to It collapsed one after another, but fortunately it still retained its original layout.

However, there are very few introductions about Prince Gong’s Mansion in history, so it is very difficult for experts to restore Prince Gong’s Mansion. Without detailed historical records, experts can only leave from the existing Prince Gong’s Mansion. We set out to study the original historical appearance of this building.

Experts infer based on the internal structure of Prince Gong’s Mansion and the preserved golden nanmu pillars that the renovation of the house from the Heshen period to the period when Prince Gong lived was not very large, and many things were preserved. , and some of the brick carvings in the house are typical architectural techniques of the Qianlong period, and the final design sketch of Prince Gong's Mansion has also been preserved, which provides experts with some clues to find the original appearance of Prince Gong's Mansion.

In fact, the most regrettable thing when people visit Prince Kung’s Mansion is that many real objects in Prince Kung’s Mansion have been scattered around the world. Whether they were lost during the war or sold by future generations, many of them are difficult to recover. People can only understand those cultures through existing historical relics and introductions. For example, the "福" tablet in Prince Gong's mansion was awarded by the emperor to princes and ministers every Spring Festival. Having such a tablet in an official's mansion can show how favored the minister is.

The word "福" in Prince Gong's Mansion is Kangxi's personal treasure, which is very precious. There are also golden nanmu halls, Prince Gong's garden, etc., every piece of it is unique. Tell people about that history.

Many people who love literature and history like to visit these cultural relics and historic sites, but in fact, every Chinese should visit these scenic spots that record the history to understand how our country developed. Today, the wealth left by history and culture is also extremely precious.