The Historical Mystery of Shenyang Forbidden City

1625 On the morning of the third day of March, Nurhachi crossed the Hunhe River and entered the urban capital of Shenyang. However, when the imperial palace, as a symbol of the capital city, began to be built is not recorded in the historical materials of the Qing Dynasty. Tong Yue, director of the research office of Shenyang Palace Museum, explained that this may be because building a palace is a waste of people's money, especially in those years of war, people's lives are difficult. Unlike the Ming army, which just built a palace in Shenyang. Therefore, historians have adopted an evasive attitude towards the great event of building a palace.

Some people speculate that the Forbidden City was built before the Qing emperor moved the capital. Tong Yue thinks this statement is unlikely. Because Nurhachi decided to move the capital in the morning, he left that afternoon. It is impossible to start building the palace before deciding to move the capital. Tong Yue said that the earliest historical record of the Forbidden City was1the first day of the first month of 637, and Huang Taiji held a ceremony in the Dazheng Hall. According to the weather in Shenyang, the main hall should be completed before June 1636+00.

It is reported that in March of 162 1, Nurhachi led the Eight Banners to sweep Liaodong and conquered more than 70 cities including Shenyang and Liaoyang in less than ten days. After capturing Liaoyang, all the ministers of Qing Taizu wanted to go back to their hometown in Fushun, and Nurhachi, who was broad-minded, decided to move the capital from Salhu to Liaoyang. 1625, Nurhachi once again proposed to move the capital to Shenyang. Nurhachi believed that Shenyang could attack the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, but it could return to Salhu's hometown and leave Liaoyang, a major town, in one day to avoid the limelight of the Ming Dynasty.

On the morning of March 3rd (Chinese New Year), we decided to set out. In the afternoon, hundreds of thousands of children of the Eight Banners set out and arrived at the Tiger Skin Post at the junction of Liaoyang in Shenyang that night. On the morning of the 4th, Nurhachi crossed the Hunhe River and entered Shenyang. After making the capital of Shenyang, Nurhachi strengthened the Ming city wall, built eight gates, changed the cross-shaped streets in the city into a well-shaped pattern, and built the Han Palace in the north of the city.

When did the Imperial Palace in Shenyang begin to be built?

Because there is no clear record in historical materials, when the Shenyang Forbidden City began to be built has always been a big unsolved case in history, and it is also the focus of debate in historians.

Tong Yue, director of the research office of Shenyang Palace Museum, said that this may be because the construction of this palace was a waste of people and money, and the rulers of the Qing Dynasty thought it was not worth promoting. Moreover, the construction of this palace itself was to build a home for the emperor, so there was no need to write a specific year of construction in the history books. But a few years ago, a staff member of Anshan Cultural Relics Station found a genealogy of Hou Shi in the local area, in which the construction records of Liaoyang Tokyo City and Shenyang Shengjing City were very detailed. According to the Hou Shi Genealogy, Hou Zhenju's family, who was responsible for firing glazed tiles for the Forbidden City in Shenyang, moved to Shenyang in the ninth year of destiny, and rebuilt the Palace, Long Ta, Fengque and Sanling. According to this, some experts infer that the Forbidden City in Shenyang should have been built in nine years of destiny, that is, 1624.

On June 5438+1October 65438+May, 2003, shenyang evening news published an article entitled "When was the Shenyang Forbidden City built? After years of textual research, the director, researcher and expert branch of pre-Qin history of Shenyang Palace Museum think that the founding date of Shenyang Palace Museum should be 1624 (nine years of destiny).

But Director Tong disagrees with this statement. He thinks that the "Nine Years of Destiny" mentioned in Hou Shi's genealogy refers to the time when Hou Zhenju's family moved to Shenyang, not that Hou Zhenju began to build the Forbidden City immediately after moving to Shenyang. Tong Yue thinks that the construction of Shenyang Forbidden City should start from 1625 for two reasons: First, 1624, Tokyo City has not been built yet, and many Baylor ministers are still busy building their own residences. Nurhachi could not build the Forbidden City in Shenyang before giving the order to move the capital. Secondly, Nurhachi lives in the Han Palace in the north of the city, not in the Forbidden City. If the Shenyang Forbidden City was started in 1624, why did Nurhachi live next to the Forbidden City instead of the Forbidden City?

Is Huang Taiji Palace the Forbidden City?

After the capital was established in Shenyang, the princes built palaces in the city. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, eleven palaces were recorded in the map "Quetu of Shengjing City", and their status was far less than that of the four Baylor palaces. At that time, only Daishan's mansion, such as Huang Taiji, who was in power, was recorded in the Baylor Palace. According to Tong Yue's analysis, this is because among the four Baylor, except Daishan and Huang Taiji, the other two Baylor later committed heinous crimes. According to the system of the Qing dynasty, their mansions are naturally not recorded.

Experts believe that the lack of records of Huang Taiji Palace just shows that the Forbidden City was built on the basis of his palace. The main hall of the Forbidden City did not belong to the Palace in the past. Tong Yue introduced that the Dazheng Hall was still open before liberation, and there was no fence. It was a public road between the Forbidden City and the abbot's palace. The square in the main hall, like the city square, is also the venue for major events. After the founding of New China, in order to protect the ancient buildings of the Forbidden City, walls were built around the Dazheng Hall and the Ten Kings Pavilion. So the building in the middle of the Forbidden City we see is a traditional palace. Experts speculate that this should be the palace of Huang Taiji. After Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he did not stay in the Han Palace in the north of Nurhachi, but built a palace with his own palace. Without a new palace, I was worried about wasting people's money. The simple expansion lasted for a long time until the main building of 1632 was completed.

Mao moved the capital in a hurry just to protect Long Mai.

In A.D. 162 1 year, Nurhachi led the Eight Banners army to advance into Liaodong with an unstoppable trend, moved the capital from Hetuala to Liaoyang, a major town in Liaodong, and built a large number of buildings and palaces.

Surprisingly, however, in the early morning of March 3, 1625, Nurhachi suddenly called his ministers and Baylor to discuss the matter and proposed to move the capital to Shengjing (now Shenyang). The ministers immediately strongly opposed it, but Nurhachi insisted on his own ideas.

Why did Nurhachi "hastily move the capital"? It has been circulated among the people: Nurhachi believed in "traditional Feng Shui" and built Niangniang Temple in the southwest corner of Tokyo at that time according to Mr. Feng Shui's instructions; Build Mituo Temple at the East Gate; Thousands of Buddhist temples were built at the foot of Fengling Mountain, and three temples were used to hold the dragon and let Long Mai continue to be king.

However, the Three Temples only suppressed the dragon head, the dragon claw and the dragon tail, but the dragon backbone in the city was not suppressed. So the dragon bent over and flew away, flying north to the north bank of Hunhe River. Hanwang thought that the dragon came from heaven and ordered him to build another city in the land of Longgan, so a new city sprang up and named it "Fengtian". Because the Hunhe River was called Shenshui in ancient times, and the north bank of the river was Yang (the rules of Yin and Yang in Feng Shui are: Shan Zhinan is Yang, the north of the water is Yin, the south of the water is Yin, and the north of the water is Yang), it is also called "Shenyang".

Of course, this legend seems amazing, but Professor Aarif Lee, a member of the National Committee for the Compilation of Qing History, and Tong Yue, director of the research office of Shenyang Palace Museum, said that Feng Shui has always been the first place to build a capital and a city. Shenyang is located in the Yang of Hunhe River, which is connected with Liaohe River, and Liaohe River is connected with the sea. It can be described as a "land of feng shui".

However, two experts also pointed out that the main purpose of Nurhachi's move to Shenyang should be strategic progress. First of all, Shenyang is a place extending in all directions, and its geographical position is very favorable to the Manchu at that time. There are Mongolia in the north, Ming Dynasty in the west and North Korea in the south. Secondly, the contradiction between Manchu and Han nationalities in Liaoyang, the former capital, was serious, while Shenyang was only a medium-sized city with a small population, which was easy to manage and avoided the intensification of Manchu-Han contradictions.

Who is the "chief engineer" of Shenyang Forbidden City?

Who designed these palace buildings in Qing Dynasty? Who built it? This time, Hou Shi's genealogy has also uncovered the tip of the iceberg.

This passage is recorded in the genealogy: "The Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty decided to cut Liaoyang, that is, to build the capital of Tokyo. In the seventh year of destiny, the octagonal golden palace was built, and colored glazed dragon bricks and colored tiles were needed. That is, I was ordered by my great-grandfather to give full play to the work of the governor, and Fu Qian was given a short post. Later, he moved the capital to Shenyang in the ninth year of the mandate of heaven, and rebuilt the Palace, Long Ta, Fengque and Sanling. It also allows more than 600 able-bodied men to be driven by husbands and officers. Great-grandfather Yu tried his best to serve, and the great work became prosperous. Choose seventeen craftsmen and try their best to serve them. ……"

Tong Yue believes that this passage shows that Hou Zhenju has a great relationship with the construction of Shenyang Palace. Judging from the above, Hou Zhenju should be one of the leaders of the Forbidden City, but considering that many buildings in Shenyang Forbidden City are Manchu buildings, Hou Zhenju can't be designed as a Han nationality, so there should be other Manchu designers and builders besides Hou Zhenju.

In this regard, some people put forward different views. Some experts believe that Hou Zhenju is just a "cellar owner who burns glazed tiles", not an "engineer" of Shenyang Forbidden City, because Hou Zhenju moved from Haicheng to Shenyang. According to Haicheng County Records, "Thirty-five miles southeast of the city, there is a yellow tile cellar at the foot of Yanshan Mountain to make yellow glazed tiles. During the Qing Dynasty, the Ministry of Industry sent five officials to supervise Huang Wa. For the mausoleum palace. " There is such a record in Volume II "National Records": "Hou Shi was originally from Mingfu County, Shanxi Province, and later moved here. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the military flag was a hereditary Shengjing five-product official, who supervised Huangwa and lived in the southeast of the city. " In the Preface to Rebuilding the Inscription of Boling Temple in Jiaogang Mountain, the county annals said: "In the early Qing Dynasty, the mausoleum palace was to be rebuilt with dragon bricks and colored tiles, because Hou Zhenju was awarded the fifth grade official of Shengjing Ministry of Industry ..."

Therefore, whether this Qing Dynasty palace was built by several people or by a master has always been an unsolved mystery.

Did Nurhachi build part of the Forbidden City?

During Nurhachi's reign, did you build a part of the Forbidden City? This is also controversial in the field of history. Professor Aarif Lee believes that Nurhachi lived near the North Gate of the Forbidden City when he was in Shenyang, not in Shenyang, which shows that the Forbidden City was definitely not built at that time. Moreover, building a palace is an expensive project, and the preparatory work is complicated. Nurhachi led his troops to move to Shenyang after 18 months and died suddenly. In such a short time, there is simply not enough time to build a complicated palace so quickly.

Director Tong believes that a year and a half is not a short time. It took Liaoyang City more than two years to build a palace. During Nurhachi's reign, he had time to build palaces. According to the earliest historical records, on the first day of the first month of 1627, Huang Taiji held a ceremony in Dazheng Hall. According to the weather in Shenyang, the main hall should be completed before June 1626+00. In other words, during the Nurhachi period, the main hall and its buildings, the Ten Kings Pavilion, should have been built. Of course, there are still many unsolved mysteries about the Forbidden City in Shenyang. However, Professor Li stressed that as long as we can analyze and interpret the Forbidden City from a cultural perspective, then this is the most important cultural heritage left by the Palace to future generations.

Address of the Forbidden City: Shenyang Road, Shenhe District, south of Xinglong Family 100 meters.