Qing Dynasty court life

Author: Wan Yi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: At the turn of the 20th century, the Forbidden City was still a heavily guarded imperial palace, where common people were not allowed to approach easily. From the early Ming Dynasty in 1421 to the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, for four hundred and ninety years, on this 720,000-square-meter restricted area, the arrogant emperors and nobles performed one real tragedy or comedy after another. Those people with different faces gradually disappeared over time, but their relics—lofty palaces, luxurious furnishings, rare jewelry, refined cultural artifacts, and everyday items—are still vividly preserved. From the sunken bricks worn down by the soles of cloth shoes, people can almost see the layered footprints of the noble lords, warriors, literati, eunuchs, palace maids, craftsmen, and laborers of that time. Court life, especially the lives of the Qing emperors, empresses, and concubines, has always been shrouded in secrecy in imperial documents, making it even more mysterious. Since the Xinhai Revolution, there have been many unofficial histories, novels, films, and dramas about Qing court life, but they are often imaginative works, making them hard to believe. In this book, you can see many contents that cannot be seen when visiting the Palace Museum. Because it not only uses many unpublished court artifacts but also worked tirelessly to capture extremely difficult-to-shoot night scenes and other special scenes to recreate historical scenes. Especially in pursuit of the traces of the Kang and Qian emperors' southern tours and northern hunts, they traveled tens of thousands of miles, and many scenes were taken through wind, rain, severe cold, and intense heat. The topic of this book is a bold attempt, covering a wide range of content, and the workload is immense.