Daming Palace Harem Zhang Baotong 2017.11.30

Li Yuan was the emperor for 9 years and handed over the throne to Li Shimin. Although Li Shimin did not kill his father, Li Yuan lived the life of a prisoner from then on. Li Shimin held a grudge because Li Yuan supported Li Jiancheng back then, and regarded Li Yuan as house arrest from the beginning of his abdication. In the first three years, Li Yuan still lived in the emperor's exclusive palace Taiji Palace, and Li Shimin lived in the East Palace as the emperor, but Li Yuan's every move was monitored, and he couldn't go out at will, and the ministers couldn't come to visit. Moreover, Li Shimin began to liquidate some of his father's policies, rehabilitated Liu Wenjing, who was punished by Li Yuan, and was promoted, and the ministers who were favored by Li Yuan were punished, and the policies formulated by Li Yuan were basically denied, and this kind of policy of openly negating the previous emperor during his reign is very rare in Chinese history. Not only that, but after that, Li Shimin didn't even let Li Yuan stay in the Taiji Palace, and found an excuse to move Li Yuan to Hongyi Palace, which was changed to Da'an Palace by Li Shimin, which means be honest. It was cold and damp here, Li Yuan was already in his 60s at that time, and he was like a prisoner, and he had no freedom compared to being in the Taiji Palace. Every year, Li Shimin would go to the Renshou Palace built by Emperor Yang of Sui to escape the summer, but he never let Li Yuan pass. Li Yuan's every move in Da'an Palace was closely monitored. Thinking about the time when he was in the world, he was full of spirit, and he was like a city, and Li Yuan was extremely desolate at this time. In his later years, he often sighed, as if he was regretting something, and in this case, his physical condition became worse and worse. In the last year before Li Yuan's death, Li Shimin didn't know whether his conscience found out or accepted the minister's opinion, so he invited Li Yuan to go to Renshou Palace to escape the summer, but Li Yuan didn't dare to go to death. Because he knew that that was the place where Emperor Yang of Sui killed Yang Jian, he was very scared that Li Shimin suddenly let him go at this time, and said that he would not go. Li Shimin was helpless, in order to eliminate his father's fear and show a little filial piety, he ordered the construction of Daming Palace for his father to improve Li Yuan's living conditions and let him live for a long time. But Li Yuan, who was frightened, was very uneasy and died 1 year later, and the Daming Palace had not yet been repaired at this time. Li Yuan, the founding monarch, finished his life in misery and loneliness, and happened to be the emperor for 9 years and the emperor for 9 years.

According to historical records, Daming Palace, formerly known as Yong'an Palace, is the main hall of the Tang Empire, the political center and national symbol of the Tang Dynasty, was built in the eighth year of Zhenguan of Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (634 years), and is the largest of the three main palaces of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty (Daming Palace, Taiji Palace, Xingqing Palace). Since Tang Gaozong, 17 Tang Dynasty emperors have dealt with court politics here, which lasted for more than 200 years. Daming Palace covers an area of 3.2 square kilometers, which is 4.5 times the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and is known as the palace of a thousand palaces. In the third year of Tang Zhaozong's Qianning (896), the Daming Palace was destroyed in the war at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

In the eighth year of Zhenguan, that is, the eighth year after the coup d'état in Xuanwumen, Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, built a summer palace for his father Li Yuan, the ancestor of the Tang Dynasty. After Li Yuan's death, Yong'an Palace was changed to Daming Palace, which became a palace because it was uninhabited for a long time. The palace refers to the palace built outside the national capital for the emperor to live permanently, and the emperor generally goes to live at a fixed time every year. When he arrived at Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, he was depressed and suffering from rheumatism, and he hated the dampness in the Taiji Palace, so he moved to the Daming Palace, which was located on the Longshou Plateau, where the ground was high and dry. Gaozong Li Zhi expanded it and once changed its name to Penglai Palace, which later became the main place for the emperors of the Tang Dynasty to live and listen to the government in Chang'an.

From the topographical point of view, from Fanchuan in the southwest of Chang'an to Daming Palace, there is a mountain hill that symbolizes the dragon vein, which stretches for about 60 miles from north to south. The tail of the dragon hill is Fan Chuan. Fan Chuan is a famous scenic spot in the southern suburbs of Chang'an City, Han Gaozu Liu Bang once sealed this river road as the food of the military general Fan Xu, Fan Chuan got its name from this, it is rumored that Fan Chuan is the site of Fan Xue Garden in that year. The dragon head of the dragon is in the northern suburbs of Xi'an. Because of the high terrain here, it is called Longshou Plateau. Daming Palace is built on the dragon head of this dragon plateau, using the natural terrain to build the palace and form a relatively independent castle. The southern part of Miyagi is rectangular in shape, and the northern part is in the shape of a trapezoidal shape that is wide in the south and narrow in the north. The north side of Longshou Mountain is the backyard, the terrain is low-lying, and the water of Longshou Canal is led into the city to form a lake, that is, the Taiye Pool.

The planning of the backyard area of Daming Palace pays great attention to the choice of geographical location to avoid the mistake of "wetting" in the backyard of Taiji Palace in the harem area again. Most of the Son of Heaven's dormitory and the Ben Hall were concentrated on the Longshou Mountain Heights in the southeast of Taiye Pond, and the places where the emperor managed the government and entertained his ministers in the back court were placed on the Longshou Mountain Heights on the southwest bank of Taiye Pond. In the north of the Taiye Pond, the terrain is broad and low, and some amusement places and the ancillary landscapes of the Taiye Pond are placed, such as the Shicui Palace, the Horse Racing Building, the Cockfighting Platform and so on. Lin De Hall was built in the period of Lin De of Tang Gaozong, and is located on the high ground in the west of Taiye Pond in the north of Daming Palace. In addition, there are more than 30 other halls, pavilions, and views.

Tang Taiye Pool is for the emperor and queen to swing the boat and enjoy the moon. There is a pavilion in the pool, and there are cloisters and palaces around the pool, and the emperor often feasts the ministers in the Taiye Pool. In addition to the three palaces of the Tang Dynasty, there were three large gardens, namely the West Inner Garden, the East Inner Garden, and the Forbidden Garden. The west inner garden is in the north of the Taiji Palace, there are several palaces in the garden, among which the Hongyi Palace is the place where Li Shimin lived when he was the king of Qin, and it was renamed Da'an Palace after ascending the throne. Zhenguan four years, retired to the emperor Li Yuan moved to Da'an Palace, Zhenguan nine years, Li Yuan died of illness in the Da'an Palace of the vertical arch hall. The East Inner Garden is on the southeast corner of the Daming Palace. The inner hall of the garden has Chenghui Palace, Dragon Head Palace, Watching Music Palace, Yuchang Pavilion Palace; The courtyard has the spirit rune should be the Holy Courtyard, the Tang Dynasty collapsed here, the pool has the dragon's head pool, the dragon's head canal water is injected, and then the pool is filled in again, and it is rebuilt into a bow field. There are children's workshops, inner education workshops, and royal horse workshops. Among the three gardens, the Forbidden Garden is the largest. The east and west gardens are only one or two miles in radius, and the forbidden garden is located in a large area in the northwest of Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, with Weishui in the north, and the Han Chang'an City in the west, and the palace city in the south, and one hundred and twenty miles in circumference. There are willow orchards, peach orchards, vineyards, and pear orchards in the forbidden garden, which are full of life. Dozens of elegant pavilions are scattered in the garden, and palaces are built near various scenic spots for the emperors and queens to set up banquets and watch the scenery and rest.

Taiye Pool is the location of the harem and the most important pool garden of the Tang Dynasty. A harem refers to the place where the emperor's wives and concubines lived. Tang set up six bureaus and twenty-four divisions, with 190 officials and more than 50 female histories, all of whom were selected to be filled by women from good families. The ancients often used "three thousand beauties in the harem" to describe the concubines of ancient emperors. It is said that the Qingning Palace where the queen lives, the Penglai Hall where the concubine lives, the Hanxiang Palace, the Bathhouse Hall and the Greenhouse Palace, and the Fengyang Pavilion where the princess lives are all built around the Taiye Pool. Taiye Pond can be said to be the center of the inner court, there are Penglai Island, Yingzhou Island and Abbot Island in the lake, there are buildings on the island, and the scenery is beautiful. And the halls and pavilions around the pond are densely packed, as many as more than 400 rooms, most of them are the places where the concubines live and rest, are connected by the cloister, extend in all directions.

Daming Palace was destroyed at the end of the Tang Dynasty, for more than a thousand years, due to the change of dynasties and the change of wind and rain, Daming Palace has long ceased to exist, and everything about Daming Palace has also disappeared without a trace in the long river of history. I tried my best to search, but I never saw any detailed scenes and pictures about the Daming Palace. Except for these reconstructed palaces and places in front of us, we can't see the original appearance of history at all. However, according to the model architecture of Daming Palace, we can imagine the prosperity and grandeur of the time from those deep palace halls and pavilions. These scale-condensed models of the Daming Palace are like a long scroll of history, slowly unveiling the mystery of the Tang Dynasty harem.

After the Xuanwumen Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty pacified the whole of China and gradually stabilized and prospered. Especially after Tang Gaozong Li Zhi moved to live in Daming Palace, the expanded Daming Palace has since become the main residence of the Tang Emperor. During the more than 270 years of the existence of Daming Palace, as many as 17 emperors of the Tang Dynasty lived here and listened to the government.