Daming Palace Harem Zhang Baotong 2017.11.30

If you visit the harem of Daming Palace now, you can only see the reconstructed garden-like scene. Around the Taiye Pool, about 200 meters north of the Zichen Hall is the north edge of the Longshou Plateau, and there is the Taiye Pond under it, also known as the Penglai Pool, with an area of about 16,000 square meters. The shape of the pond is close to an oval, and there is a mound in the east of the pond, which is more than 5 meters high, and is called Penglai Mountain. There is a cloister along the shore of the pond, and there are many pavilions and halls nearby. The Taiye Pool of that year was located in the middle of the north of Daming Palace, and was first dug in the Zhenguan or Longshuo period. In the late Kaiyuan period, Xuanzong had ordered to build a moon viewing platform on both sides of the Taiye Pond, which was 100 feet high, and Yang Guifei admired the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival. In May of the 12th year of the reign of Emperor Xianzong (817 AD), another dredge was repaired, and 400 corridors were built around it. There is Penglai Mountain in the pool, and there is Taiye Pavilion on the mountain. Wenzong Li Ang once personally wrote the deeds of the monarchs and ministers in the "Book of Shang", and ordered the painter to paint it on the pavilion so that it could be viewed. The area of the Taiye Pool is about 16,000 square meters, which is divided into two pools, east and west, and there are channels in the middle. According to archaeological measurements, the West Pond is 500 meters long from east to west and 320 meters wide from north to south. The east pond is smaller, 220 meters long from north to south, 150 meters wide from east to west, and only more than 5 meters away from the east palace city wall in the east. The bank of the pond is three or four meters above the bottom of the pond. The water source of Taiye Pond is drawn from the Longshou Canal from the south. There is a culvert that communicates with the outside of the palace. The corridor along the coast and the nearby palace buildings are deliberately arranged according to the characteristics of the landform.

Ancient Chinese palace architecture adopts a strict central axis symmetrical layout, and the ancient palace building itself is also divided into two parts, namely "the front dynasty and the back bed", the "former dynasty" is the place where the emperor ruled the government and held the ceremony, and the "back bed" is where the emperor and the concubines lived. The Taiye Pool of Daming Palace is the queen bed of many emperors of the Tang Dynasty.

Surrounding the pool is a complete rectangular cloister. On both sides of the cloister are symmetrically built more than 400 jade pavilions and attics, connecting some dance pavilions and palaces and temples. The layout of the whole building is a string of pearls and jade, which is harmonious, symmetrical on the left and right, and the master and slave are distinct. There is a courtyard for concubines and a residence for palace maids. The cloister is about one person higher than the ground, and all of them are wooden structures, with carved beams and painted buildings, red pillars and green tiles. Next to the cloister are a number of small lofts, some of which are connected to each other, and some of which are left alone. The size of each loft is small, about thirteen or fourteen square meters, which can accommodate one person. The corridor is straight and twisted, undulating with the height of the pool, and the corridor allows two people to walk side by side, and there are many stairs that can be lowered to the ground. All the buildings are wooden structures, dyed in the strong colors of the Mogao Grottoes, which appear gorgeous and full, bright and eye-catching, like a magnificent, colorful and gorgeous historical picture. This kind of landscape that integrates architecture, humanities, landscape and style not only shows the grace and grandeur of the Tang Dynasty architecture, but also highlights the cheerful and skillful and simple and heavy culture of the Tang Dynasty, which can be described as a combination of gold and jade, majestic and magnificent. When our thoughts wander in the imagination of the harem of Daming Palace, we can't help but have a sense of imagination, dreaming back to the Tang Dynasty, immersive, and being in it. It was as if I had seen the memorable and exclamatory scenes that had happened in those cloisters, attics, and dance pavilions.

In the imagination, we can see that in the wind and sunshine, colorful and bright, the corridor is sometimes like a long bridge lying on the waves, the fairy moon cave, and sometimes the peaks and loops turn, and the winding path is secluded. The young and glamorous, delicate and weak concubines were gorgeously dressed, with long sleeves fluttering under the support of the maids, strolling leisurely through the corridor. While talking and laughing, they condescendingly watched the flowers and grass outside, as well as the lakes and mountains. The clear and melodious, delicate and touching laughter spread far and wide, drifting away with the wind. From time to time, there would be a palace maid who conveyed the will of the master, walked briskly through the cloister, and when she met the noblewomen, she hurriedly stopped and respectfully bowed and bowed. Then, the concubines who came from the other side met in the cloister, they greeted each other, talked and laughed, and then leaned against the fence of the corridor together, while watching the mountains and rocks, flowers and trees outside, while chanting poems.

In a spacious attic not far from them, a noble lady in a green dress and a shirt embroidered sat on a bench, with a guqin on her lap, plucking the strings and playing with a focused expression. Behind her stood a maid, holding a teacup in a tray and serving tea. On the opposite side sat three gorgeously dressed ladies, they bent their eyebrows and cheeks, graceful and calm, under the service of the palace maids on both sides, sipping famous tea and listening to music. Another noble lady was looking sideways, concentrating her attention on the violin. A lady next to her, holding a teacup, seems to be delivering tea to her master.

In another attic, two costumed ladies sit against each other. This kind of chess is called "double backgammon" and is a game of dice rolling. It is rumored that this amusement art began in Tianzhu, popular in the Wei and Jin dynasties, flourished in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and was especially liked by the nobles and the elegant. The opposing side was looking at the chessboard and thinking about it, she was dressed in bright clothes, her appearance was delicate, and she looked calm and wise. The lady opposite was thick and fat, her skin was delicate and soft, her brows were furrowed, and she was undecided. The woman wearing a flower crown next to her gently shook the fan and watched the chess closely. There are maidservants waiting on the left and right.

Below the cloister is the Imperial Garden, which is full of rocks, flowers, strange stones, strange trees, streams, and birds. A group of bewitching concubines and noblewomen enjoy the flowers and visit the garden in the bright spring light. The ladies are plump and thick-bodied, graceful and luxurious. Dressed in rich and colorful costumes, with their breasts exposed, their expressions were relaxed and radiant, and from their shoulders and slender wrists, they still showed the feminine demeanor of aristocratic women. "Pink breasts and half-conceal suspicious dark snow" and "habitual Luo shirt and half-exposed breast", this is one of the most daring expressions of ancient Chinese women's clothing, and you can imagine the degree of open-mindedness at that time. However, in the Tang Dynasty, only women with status could wear open corsets, concubines and princesses could have ** breasts, singers could ** breasts to please the ruling class, and women from ordinary people were not allowed to ** breasts. At that time, the half-open-breasted skirts of the Tang Dynasty were somewhat similar to the night dresses of the modern West, except that the shoulders and back were not allowed to be exposed. The material, color and style of the Tang Dynasty skirt are much more than the previous generation, which can be described as a group of flowers, magnificent, rich and gorgeous, strange and complex. There is no pretentiousness, and there is no twisting and reserved. All kinds of bright colors compete with each other, unwilling to be lonely, plus gold and silver miscellaneous, more dazzling. Its decorative patterns are mostly birds and beasts in pairs, flowers are splendid, auspicious light is shining, full of interest, it can be described as a grand scene of the Tang Dynasty.

Among the people who visited the garden to enjoy the flowers, there was a beautiful woman, dressed in a long vermilion dress, a purple gauze blouse, a vermilion curtain, a pair of thin eyes with two "eyebrows", and a tall bun decorated with a blooming peony flower. She turned sideways to the right, holding a puppy, lying on the ground with a dusty red tassel ** in her left hand. A beautiful woman is holding a freshly caught butterfly tightly in her right hand, and the butterfly is struggling with its tentacles open. A white crane walked up next to him, attracting a beautiful woman with a sheer body and plump muscles to look back, and her eyes were full of joy. There is also a person dressed in a scarlet cloak, a purple gauze shirt, and a bright red flower in her right hand, which she puts in front of her and quietly gazes at. The scarf is also embroidered with flowers, and most of them are red, echoing the safflower in the hand, and the smooth skin and transparent tulle give people a soft and tranquil beauty. Not far behind the lady of the flowers, a smaller woman respectfully followed behind the lady of the flowers. She has simple hair and simple clothes, which can be seen as a maid. She held a long-handled fan in her hand, as if to dispel the heat of early summer for the woman, and like a butterfly ready to shoot flowers. There was also a young woman, wearing a begonia flower, a scarlet cloak, a purple gauze shirt, and her hands tugging at the gauze cover, as if she was coming from a distance, moving lightly, curling Tingting; her headdress and clothes were extremely gorgeous, beyond everyone else, but her posture was lazy, and she was not ready to participate in the game, and her expression seemed to be proud of everything, thinking that she was just recovering from her illness, but she was just out to relax.