Zhong Cui is the same as Zhong Cui, which in ancient times means to gather the essence and essence. The Qing Dynasty continued to use the old name of the Ming Dynasty, and was rebuilt in the 12th year of Shunzhi (1655), and then repaired many times in the 11th year of Daoguang (1831), the 13th year of Tongzhi (1874), the 16th year of Guangxu (1890), and the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897). In the late Qing Dynasty, the palace gate was added with hanging flower doors and verandahs.

Zhong Cui Palace is the second courtyard, the main gate is southward, the name Zhong Cui Gate, the main hall of the front yard is the Zhong Cui Palace, the face is 5 rooms, the yellow glazed tile is the top of the mountain, the front corridor, the eaves ridge is placed with 5 beasts, the eaves are applied to the single warped single ang five feet bucket arch, painted Soviet style color painting. Open the door in the bright room, and the sill window between the times and the pins, and the ice cracks, and the steps of the brocade doors and windows. The interior was originally made by the Ming Dynasty, and the ceiling was added to the ceiling, the square bricks were pierced on the ground, and the Qianlong imperial inscription "Shushen and gentle" plaque was hung in the Ming room. In front of the palace, there are 3 rooms of the east and west with the hall, the front corridor, the bright room opens the door, the yellow glazed tile hard mountain top, the eaves are decorated with Soviet-style color paintings.

There are 5 rooms in the main hall of the backyard, the door is opened in the bright room, the yellow glazed tile is the top of the mountain, the eaves are decorated with Soviet-style color paintings, and there are ear rooms on both sides. There are 3 rooms with halls in the east and west, all of which are open in the bright room, and the yellow glazed tile is the top of the mountain. There is 1 well pavilion in the southwest corner of the hospital.

Zhongcui Palace was inhabited by concubines in the Ming Dynasty and was once the palace of the imperial princess. In the Qing Dynasty, it was the residence of the concubine. When Emperor Yi of the Qing Dynasty Xianfeng lived here as a child, Emperor Daoguang's concubine, that is, Prince Gong's mother (at the time) Jing Guifei (Empress Xiao Jingcheng) also lived in this palace and raised Yi Su on her behalf. Empress Xiaozhenxian of Xianfeng Emperor (i.e., Empress Dowager Ci'an) lived in Zhongcui Palace from the time she entered the palace until her death in the seventh year of Guangxu (1881). After Guangxu's wedding, Empress Longyu also lived here. The last emperor Pu Yi also lived in this palace after entering the palace.

Now it is here all the year round to display the jade cultural relics in the Forbidden City.

Architectural form

Zhongcui Palace was originally named Xianyang Palace, according to records, in the fourteenth year of Jiajing of Ming Dynasty (1535), Xianyang Palace was renamed Zhongcui Palace, and Xianyang Gate was renamed Zhongcui Gate; In the fifth year of Longqing (1571), the name was changed again, the front hall was with the dragon palace, and the back hall was the temple of the sage. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Zhongcui Palace, and it has been used until now. In the early Ming Dynasty, this palace was the residence of the concubines, and the Zhongcui Palace was the residence of the prince during the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, and it became the living area of the queen mother and the concubines in the Qing Dynasty.

Zhongcui Palace belongs to a courtyard in the east six palaces of the inner court, 47.38 meters long from north to south, 47.9 meters wide from east to west, the plane is nearly square, divided into two courtyards before and after, the front hall and the back bed. The main hall of the front yard is the Zhongcui Palace, which sits north to south, and is a large hall with a face width of five rooms, and the front porch rests on the mountain roof. There are three halls in the east and west, and the front corridor is single-eaves hard hilltop. There is a corner corridor on the left and right sides of the main hall and the front porch of the side hall communicates. The main gate is called Zhong Cui Door, sit north to south, is a single eaves rest mountain top glazed door with bucket arch, left and right embedded with glazed flower decoration on the wall, there is a hanging mountain roll shed roof inverted hanging flower door in the door, weeping lotus pillar built-in four screen doors that can be opened and closed, the two sides of the door are built verandah according to the south wall, and the hanging flower door and the front porch of the east and west side hall are communicated, forming the pattern of the triple courtyard with the corridor. The backyard is also a three-sided courtyard, but the specifications are slightly lower than the front yard, the roofs are all low-grade hard mountain style, and there are north and south corridors and front and rear halls in the middle of the courtyard. On the left and right sides of the apse, there are relatively low east and west ear rooms and card walls, which become small courtyards by themselves. There is a well pavilion on the west side of the backyard road. The group of buildings in the Zhongcui Palace is a typical palace house.

After on-the-spot investigation, the main hall of Zhongcui Palace has only been partially repaired since the completion of the early Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and the frame shape of the early Ming Dynasty is still preserved.

The plane layout of the main hall, the width and depth of the face gradually decrease from the central Ming room to the left and right, and the tip is distinct, and the main and secondary are distinct, this distribution mode is more obvious than that of the Song and Yuan dynasties, and is used by the Qing Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, the distribution of the column network of official buildings was already a strictly symmetrical pattern, and one of the four columns was also the basic method of this period, and the columns had obvious side angles and arisen, which still maintained the legacy of the Song Dynasty.