When it comes to movies and television productions of the Qing Dynasty, you can't get around Li Hanxiang's 1980s? Qing Palace Trilogy? namely: The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan, The Draped Curtain and A Generation of Demon Empresses. Since the movies were shot on location at the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and Qing East Mausoleum, they are also more historical and immersive than the later, cruder ones.

This is also the only Qing dynasty movie that can echo "The Last Emperor" in terms of props, locations, actors and historical facts, especially the opening scene of "Burning of the Yuanmingyuan", in which the Tongzhi emperor ascends to the throne, which is even more imposing and shocking.

But because "The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan" was so complex in terms of the manpower and resources that needed to be mobilized for the entire film, it also led to some flaws and inconsistencies. The film's artistic adviser, Mr. Zhu Jiahua, once pointed out that the horses and the emperor's nine-dragon cranked umbrella cover on both sides of the Taihe Temple plaza during the Tongzhi Emperor's ascension to the throne were not in accordance with the rules of etiquette. In addition, there are some flaws in the movie, which, if remedied, would have made the movie even more perfect in terms of artistry and authenticity.

Above_Stills from "The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan" The Emperor Tongzhi ascends to the throne

Masters and lackeys in the group of showgirls

"The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan" can't be separated from the Empress Dowager Cixi, who is introduced in a section of the movie in the beginning of the palace, in a section of the movie that introduces the Yulan'er (according to the movie's name, academics have disputes about Cixi's breast name, hereafter collectively referred to as "Cixi"), a narrator says: The emperor chooses showgirls every three years, and they're hosted by the Ministry of the Interior. Only the great ladies of the third rank and above had this privilege.

The narrator begins by explaining the conditions for the selection of the showgirls, but here he confuses the selection of the showgirls with the selection of the courtesans. During the Qing dynasty, the emperor chose the eight banners' showgirls once every three years, and these women initially included only the daughters of ministers and princes above the third rank of the eight banners of the Manchu and Mongolian armies, and then the women of the eight banners of the Han army who had distinguished themselves by their service.

Above _ "Burning of the Yuanmingyuan" stills Eight banners showgirls

Manchurian, Mongolian and Han eight banners showgirls selected by the Ministry of the Ministry of the Household contractors, the showgirls where the flag for the report, sorted by the Forbidden City, Shenwu Gate with the Shunzhen gate, according to the Emperor in a group of five for inspection, see the stay in the card, do not see in the put down the card. This produces the showgirl is as the emperor's concubines to fill the harem.

As for the annual held on the three banners of the Palace of Internal Affairs on the family girls to participate in the selection of showgirls, only by the House of Internal Affairs alone, these elected showgirls are as a courtesan call, after all, these courtesans come from the family (i.e., the imperial court lackeys), the emperor how to choose a lackey's daughter to do their own consort? This is why the movie mixes up the Eight Banners girls with those from the House of Representatives, and confuses masters with lackeys.

Above_Chinese interior government nanmu waist plate

How many grades was Cixi's father?

In many books, mentioned Cixi's father, I do not know is intentionally ignored or in order to defame Cixi's origin, often will say that his father is a sesame-sized pen post style. But in the movie in the process of entering the palace waiting for inspection, the young Cixi born in Manchuria inlaid blue banner, but said his father is a waiting for the Taoist officer, so this Taoist officer is a what official position?

According to the official system of the Qing Dynasty, all members of the Road for the fourth grade, equivalent to the current provincial and municipal level in the middle of the bureaucrats. Generally, according to the duties or the province's grain road, or in charge of the river or in charge of a few municipalities to name. But here there is a problem, clearly stipulates that only the children of officials of the eight banners of the third grade or above are eligible for the draft, but Cixi herself said that her father is a fourth-grade Taoist officer, or an alternate, which conflicts with the conditions of the three grades as mentioned earlier.

Above_ Stills from "The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan" Cixi said her father was an alternate dao

And most importantly, when Cixi chose the showgirls in the first year of the Xianfeng era, her father, Huizheng, wasn't an alternate dao dai, but was actually a member of the Guisui dao in Shanxi province (located in the present-day city of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia). Its subordinates have seven directly under the hall, the overall management of the flag people Mongolian affairs, sub-patrolling Gui Suidao, concurrently in charge of the city of naturalization and other places of taxation of the actual vacancy, after the second year of Xianfeng Cixi into the palace on the eve of the transfer of Anhui Province, Ning Chi Guangtai Road Road, the Taoist officer, from the remote places to move to the land of the affluent Anhui Province.

Subsequently, in Xianfeng three years because of avoiding the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's soldiers, AWOL was dismissed by the emperor, and soon died in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, which may be Cixi into the palace of the beginning of not favored one of the reasons. As for the so-called Cixi confirms the Yehe Nara left a woman overthrow Aisin Gioro legend, is nonsense, even if far-fetched, the words are solid, send off the ancestral rivers and mountains is another Yehe Nara, Cixi's niece Longyu Empress Dowager.

Above_The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement

The card of the chosen consort to serve the bed is green

After entering the palace in the plot, Cixi, because of the prophecy of Yehe Nara's demise of the Aisin Gioro, so it is much chilled. Therefore, Emperor Xianfeng every day to turn over the cards, choose the consort to serve bed are not Cixi. Cixi can only be in the night sitting on the steps of the emperor's bedchamber, watching others were carried to the emperor's bedchamber, secretly sad.

Here again there are some problems, the emperor with Su Shun and other ministers in the palace in a hurry, suddenly a small eunuch holding a plate written with the name of the concubines through the body of pink cards kneeling in front of the emperor, let the emperor to choose the consort to serve the bed tonight.

But the problem is that in the mid- to late Qing Dynasty, the emperor selected concubines to turn over the cards, are in the evening meal, and this with the nature of the bedding of the cards, as far as its privacy is concerned, more likely to guard a group of ministers for the emperor to choose. And the color and name of the sign of the bedchamber is also collectively known as? Green head plate? , this hear the name to know that the head of the sign is green, so here the pink color of the sign of the performance is wrong.

Above_ The burning of the Yuanmingyuan" stills Pink headboard

As to why the sign made pink, may be in order to show the emperor and the consort life? Charming? Customized: all summoned, cited, and other names, all with a pink card book name, geese line to enter. But here? Powder? refers to the chipped 30 centimeters long and 3 centimeters wide bamboo or wood slices, coated with white background, so that aspect of writing, and the handwriting is clear, easy to recognize.

At the same time in addition to bedding, the green head plate is also the official audience with the emperor? Name card? Princes and ministers to have an audience with the emperor before, first in the green head plate on the writing of their entry age, origin, curriculum vitae and other information to the emperor to do memorandum of use, but the royal princes with the card will be painted red, ordinary ministers of the green, in order to distinguish between the affinity of the noble and lowly. In addition to these two, the Forbidden City has not yet found such as the movie in the pink plate in kind.

Above_ Late Qing imperial guards with swords

After nightfall in the heavily gated harem

What's more, Cixi hid outside the emperor's chambers to peek at the other consorts were eunuchs wrapped with brocade was hurriedly lifted to the emperor's chambers, which was presented in such a way that was not in line with the forbidden city's access control system at the time.

Familiar with the history of the Qing Dynasty, people know that after entering the palace, Cixi was assigned to live in the West Six Palaces of the Cunxiu Palace, which is also the most important residence in her life. According to the palace every night? Under the money and food? s system, every time the eleventh hour (eight o'clock in the evening), the clapper sound of the palace on night duty, concubines all palaces, in addition to those who are on night duty to wait for the people, have to leave, the palace door is locked, the key to the Ceremonial House.

If you want to open the door again that night, you have to ask the eunuch in charge of the night watch outside the palace gate to report the reason to the honoring room and register before you can open the door. At the same time so? Please key? The record to report to the emperor afterwards, so if the emperor knows again in the absence of summoning, a consort night out of the palace privately, is a major taboo of the palace rules.

Above_ "Qin Ding Palace in the current rules," the Qing dynasty Guangxu ten years (1884) Wuying Hall publication

According to the "Qin Ding Palace in the current rules," records, from the Kangxi has been to the Daoguang Emperor for the Forbidden City of the door system for the three orders. On the first five of June in the first year of Xianfeng, the emperor reiterated? The forbidden door is important, should be serious?

So once the concubines' residences in the six palaces in the east and west locked their doors at night, if not for the emperor's summons and other special things, there is only one reason to open the palace doors, and that is fire. So in the face of such a strict door security system, Cixi want to leave Cuxiu Palace at night and close to the emperor's bedchamber is an impossible thing.

Above_ Stills from "The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan," which was auctioned off by the British and French forces

What's left of the Yuanmingyuan after it was burned down?

Since the movie is called "The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan", naturally, Xianfeng's hasty departure and the burning of the Yuanmingyuan by the British and French forces are the highlights of the movie. Since there were only a few remnants of the Yuanmingyuan left during the filming, director Li Hanxiang spent more than 600,000 yuan to re-build the location for the live-action filming, and then finally burned it down with a single fire.

In terms of the real Yuanmingyuan whether it is the foreigners on its destruction, or their contempt for Chinese civilization, are heartbreaking, so much so that we can not help but stifle our wrists when we see the Yuanmingyuan ruins of the remains of the Yuanmingyuan Yuan Yingguan, the Great Water Law. But the Yuanmingyuan was burned by the Anglo-French allied forces after the initial appearance, not the few broken walls we see today.

Above_ Stills from "The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan" The Great Waterworks in the Yuanmingyuan

After the Tongzhi Emperor came to power, he wanted to restore the Yuanmingyuan as a place for Cixi to rest and rejuvenate, but was dissuaded from doing so by his ministers because of the huge costs involved. May I ask, if the Yuanmingyuan is really only left with a few stone pillars of the Great Water Law, how can it be said to be restored? Take the existing remains of the Great Water Law as an example, this remains belong to a small part of the Yuanmingyuan in the Western building, when the Western building is modeled on the West, such as the Palace of Versailles and other places to build, all use of marble and other stone construction, so it is not easy to be burned to the ruins.

After the Yuanmingyuan was looted by the British and French armies, the Qing government's Ministry of the Interior still set up the Yuanmingyuan, such as stewardship Langzhong, responsible for guarding. According to the early Republic of China Xunqing Emperor of the Yuanmingyuan has been measured in this way: he Yuanmingyuan covers an area of 5,296 acres, north-south length of about three miles, east and west of about four miles, in addition to the dry land, water more than ten piles, there are still a lot of houses and masonry and wood, rockery stone carvings.

So how did the Yuanmingyuan become what it is today, a dilapidated look?

Above_ Yuanmingyuan was burned by the British and French forces

The Yuanmingyuan was looted many times

The Yuanmingyuan was burned by the British and French forces after another robbery was in 1900, when the Eight-Power Allied Forces attacked Beijing after it was again looted, to the Republic of China, due to the Sun Qing dynasty royal family incapable of jurisdiction as well as the warlords competing to come on stage, who mastered the capital's power, will hit the ruins of the Yuanmingyuan! Those years spent countless manpower and financial resources of the precious building materials of the idea, they will be transported to their own private homes to decorate the facade.

The warlord Cao Kun once used 20 truckloads a day to sweep away the Taihu Lake stones from the Wenyuan Pavilion in the Yuanmingyuan. From 1919 to 1922, a period of three years, there were eight documented large-scale thefts and forced robberies of the Yuanmingyuan's remnants, and the then-administrator of the Beiping area alone hauled away seven hundred and twenty-seven truckloads of Taihu Lake stones and Qingyun stones from the area.

Above_ Cao Kun (December 12, 1862 ? May 17, 1938), the word Zhongshan

Of course this information above is not to whitewash the British and French Allied Forces, who, after all, were the culprits. But that era of warlordism also made the so-called ? The Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens? The Yuanmingyuan suffered endless calamity and became the remnants of what it is today.

No doubt "Burning of the Yuanmingyuan" is a remarkable movie, symbolizing our country's reflection on the scars of history, but also demonstrates the reform and opening up of the whole society after the open-minded, facing up to history, remembering the history is not wrong, but make up for the deficiencies, accurately restore the history of the audience from the screen to obtain the knowledge of history and the values of history is also the correct guidance.

Wen: Wei Siwei

References:

1 Qing Historical Manuscripts? The Official Records of the Qing Dynasty. Qing. Zhao Erxun. Edited by Zhao Erxun.

2 The Existing Rules and Regulations of the Qin Ding Gongzhong. Qing Dynasty. The Ministry of the Interior

3 Xiaoting miscellany. Qing Dynasty. Qing Dynasty. Zhang Naiwei et al.

5 The Secret Stories of the Imperial Family of the Xunqing Dynasty. Qin Guojing

6 The Records of the Palace Maidens

5 The Secret Stories of the Imperial Family of the Xun-Qing Dynasty. Jin Yi and Shen Yi Antelope

The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the accompanying images are copyrighted by the original authors.