Hall of Mental Cultivation
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The Hall of Mental Cultivation (,
Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
: ''yang sin diyan'') is a building in the inner courtyard of the
Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...
in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The hall is a wooden structure with dome coffered ceilings, and was first built during the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
in 1537, and was reconstructed during the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. During the early Qing dynasty under the reign of the
Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...
the hall was mostly used as a workshop, wherein artisan objects like clocks were designed and manufactured. From the reign of the
Yongzheng Emperor , regnal name = , posthumous name = Emperor Jingtian Changyun Jianzhong Biaozhen Wenwu Yingming Kuanren Xinyi Ruisheng Daxiao Zhicheng Xian()Manchu: Temgetulehe hūwangdi () , temple name = Shizong()Manchu: Šidzung () , house = Aisin Gioro ...
during the 18th century, the hall was the residence for the emperor. Under the reign of the
Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...
until the fall of the Qing dynasty, the hall became the centre of governance and political administration. In the Western Warmth Chamber, the emperor would hold private meetings, and discuss state affairs with his mandarins. After the death of Emperor Xianfeng, from inside the Eastern Warmth Chamber,
empress dowager Empress dowager (also dowager empress or empress mother) () is the English language translation of the title given to the mother or widow of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere. The title was also g ...
s Ci'an and
Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
would hold audiences with ministers and rule from behind a silk screen curtain during their regencies for emperors Tongzhi and Guangxu, who both succeeded to the throne as children in the second half of the 19th century. The Hall of Mental Cultivation contained the Hall of Three Rarities, which stored art and cultural relics, and the Qianlong Emperor's collection of 134 model calligraphy works from the Imperial Collection. He also housed three ancient calligraphy artworks by ancient calligraphers
Wang Xizhi Wang Xizhi (; ; 303 AD361 AD) was a Chinese calligrapher, politician, general and writer during the Jin dynasty. He was best known for his mastery of Chinese calligraphy. Wang is sometimes regarded as the greatest Chinese calligrapher in Chines ...
, Wang Xianzhi and Wang Xun. The hall's interior is decorated with
polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...
paintings, glazed tiles, ancient ''
thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...
s'', and traditional
wax paper Waxed paper (also wax paper, waxpaper, or paraffin paper) is paper that has been made moisture-proof and grease-proof through the application of wax. The practice of oiling parchment or paper in order to make it semi-translucent or moisture-pro ...
decorations. From 2006, the Palace Museum instigated a research and conservation project aimed at restoring the hall, and preserving its cultural relics like
thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...
s. In anticipation of the hall's closure due to restoration in 2018, in 2017 the Palace Museum launched a digital exhibition about the Hall of Mental Cultivation.


History

Construction concluded in 1537, during the 16th year of the Ming dynasty’s Jiajing Emperor’s reign, which spanned from 1521 to 1566. During the reign of the
Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...
(1661–1722) during the early Qing dynasty, the Hall of Mental Cultivation was primarily used as an imperial workshop of the 'Inner Court', or atelier for the newly established administrative body called the Department of Imperial Household Construction, or ''Zaobanchu''. The ''Zaobanchu'' were responsible for manufacturing
arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
objects, “court utensils and paraphernalia.” Such craft studios within the hall, established in 1693, stored “clocks,
jade Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...
, arms and maps" and was dedicated to Chinese
artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
s who influenced and helped European crusaders in developing their
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...
and enamel craft techniques. From 1691, most of these craft workshops and ateliers were transferred to th
Palace of Compassion and Tranquility
''(Cining gong)'' which was built in 1536.


Use and purpose

Ever since the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor from 1723 to 1735, the main purpose of the Hall of Mental Cultivation was to house the
emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
. The Yongzheng Emperor moved from the
Palace of Heavenly Purity The Palace of Heavenly Purity, or Qianqing Palace (; Manchu:; Möllendorff: ''kiyan cing gung'') is a palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It is the largest of the three halls of the Inner Court (the other two being the Hall of Union ...
to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, since he felt uncomfortable sleeping inside the place where his father died. The hall also became the main vicinity where he carried out his administrative and political duties. It was up until 1912 after the
abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...
of the
Xuantong Emperor Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...
who ascended to the throne in 1909, that the Hall of Mental Cultivation stood as the political hub of the Qing dynasty. During the early years of the Yongzheng Emperor’s reign, part of the hall was dedicated to constructing
clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...
s, many of which were designed by European artisans. The emperor would often describe his desired function and design of the clock, which would then be sketched then constructed, according to the emperor’s specifications, and always subject to his approval.


Western Warmth Chamber

Also known as a ''nuange'', the western warmth chamber was found inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation’s front hall. During the
Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...
's reign during the middle-late Qing dynasty, this room became the epicentre of such political and governmental activities. The emperor would read memorials and hold private meetings with his ministerial members. A private prayer room for the Qianlong Emperor which was also known as the Buddha Room which was two storeys tall, was also constructed in 1747.


Hall of Three Rarities

Constructed within the Hall’s Western Warmth Chamber, the Hall of Three Rarities or ''Sanxitang'' was the Qianlong Emperor’s study and was also dedicated to housing what are now deemed to be artistic and cultural
relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s. Inside this room, the Qianlong Emperor kept his calligraphy artworks. In particular, he stored three works by three significant calligraphers: ''Timely Clearing After Snowfall'' by
Wang Xizhi Wang Xizhi (; ; 303 AD361 AD) was a Chinese calligrapher, politician, general and writer during the Jin dynasty. He was best known for his mastery of Chinese calligraphy. Wang is sometimes regarded as the greatest Chinese calligrapher in Chines ...
from the Jin dynasty, ''Mid-Autumn'' by his son Wang Xianzhi, and ''Letter to Boyuan'' by Wang Xun, Xizhi’s nephew. Whilst keeping the original works, in 1747, the Qianlong Emperor ordered for these works as well as 134 other calligraphic works from the Imperial Collection to be carved into stone, and displayed in the nearby Pavilion of Reviewing the Past, or ''Yueguo lou'' in Beihai Park, Beijing. Some of these calligraphic works formally housed within the Hall of Three Rarities are now archived in a collection at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, titled the
Model Calligraphies of the Hall of Three Rarities.
'


Timely Clearly After Snowfall

Written as a
running script Semi-cursive script (), also known as running hand script, is a style of calligraphy which emerged in China during the Han dynasty (3rd century BC – 3rd century AD). The style is used to write Chinese characters and is abbreviated slightly w ...
, this artwork depicts a short letter, written by Xizhi to his friend after a snowfall. According to the critic Chan Ching-fen from the Ming dynasty, the running script depicted in this artwork influenced the calligraphic style of Chao Meng-fu, a calligrapher from the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
.


Mid-Autumn

This model calligraphy made of
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
, employs a cursive script (
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
: 草書;
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
: ''cǎoshū'') and only has 22
Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
. After the fall of Chinese
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
, the work was sold from the private, royal collections by dowager Jingyi, the consort of Emperor Tongzhi. However, in the 1950s under the orders of Premier
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...
, China’s Ministry of Culture re-acquired this work, together with ''Letter to Boyuan'' by Wang Xun. This artwork is now displayed at the Palace Museum.


Eastern Warmth Chamber

This area of the hall was dedicated to Empress Dowagers Cixi and Ci’an. It was in this room, that during the late Qing dynasty after the death of her husband Emperor Xianfeng,
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu people, Manchu Nara (clan)#Yehe Nara, Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese nob ...
ruled China from “behind a silk screen curtain”, engaging in official state affairs through and behind her son, the child emperor Tongzhi and the following
emperor Guangxu The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, wi ...
. From 1862 to 1866, while ruling behind the curtain and the child emperor Tongzhi, Empress Dowagers Cixi and Ci’an were also lectured about peaceful governance by academics from the Hanlin Academy. Using the biographies of former emperors and empresses as the blueprint for political success, these lectures were dedicated to teaching the two Empress Dowagers about how to effectively rule China.


Western Side Hall

This area of the Hall of Mental Cultivation was dedicated to the “consecration of tablets of deceased emperors.”


Eastern Side Hall

This area served as a common
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
prayer hall.


Hall of Joyful Swallows

Found inside the rear hall inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Hall of Joyful Swallows was reserved for the emperor’s high-ranking
concubines Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubin ...
.


Gate of Mental Cultivation

The Gate of Mental Cultivation or ''Yangxinmen,'' was constructed in front of the Hall and faced southwards, and could originally only be opened to the emperor. Buildings in front of the Gate housed and were reserved for the emperor’s
eunuchs A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
.


Layout

The Hall of Mental Cultivation is shaped like an ‘H’, or the Chinese character ‘gong’ (工) and occupies a space of approximately 3800m2. Surrounding the Hall are the Grand Council offices and those of other significant government bodies.


Construction and architecture

In a research experiment conducted in 2019 that aimed to uncover the technology utilised in constructing the royal buildings within the Forbidden City, Xu and colleagues discovered that the hall had been constructed with materials like “
wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
, black bricks, roof tiles and mortar.” Wood was a common material in ancient Chinese architecture and was used to frame the Buddha Room, which had cross-shaped wooden walls, partitions, and frames, shaped like zig-zags. The mortar formulated during the construction of the hall contained raw materials like “
calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
,
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
, hematite, muscovite, mullite, aragonite and
gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...
”, and plant fibres like “bamboo,
jute Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...
, flax, hemp, ramie”, and even sticky rice, blood and plant juice. Inside the main hall’s central bay, the domed coffered ceilings exhibited traditional patterns like
dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
and golden decorations ''(douba-zaojing),'' reflective of the architectural and artistic style that pervaded the Ming dynasty. A product of
Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
, a ''
zaojing The caisson (), also referred to as a caisson ceiling, or ''spider web ceiling'', in East Asian architecture is an architectural feature typically found in the ceiling of temples and palaces, usually at the centre and directly above the main thron ...
'', (
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
: 藻井;
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
: ''zǎojǐng'') or
coffered ceiling A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also c ...
, is shaped in either a square, octagon or circle, and is placed in the centre of the ceiling. It was a common feature in ancient Chinese halls, palaces, religious temples, and physically represented the “unity of heaven and man on the one hand, and a hierarchical society on the other.” Based on
archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
discoveries of
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
water wells pertaining to the
Hemudu culture The Hemudu culture (5500 BC to 3300 BC) was a Neolithic culture that flourished just south of the Hangzhou Bay in Jiangnan in modern Yuyao, Zhejiang, China. The culture may be divided into early and late phases, before and after 4000 BC respec ...
within the Yuyao,
Zhejiang province Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...
, it has been found that the design and physical properties of the ''zaojing'' derives from early wooden
water well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. Th ...
structures. The ''zaojing''’s origins have also been linked to the designs of early
skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...
s from ancient Chinese huts, particularly from the early
Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
.


Interior design


Decorative polychrome paintings

The decorative
polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...
paintings like that of the “ridge tie-beam” of the main hall were created with mineral pigments like
azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the Type locality (geology), type locality at Chessy, Rhône, Chessy-les-Mines near ...
and
atacamite Atacamite is a copper halide mineral: a copper(II) chloride hydroxide with formula Cu2Cl(OH)3. It was first described for deposits in the Atacama Desert of Chile in 1801 by D. de Fallizen. The Atacama Desert is also the namesake of the mineral. ...
, and featured patterns and motifs reflective of the artistic style of the ruling dynasty at the time. For instance, during the Jiajing Emperor’s sovereignty amid the Ming dynasty, common decorative patterns within such paintings included the ''fangintoul:'' a sword tip with straight lines, a ''lengxian'', a three-fold concave lined pattern, spiral flowers, and up-ward turned lotus bases.


Thangkas

''
Thangka A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...
s'' which are cotton or silk artworks painted by ''Lamas'' who historically worked inside the Forbidden City were often hung on the wooden walls of the
Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
Room.


Paper-based interior decoration

The walls and ceilings of the Hall of Mental Cultivation were decorated with many artworks created with ''biao hu'' (裱糊) a traditional handmade paper, ''lajan'' (蜡笺纸) a traditional handmade
wax paper Waxed paper (also wax paper, waxpaper, or paraffin paper) is paper that has been made moisture-proof and grease-proof through the application of wax. The practice of oiling parchment or paper in order to make it semi-translucent or moisture-pro ...
, and ''tie luo'' (贴落). A ''tie luo'' was a traditional
Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held in high est ...
or painting and was popularised during the Qing dynasty where it was often affixed in imperial palaces. Court painters drew the ''tie luo'' which was then placed on top of the ''biao hu'' paper. Inside the hall was a dragon-embellished ''tie luo'' called ''Longevity'' (寿), made with ''lajan''.


Restoration and conservation

Since 2006, the Palace Museum commenced a research and
conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
project aimed at maintaining and restoring the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Given that the hall has rarely been open to the public, its quiet and dusty interior has become prone to widespread pest-breeding. This has made preserving cultural relics a greater challenge, given that such pests target and destroy the relics which are often made with natural, organic material. In a study concerned with the conservation of cultural relics within buildings inside the Forbidden City, over the course of three years, Zhang and colleagues discovered that cultural relics inside the hall were at risk of decay, due to pests like the carpet beetle,
silverfish The silverfish (''Lepisma saccharinum'') is a species of small, primitive, wingless insect in the order Zygentoma (formerly Thysanura). Its common name derives from the insect's silvery light grey colour, combined with the fish-like appearance ...
,
booklice Psocoptera are a paraphyletic group of insects that are commonly known as booklice, barklice or barkflies. The name Psocoptera has been replaced with Psocodea in recent literature, with the inclusion of the former Order (biology), order Phthirapt ...
, clothes moths, and the spider beetle. The relics that were most at risk were “carpets, felts and rafters used as partitions.” The Buddha Room, which houses up to 38 ''thangkas'', had the highest concentration of pests, specifically carpet beetles. The preservation of ''thangkas'' is particularly difficult, since not only insect damage but environmental conditions like changes in winds and temperatures, exposure to light, effects of pollution and dust, paint loss and natural ageing can quickly cause the artworks to tear, wrinkle, or become brittle. The hall’s glazed tiling, which was also a common feature in
ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...
Chinese architecture Chinese architecture (Chinese:中國建築) is the embodiment of an architectural style that has developed over millennia in China and it has influenced architecture throughout Eastern Asia. Since its emergence during the early ancient era, the ...
, has also experienced degradation and poor conservation due to hundreds of years of exposure to constant changes in environmental conditions, particularly rain. Since September 2018, the Hall of Mental Cultivation has been closed due to such restoration. It was expected that the hall would reopen in 2020.


Digital exhibition

In October 2017, the Palace Museum launched the digital experience exhibition ''Discovering the Hall of Mental Cultivation''. This exhibition is displayed within the Duanmen Tower, inside the digital display hall called the Duanmen Digital Museum, which was built in 2015. ''Discovering the Hall of Mental Cultivation'' is the first digital exhibition in China that integrates ancient architecture, traditional culture and technology. ''Discovering the Hall of Mental Cultivation'' won the Golden Award at the 2018 Festival of Audio-visual Multimedia, an event sponsored by the Committee of International Council of Museums, and Audio-visual International Multimedia.


References


External links

* {{Palace Museum, state=expanded Forbidden City Government buildings in China Ming dynasty architecture Qing dynasty architecture History of Beijing