Life in the halfway house of the tent emperors

Early Manchu heritage

One place where you can get a glimpse of that early Manchu heritage is Shenyang Palace, built by Nurhaci Aisin-gioro, the founder of the Manchu Empire. A comparison between this palace and its counterpart in Beijing - which is 12 times as big and 100 times as sumptuous - may also shed light on the road of transition that the royal family traveled on its way to becoming the rulers of a vast country.

While the Beijing palace, also known as the Forbidden City and built during the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), has all its roof tiles in gold, the Shenyang palace features golden tiles rimmed in green.

Another notable difference can be seen in the height of the buildings. In the Shenyang palace, the tallest is the Phoenix Tower, behind which resided the emperor's harem. The tower dwarfs Chongzheng Palace, the emperor's workplace.

In Beijing the situation is reversed. The main palace houses the emperor's working quarters, and thus reflects the full extent of his royal authority, and it is the highest of all constructions within the wall of the Forbidden City.

Perhaps the best example of the Shenyang palace being a window onto Manchu culture can be found in Qingning Palace (Palace of Tranquility). This palace, which sits right behind the Phoenix Tower, was the abode of Jerjer Borjigit, the empress of Huang Taiji, Nurhaci's son and successor, who spent most of his time as a Manchu ruler in the newly built royal residence in Shenyang.

In a typical Manchu manner of construction, the palace's main entrance is located not in the middle but toward its eastern side, and the building has been dubbed sack house, because the opening resembles that of a sack. Inside the palace, along one side of the wall, are two big pots. They were used to boil pork in ceremonies of the Manchu folk religion known as Manchu Shamanism.

Yes, the pork was boiled inside the room, and was eaten with no oil and very little salt. The ritual was considered holy, so much so that it could only be acted out in the empress' palace, not in areas assigned to any of the emperor's other wives. (The other wives' palaces also feature pots, but they are a little smaller and were used for water rather than for boiling pork.