Gongwang Mansion, a peep into Chinese royal culture

The Summer Palace, the Great Wall, or maybe the Forbidden City -- they must be on your list of place

s to go when in Beijing. But today, we are taking you to a special place, where the royal families inhabited years ago.

Gongwang Fu, or the Gongwang Mansion, is one of the largest quadrangles in the world. It is one of the best preserved royal palaces which have existed from Qing Dynasty so far. Yi Xin, Qing Emperor Tongzhi’s favorite minister，used to be the mansion’s owner. Because this minister was also called Gong Qinwang, the inhabitance got its name from this.

Being a composition of both residential places and gardens occupying over 60,000 square meters, Gongwang Mansion has a lot to offer to visitors from all over the world. Today we are honored to be accompanied by Aixinjueluo Zhaorui, the 13th generation of the royal family, to tour the private gardens in the mansion.

This is Cuijin Garden. It is surrounded by hills and there are over 40 scenic spots here, including the Square Pond, Grand Theatre and Huxin Pavilion.

This is Xiyang Gate, the main entrance to the royal gardens. Made of Chinese white marble, it is designed as a combination of the western and Chinese culture – with Chinese materials but in western design.

This piece of stone is from Taihu River. It is the place where Gongqin Wang used to contemplate the meaning of life and his career. He called it “Self Enjoyment Stone”. You can see the Chinese characters on it.

This is Fu Chi. It is in the shape of a bat, which in Chinese means happiness and wealth.

The building behind is Anshan Hall, the place where the minister meet up his guests and friends.

This is the Square Pond, or Fang Tang. The pavilion in the middle of the pond is called Huxin Pavilion. It is a paradise for the royal family in summer to take a shade and watch fishes in the pond.

To the east of the pond, there stretches a corridor. It is long and narrow – the pronunciation of the two characters in Chinese means a long life. On its east is the long corridor which is also very narrow, the character long and narrow put together in Chinese resembles the word long life.

The specialty of this Qinqiu Pavilion is the mini canal on the ground. It is in the shape of the Chinese character of Water. Someone also says it is more like the word of Longevity or Pavilion. Actually, it depends on from which angel you are looking at it.

Gongwang Mansion was for the royal family years ago, but it is now a place for tourists. If you want to peep into the complicated culture of Qing Dynasty, there is no better choice for you.