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The Jingshan Park, to the north of the Palace Museum, is located
in the center of Beijing on the north to south axis. It used to
be a private garden of the imperial families in the Yuan, Ming
and Qing Dynasties.
According to the legend, the four constellations
the Green Dragon, the white Dragon, the Scarlet Bird, and the
Black Warrior, stand in their own respective territories. The
northern part of the Forbidden City is just within the Black Warrior's
territory, where a hill is indispensable. So the earth from the digging of the moat around
the Forbidden City was piled up into a hill called Jingshan. Jingshan,
first named "Longevity Hill", became the "Hill
of Safeguard" for the Forbidden City.
The central pavilion, Wanchunting (Everlasting
Spring Pavilion) with 3 eaves, 4 upturned roof corners and golden
glazed-tile roof is the highest of Jingshan. To the east and west
of Wanchunting are Zhoushangting (Pavilion of Surrounding Views)
and Fulanting (Panoramic View Pavilion) respectively. Both of
them have double eaves and 8 upturned roof corners and a green
glazed-tile roof. To the east of Zhoushangting is Guanmiaoting
(Pavilion of Wonderful Views), while to the west of Fulanting,
is Jifangting (Fragrance Pavilion). They are small round pavilions
with double-eaves and a roof of blue glazed-tiles.
On the northern part of Jingshan, there are
buildings such as Shouhuangdian (Hall of Imperial Longevity) where
the portraits of ancestors were housed, Yongsidian (Hall of Everlasting
Memory) and Guandedian (Hall of Morals Observation), which were
used as mourning place for deceased emperors and queens in the Qing Dynasty. At
present, Shouhuangdian and Guandedian are opened as children's
Palace and Library.
On the eastern side of Jingshan there used
to be an old locust tree upon which Chongzhen, the last emperor
of the Ming Dynasty hanged himself, when the peasant army led
by Li Zicheng stormed into Beijing. Unfortunately, the old tree
was gone, in its place, a new tree of similar appearance has been
planted.
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