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Prince
Gong's Residence is situated in the Western Street of Qian Hai,
Western District, Beijing. It is a comparatively well preserved
one of former Princes' residences in Beijing City. The masters
of this Prince's Residence had changed a lot. In the beginning
it belonged to He Kun, Councillor of the Court who was criminated
in the fourth year of Emperor Jia Qing's reign (1799) resulting
in the confiscation of the residence. The Emperor then bestowed
it to his younger brother, Yong Lin and named it Residence of
Prince Qing.
When Emperor Xian Feng came to reign, he took
it back, granted to his younger brother Yi Su and named it Prince
Gong's Residence. Prince Gong's Residence occupies an area of
30 thousand square meters. The building is divided into two parts,
the living quarter and garden. In the living quarter structure,
there are five courtyards from south to north in file. From east
to west are three set courtyards, east middle and west in a row,
among which Xijinzhai (former name Qing Yi Hall) in the western
set is most famous. It was built by imitating the Ning Shou Gong
(Palace of Peace and Longevity) in the Forbidden City, adopting
the hook connection structure. A partitioned-off section of a
large room with a heating stove was built inside the hall, which
is deep and broad, bright and spacious with superb design. Part
of the garden inside the Prince Gong's Residence is in the northern
side of the living quarter where turning corridor, pavilion, mountain
rock, flowers and trees are all in elegant layout. In the stone
cave of the rockery above the lake, there is the Emperor Kang
Xi's inscription of Chinese character "Fu" (Good Fortune).
The design of the living quarter and
garden of the Prince Gong's Residence is imposing and magnificent.
Rooms and broad yards are laid out in turnings and in maze, the
scenery of which is exquisite and delicate. In the old days there
was murmuring stream flowing through the Garden which has many
similarities with the grand garden described in the famous novel
"The Dream of Red Chamber", hence it has been acknowledged
as the Rong Guo Residence and Grand Garden of "The Dream
of the Red Chamber".
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