Prince Gong Mansion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Prince Gong's Mansion (Chinese: 恭王府; pinyin: Gōng Wáng Fǔ) is located in the west part of Beijing, China, north of the Shichahai Lake. It consists of a mansion and gardens. It is a favourite tourist spot in Beijing.
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[edit] History
Prince Gong's Mansion was constructed in 1777 for minister He Shen (和珅) during the Qianlong-reign in the late Qing Dynasty. From a young age, He Shen got the trust of Emperor Qianlong, and was able to make large promotion in the imperial administration. In this way he became very wealthy. Because of accusations of corruption, He Shen was executed and the mansion was confiscated in 1799, under the reign of Emperor Jiaqing in favor of Prince Qìng Jùnwáng (庆郡王), the 17th and youngest son of Emperor Qianlong.
In 1851, Emperor Xianfeng assigned it to his brother Prince Gong. It is his name that is currently given to the compound.
In 1921 Prince Gong's grandson had to hand over the property as a mortage to the Catholic Church. It was bought by the Furen Catholic University for use as a university buildings, and afterwards for the Beijing Normal University and then for the Chinese Music Academy. During the Cultural Revolution the building was used by the Beijing Airconditioning Factory. In the 1980s it had a new revival. In 1982 it has been declared Chinese National Cultural Heritage. Since November 1996 the buildings and the gardens have become a new publicly open scenic spot for tourists.
[edit] Structure of the compound
Prince Gong's Mansion is one of the most exquisite and best-preserved royal mansions in Beijing and used to house several families. It has a total area of 60,000 square meters.
The mansion buildings are located in the south; the gardens are in the north. The buildings include several siheyuan courtyards, but also two story buildings.
In addition to the buildings, there is a 28,000 square meter garden, with twenty scenic spots, pavilions, artificial hills including rock originating from the Taihu Lake in Jiangsu, and ponds.
There is a 8 meter long stele which has the character 福 (fú: good fortune), carved based on the calligraphy of Emperor Kangxi on it.
The mansion has been declared Chinese National Cultural Heritage.
[edit] Restoration works
The gardens are open for tourists. In November 2006 restoration works started on the buildings. They will be reopened for tourists in 2008 as the Gong Wang Fu museum. It will display royal families live's aspects during the Qing Dynasty.
[edit] Address
17 Qianhai South Street, Xicheng district, Beijing, China (中国北京前海西街17号).
