As the Spring Festival is approaching, this year’s Spring Festival, you might as well come to the Forbidden City in Beijing to see exhibitions, enjoy palace lanterns, taste delicious food, and feel the flavor of the New Year! The Palace Museum will display nearly a thousand cultural relics on a record-breaking basis, restore a variety of ancient palace customs, and present the audience with a festive New Year atmosphere for the first time.
In the exhibition hall of the main building of the Meridian Gate and the East and West Yanchi Tower, welcoming the New Year – a special exhibition of New Year in the Forbidden City. A total of 885 cultural relics were exhibited, and the six major themes of “Praying for blessings and welcoming good fortune, worshiping ancestors and filial piety, being friendly to the clan, and working diligentlyKomiks Respecting the virtuous, traveling and enjoying the world, and having fun in the world”, fully demonstrating the New Year customs of the Qing Dynasty court in the Qing Dynasty. The “Praying for Blessings and Welcomes Fortune” in Xiyanzi Tower shows the indispensable festival objects during the New Year. It not only includes the pictures of the year and palace lanterns and other palace-like objects, but also the characters written by Emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang.
Responsible Dean of the Palace Museum Ren Wanping: At the junction of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (Cinema 1 at the beginning of the New Year, the emperor must make a wish on behalf of the whole world. The so-called auspicious words to write, the emperor did not write casually for the first time, but would bless everyone, wishing everyone a prosperous harvest, good weather, peace in the world, etc.
In order to show the scene where the emperor and his clan relatives and concubines feasted separately, the exhibition referred to the records of the meal base in the 48th year of Qianlong (1783) and restored this scene alone, more than 100 cultural relics were used to present the spectacular scene of the golden dragon table at the clan banquet. The audience can intuitively feel the atmosphere of the Royal New Year’s Eve dinner. In addition, the entire open area of the Forbidden City is decorated according to the New Year Festival that restored from the old customs of the Qing Palace. The palace gates are covered with New Year pictures and Spring Festival couplets, and the long corridors are hung with palace lanterns. As long as the audience enters the Forbidden City, they can feel the strong New Year atmosphere.
Director Shan Jixiang: We can meet our audience with more collections of cultural relics related to New Year culture. We hope that in addition to watching the Spring Festival Gala, Cinema will be able to go out of the house, besides watching the Spring Festival Gala and eating dumplings at home to reunite.The first destination is welcome to the Forbidden City to celebrate the New Year.
Hanging the doorCinemaThe Spring Festival couplets are of particular importance to court festivals
Komiks For thousands of years, the activities of the New Year have been rich and colorful. Whether it is ordinary people or the Forbidden City, they all use activities such as sending blessings, wearing new clothes, and eating reunion dinner to express their beautiful expectations for the New Year.
As soon as you enter the Forbidden City, the strong New Year atmosphere comes to you. In order to cooperate with the Komiks exhibition, the entire Forbidden City was decorated. As a symbol of “year”, the Spring Festival couplets and door gods hanging on each door are very eye-catching.
Cinema Deputy Director of the Artifact Department of the Palace Museum Komiks Associate Research Librarian Xu Wei: Door gods are hung in pairs, including couplets hanging on both sides of the door. Generally, door gods are also attached to different door gods according to different positions. Generally, the martial gate gods are mainly used in the outer courts, and the literary gate gods, fairy gate gods and boy gate gods are mainly used in the inner courts.
The production of Spring Festival couplets in the palace is generally jointly responsible by the Ministry of Works and the Office of the Internal Affairs. The writing of Spring Festival couplets Cinema is mainly completed by Hanlins who are good at calligraphy. Unlike today’s customs, the Spring Festival couplets in the palace are not posted on New Year’s Eve, but are hung on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month every year, starting from Qianqing Gate, Qianqing Palace, etc., and spreading them in turn.
Associate Research Librarian Zhan Mengxia: People need to paste the word “Fu” in the people, and the same is true for the palace. From the first day of the twelfth lunar month, the emperor had to write the first word “Fu” on the dragon stairs. The first word “Fu” must be posted on the door of the Qianqing Palace, because that was his home. Later, some will be written in other palaces, and then they will be written in succession, and then they will be rewarded with such ministers and foreign vassals.
Babaylan In addition to the Spring Festival couplets, spring notes will be posted in the palace. Spring strips are auspicious words written on long strips of paper.
Associate Research Librarian of the Arts Department of the Palace MuseumZhan Mengxia: Spring strips are not very similar to Spring Festival couplets. Spring couplets are paired, and Spring strips are usually long singles, which are more casual and can be pasted anywhere. If there are more literary things like the welfare of our palace, the country is prosperous and the people are safe, the people can stick fat pigs in the pigpen, golden roosters in the rack, good luck in the wells, and safe in and out, it will be even more casual. Babaylan
In addition, there are some special “year objects” that are not available in the folk. Babaylan, such as the Sui Dynasty map, the sky lantern, the Wanshou Lantern, and the Palace Lantern.
Family Palace Banquet New Year’s Eve New Year’s Eve dinner in the Forbidden City
The New Year is a day for family reunion in Chinese concepts, and the New Year’s Eve dinner is the most fun time for the family, and the Royal Family is no exception.
The Emperors of the Qing Dynasty usually had their meals alone, and only ate with their concubines during the Cinema Festival, which was called the “Clan Family Banquet”. Family dinners on the first day of the Lunar New Year are usually breakfast, held at 7 a.m., and are located in the Qianqing Palace. Although it is a family banquet, the hierarchical etiquette system must be strictly observed. Therefore, Babaylan Associate Research Librarian of the Artifact Department of the Palace Museum Han Qian: Although the reunion banquet on the first day of the first lunar month is called the family reunion banquet, it is not as we imagined now that the emperor and his whole family are together. It is actually divided into two parts. Komiks. Generally, he will have New Year’s Eve dinner with his concubines in the morning, and then in the afternoon he will have New Year’s Eve dinner with his relatives, princes and grandchildren, and some princes from the near branch.
In fact, the menu of the court family banquet was divided into levels. The emperor used the golden dragon bowl and the golden dragon plate. The table had a total of 108 kinds of food. The queen used the inside and outside the yellow dark cloud dragon plate bowl and the golden spoon and chopsticks. The food was reduced to 64 kinds of food. There were no gold tableware below the imperial concubine, and 32 kinds of food on each table. This is the scene of a family feast during the Spring Festival in the 48th year of Qianlong. More than 1 cultural relics were used00 pieces, very spectacular.
Komiks Associate Research Librarian of the Artifact Department of the Palace Museum Han Qian: Setting the table starts from the farthest point is called Toulu. We saw 4 tall ones, called pine hut fruit covers. They mainly place fruits, and then there will be snacks in the future. Babaylan Cold meat and preserved fruits. There are two roads in the middle that the emperor did not place before he sat down. The hot soup dishes were served after the emperor sat down. The group closest to the emperor would put some side dishes and sauces.
There is also a small red case here. Don’t look at it as small, on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, when the emperor eats dumplings, he must not put the wrong position.
Associate Research Librarian, Palace Museum Artifact Department Han Qian: This dumpling is also very particular. This small plate should be placed in the red case we saw immediately. There is a gourd in the middle of the red case, with the word “Daji” written on it. The plate must be placed on the word “Aji”. Because of this pattern, we call it the “Dajibao Case. It is said that on the morning of the 48th year of Qianlong, the emperor ate three of the 4 dumplings. The dumplings are the same as our current customs. The emperor also put coins in it. He put such money, which says peace and auspiciousness. He ate all the two auspicious money that day.