Everyone knows that if the capital chain of the real estate industry is broken and the boss takes hundreds of millions and runs away with his sister-in-law, a tragic unfinished building may be left behind.
However, such unfinished buildings generally appear in the private sector. For example, there are many unfinished buildings in Hainan Province, which have become an excellent place for local children to play with their cats. But I didn't expect that among the most luxurious buildings in China, there is also an unfinished building. This unfinished building is located inside the Forbidden City. And it has a very nice name, called Crystal Palace.
What is the origin of this Crystal Palace?
When you go to the Forbidden City, you need to understand the structure of the Forbidden City. It has front-facing and back-facing bedrooms. In front is the office area, with three main halls, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Baohe, and the Hall of Harmony. Behind it is the harem, which corresponds to the Ziwei Yuan in the sky. There are fifteen stars in Ziwei Yuan. Then, there should be fifteen corresponding underground harems.
Then there are three main halls in the harem, one is the Qianqing Hall, where the emperor lives, the other is the Kunning Hall, where the queen lives, and there is a small Jiaotai Hall between the two. It was used as the bridal chamber for emperors to have their weddings. For example, Guangxu and Puyi had their bridal chambers here.
In addition to these three main halls, there are six east and west palaces, forming fifteen star palaces.
This Crystal Palace is located in the East Palace Complex. Originally it was not called the Crystal Palace, but called the Yanxi Palace. It has a long history. It was built during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty and was one of the first buildings of the Forbidden City. It was also called the Changshou Palace before and was renamed the Yanqi Palace during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, it was renamed Yanxi Palace.
It is said that the standard of this palace is not low, because it is located in the East Palace. But this Yanxi Palace is an exception. The concubines of the Qing Dynasty who lived here were not very favored. This place is very close to Cangzhen Gate. Going out from this door is Dongtongzi Long Street. It's considered a front house, so it's great to set up stalls and do business. But in the Forbidden City, this is not good, because this is the road that palace ladies and eunuchs often take.
When there are too many people leaving, things can easily happen, such as fires or something.
Therefore, the concubines living in this palace generally have a relatively low status.
There is also a very interesting reflection in the TV series "The Legend of Zhen Huan". People who live here are very unlucky. For example, the rich rich man who lived here went crazy later. Xia Changzai was rewarded with one foot of red by Concubine Hua. What is one foot of red? It means to hold the person down and hit the area below the waist until the flesh and blood are blurred and bright red, which is called Yi Zhang Hong. Of course this is tragic.
There is also Concubine Li, who committed suicide. Chun Chang was here and fell into the water and drowned, Concubine Xian was thrown into the cold palace here, Concubine Yu had an accident when she gave birth to a child here...
In short, this is an evil place.
When will it be called the Crystal Palace? As we said before, there were many fires here because there were a lot of people moving around. During the Daoguang period, the palace was burned down, leaving only one gate.
If it is burned, of course it needs to be repaired. During the Xianfeng period, it was burned down by fire again. This was strange. I asked a Feng Shui master to take a look and said that the Feng Shui here was not good. It was located in the Gen position of Bagua, so it was not suitable to build a house. As soon as it was built, it was burned down. Because it has never been cultivated.
It wasn’t until Puyi became emperor that one of Guangxu’s concubines, Concubine Jin, was promoted to a royal concubine.
She felt that her status was high and she should live in a good house. At that time, the Forbidden City was also influenced by the West, and everything from bicycles to cameras were used. When Concubine Jin built her house, she wanted to build it in a crystal style. For example, the Crystal Palace in England.
What style?
It has three floors, all steel structure, and the wall is made of glass, and it is divided into two floors, with an empty space in the middle. Water is diverted from the Jinshui River and fish are raised here. In this way, this is really the Crystal Palace.
The royal family is rich and willful, and they do whatever they say. However, because it was neither the Empress Dowager nor Cixi's house, the construction schedule was not too tight. In addition, the Qing Dynasty did not have much money to build it, so it was never completed. Soon, the Qing Dynasty was also overthrown, and this building became an unfinished building. Only half done.
When Zhang Xun was in charge of the restoration, the Northwest Army came over and hit the Crystal Palace with one shot, destroying some of the buildings that had not been repaired. Looking at it now, it looks like a steel frame. This is strange. The Western-style buildings are erected in the brick-and-tile Forbidden City, which looks particularly unusual.