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| Palace (Gong) |
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The (Chinese word for "palace" is gong. However, it may
refer to anyone of several different meanings.
In the earliest Chinese writings it meant no more than an ordinary
house. After the founding of the Qin Dynasty (221- 207 B. C.),
gong came gradually to mean the group of buildings in which the
emperor lived and worked. At about the same time, Chinese palaces
grew ever larger in scale. The Efanggong of the First Emperor
of Qin measured "5 li (2 1/2 km) from east to west and 1,000
paces from north to south". The Weiyanggong of the Western
Han Dynasty (206 B. C.-24 A. D. ) had, within a periphery of 11
kilometres, as many as 43 halls and terraces. The Forbidden City
of Beijing, which still stands intact and which served as the
imperial palace for both Ming and Qing emperors (1368-1911) covers
an area of 720,000 square metres and embraces many halls, towers,
pavilions and studies measured as 9,900 bays. It is one of the
greatest palaces of the world. In short, palaces grew into a veritable
city and is often called gongcheng (palace city).
Apart from the palace, other abodes of the emperor are also called
gong. The Yiheynan Park used to be the Summer Palace; the Mountain
Resort at Chengde and the Huaqingchi thermal spa near Xi'an were
both 2inggong or "palace on tour. " Then there is another
type of gong called zhaigong, where the emperor prepared himself
abstinence before he offered sacrifice at grand ceremonies. There
is one such zhaigong on the grounds of Beijing's Temple of Heaven.
Inside a great gong, certain individual buildings may also be
called gong. The Qing emperors used to live at Qianqinggong (Palace
of Heavenly Purity) in the Forbidden City, whereas the living
quarters of the empresses were at Kunninggong (Palace of Female
Tranquility). The imperial concubines of various ranks inhabited
the six gongs or palace quadrangles on either side of the central
axis of the Forbidden City. When the monarchs or their spouses
died, they were buried in digong (underground palaces ).
The name gong is also used for religious buildings of great dimensions.
The Potala in Lhasa is a gong to the Chinese; the lame temple
of Beijing is Yonghegong. The temples of Taoist priests are generally
called sanginggong ( palace of triple purity).
For thousands of years, the word gong was reserved exclusively
for naming imperial and religious buildings. With the passage
of time and political changes, many of the old gongs have been
opened to the general public for sightseeing. Furthermore, a number
of buildings have been named gong or palace. For instance, Taimiao
of the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing has been renamed the
"Working People's Palace of Culture". On West Chang'an
Jie, a comparatively new building serves as the "Cultural
Palace of National Minorities". Similar gongs or palaces
have been built in many cities of the country for the cultural,
scientific and recreational activities respectively for workers
and children.
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