正大光明Zhengda GuangmingCentral Great Brilliant Bright

What it was

正大光明 Zhengda Guangming, "Upright and Bright", is the audience hall Yongzheng built in the south of the garden to hear government (構殿于園之南御以聴政) after his accession in 1723 (S05 j80:2b; Malone dates it 1725, S02). Visitors passed the spirit wall (Malone: 137 ft long), the Front Lake 前湖 Qian Hu on both sides of the road, the five-bay 大宫门 Da Gongmen with five-bay offices before it and the boards' duty rooms behind (S05 j80:7b-9a, E0999, E2101; E2114), then three stone bridges over a moon-shaped canal to the second gate 出入贤良门 Churu Xianliang Men (five bays), where military officers and guards were presented and archery was shot; duty rooms stood either side, with the kitchens to the south-west and the Grand Council 军机处 Junji Chu to the south-east (j80:9a-b, E1000). Inside stood the seven-bay hall with five-bay side halls, 寿山殿 Shoushan Dian behind and 洞明堂 Dongming Tang to the east (j80:9b). It served for audiences, New Year banquets, examinations and birthday congratulations into the 1850s: Mongol princes feasted here on the fifteenth of the first month (S202 j15, E1182), palace re-examinations of new graduates were held here from 1844 to 1849 (S202 j9, E1023), and Xianfeng received congratulations here in 1852 (S207, E1557). French troops reached the gardens on 6 October 1860 and British troops on 7 October, and the hall was looted with the rest in the days to 8 October (S02 pp.179-183; E2111, E2113). During the burning of 18-19 October, ordered by Elgin, British troops were quartered at the hall and set it alight last, about three in the afternoon of 19 October (M'Ghee p.288, E1028; S02 p.77, E1007).

The leaf of 1744, its poem and preface

Leaf 1 of the 1744 album (P0001). Qianlong's preface (S40, E0995; S05 j80:11a) calls the hall the formal court of the garden, '不雕不繪得松軒茅殿意' ('uncarved and unpainted, it keeps the sense of a pine lodge and a thatched hall'), with a steep rock wall behind it like jade shoots, an open forecourt, and flowering trees beyond the walls in layers of red and purple. The poem ties the hall to the model of 畅春园 Changchun Yuan, praises thrift, and notes in a gloss that the plaque of 出入贤良门 is in his father's hand.

How it changed before 1860

The plain hall of 1744 was dressed up later: a terrace 月台 with four censers was added between 1775 and 1793 (S119, params.json), and by the end of Qianlong's reign, Malone writes, the columns were red, with dragon capitals and gilt wire over the frieze (S02 pp.75-76, E1009), though Barrow saw no capitals in 1793 (E1026). Macartney's gifts were set up in the hall in 1793 (S02 p.76, E1008; Barrow E1026) and the Dutch embassy was received here in 1795 (E1007). Jiaqing let Han officials of the first two ranks into the Mongol princes' New Year banquet from 1802 (S202 j15, E1182) and moved the re-examination of successful clansmen here from 1814 (E1022); Daoguang moved the palace re-examination of new graduates here from 1844 (E1023). In 1801 the 南书房 Nan Shufang, the Southern Study, got a four-bay room near the Council office (S202 j4, E2124). By 1860 a large painting of the gardens hung on the left (west) wall as one entered, where S05 records a 豳风图 Binfeng tu (S05 j80:10b; E1030, E1031).

Only one Yangshi Lei sheet of the hall was found open: 样001-4 正大光明白差准底 (NLC, undated, 520x210 mm). Its figures, read in the mhymy transcription, give the bays: central 1丈6尺1寸5, next two 1丈5尺1寸, four end bays 1丈3尺5寸, verandas 6尺, 金柱 depth 3丈8尺, so seven bays of about 32.1 m plus verandas, about 36 x 16 m overall (1 尺 = 0.32 m); the rear veranda walled in, verandas on three sides, ten door-screen sets front and back, a throne canopy 7尺4寸 x 1丈2尺 at the back of the central bay (S310 rec. 10451; E1016). The record says the verandas on three sides agree with the 1744 leaf (P0001). The 初编 holds pp.13-31 on 正大光明 (E1015), not seen.

Inside

S05 j80:10b: Yongzheng's couplet '心天之心而宵衣旰食 樂民之樂以和性怡情', Qianlong's couplet '遹求寜觀成無逺弗届 以對時育物有那其居', the 無逸 Wuyi chapter on the east wall and a 豳风图 on the west. Barrow (1793) measured the room 110 x 42 ft and 20 ft high, with a ceiling painted in circles, squares and polygons, a grey marble floor, two rows of columns, red pillars at the throne recess and a throne of wood like mahogany (E1026); Macartney saw windows on one side only and the throne opposite (E1008). In 1860 the witnesses describe a polished marble floor, a carved throne on a low dais with three flights of steps (Swinhoe found it lesser wood painted as ebony), books in yellow silk, enamel bowls and French clocks, and a great painting of the gardens on the left wall, or at one end in M'Ghee (Swinhoe pp.294-295, E2105, E1030; Wolseley pp.234-235, E1031, E1032; M'Ghee p.204, E1029; Varin pp.232-233, E2122). Hérisson's carved ironwood columns and yellow tiles stand alone and are not trusted (E1027).

The garden around it

Behind the hall rose 寿山 Shou Shan, a steep rock hill (屋後峭石壁立玉筍嶙峋, S40 in S05 j80:11a, E0995), with pines and a rockery (S02, E1009); behind that a pond crossed by a pebbled path and bridge on the way to the island of 九洲清晏 (Swinhoe pp.296-298, E1037; Wolseley pp.235-236, E1038). The court of the 大宫门 had guard-houses on three sides, carved and roofed with coloured tiles, with small beasts on the eaves in red, white, green, blue and gilt (Wolseley pp.231-232, E2109); the hall stood at the far side of a long flagged court, with a wire net under its eaves against birds (Wolseley pp.232-233, E1033; Swinhoe, E2105). A pair of large bronze lions stood on pedestals on either side of the road to the gate (Wolseley, E2123; Varin, who gives white marble pedestals, E2122). The road from the spirit wall ran between the two halves of the Front Lake to the gate (S05 j80:7b, E0999; E2114).

What survives

The site of the audience hall is open lawn today, with a few stones in rows, and the rocky hill 寿山 Shoushan behind it still stands (P0363); the front lake 前湖 keeps a low stone edge (P0396). A survey report describes three courts from 大宫门 Da Gongmen to 正大光明殿, 370 m from north to south (S102, E1017). The dig at 大宫门, one of the campaigns since 2012, found the gate hall, its east and west wing gates, the 金水桥 bridge and the channel, and the area was to be conserved and shown (E0363, S132, E2120).