Beijing: Prince Gong’s Mansion

Princely Mansion culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture. It serves as a bridge for connecting the royal court culture and civilian culture. Located in the Qianhai West Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, the Prince Gong’s Mansion is the best well-preserved Princely Mansion of Qing Dynasty in China’s existing princely mansions. Being the state-level key cultural relic preservation unit, it represents Chinese culture of Princely mansion. So if you are interested in traditional Chinese culture, a Beijing Xian tour will give you a full play of it.

In the 41th year of Qianlong Reign(1776A.D.) in Qing Dynasty, the construction of the mansion was started. It was originally the private residence of He Shen, a member of the imperial guard. The handsome and intelligent twenty-five year old He Shen came to the attention of the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong (1736-1796). Before long He Shen was promoted to positions normally occupied by the most experienced officials, including those controlling finance and the appointment of civil servants; thus enabling him to acquire great wealth. The aging Qinglong did nothing to curb He Shen's corruption but his successor, Emperor Jiaqing (1796-1820), had Heshen executed and his property, which was assessed at over 800 million ounces of silver, was confiscated. The mansion was passed to Prince Qing in 1799. Eventually Emperor Xianfeng (1851-1862) transferred the ownership to Prince Gong and it is his name that was to become that of the mansion.

“A prince Gong’s Mansion is half the history of Qing Dynasty” is the comment on the mansion by historical geographer Hou Ren. In early the Republic of China, the mansion was sold to the church by the grandson of Prince Gong. And later, it was redeemed by Furen University with 108 gold bars and served as a girls’ school. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the mansion was used by Ministry of Public Security, Blower Factory and music schools.
Very similar to Beijing, Xian is also a famous historical and cultural city which has been the capital cities of 13 dynasties in Chinese history. In particular, Tang Dynasty culture is most displayed in a Xian tour.