The Palace of Heavenly Purity (乾清宫: Qian Qing Gong) is the most important building in the inner court of the Forbidden City. It served as the sleeping palace of the Ming Dynasty’s emperors, and 14 emperors of the Ming Dynasty from Emperor Yongle to Emperor Zhongzhen once lived in the palace.

Since the palace is big and high, it has been didvided into several rooms, which are comfortable for living. It is recorded that there were 9 rooms with 2 layers set in the palace. In total, there were 27 beds found there. Therefore, this palace was like a maze that rarely did anyone know the place where the emperor slept. However, Emperor Jiajing was nearly suffocated to death by the maids when he was sleeping in his room. Later, he moved out of the palace and was afraid of living there, to avoid unexpected dangers.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi In the Qing Dynasty, this palace was still used as a sleeping place but was changed to a meeting room when his son Emperor Yongzheng succedded the throne, where Emperor Yongzheng read files, delt with daily political affairs, met foreign ambassadors and held important banquets. In addition, the rooms around the palace were used as places for the princes to study.

In the first year of Emperor Yongzheng’s reign, he ordered to hide the case (in which the imperial edict that read who would become the next emperor was stored) behind the horizontal inscribed board which reads “正大光明 (Zheng Da Guang Ming: justice and honesty)”.

At that time the two outstanding emperors once held feasts here to entertain the senors from across the whole nation. That was amazing!

Source: baidu.com