保和殿外景

Outside the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

The Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohe Dian)

The Hall of Preserving Harmony is one of the three main halls in the outer court of the Forbidden City. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was renamed several times. When Emperor Shunzhi lived here, it was called Weiyu Palace, and the emperor's wedding was held here. Emperor Kangxi also lived here when it was called Qingning Palace.

In the early Ming Dynasty, it was called Jinshen Hall, where the emperor changed ritual clothes before grand ceremonies. During the Qing Dynasty, on Chinese New Year's Eve and the Lantern Festival, the emperor held a banquet in the Hall of Preserving Harmony to entertain princes and princesses of ethnic minorities such as the Uygurs and the Mongolians.

In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong used the hall as the venue for the Palace Examination. As the highest level of the imperial examinations, the Palace Examination was presided over by the emperor, and those who passed were called "the emperor's protégés". The top three in the Palace Examination, called Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, and Tanhua, respectively, were granted the privilege to leave the imperial palace through the central doorway of the Meridian Gate.

Behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony is the largest stone carving in the Forbidden City, which measures 16 meters in length, 3 meters in width, 1.7 meters in thickness, and nearly 200 tons in weight. It was carved from a whole stone. To transport this gigantic stone from a quarry 70 to 80 kilometers from the capital, people first built a road, and then dug wells at intervals along every other section of the road. That winter, they took water from the wells and splashed it on the road, and then hauled the stone on the iced road by manpower, mules, and horses. It took 28 days to transport the stone to the imperial palace. The stone carving with seawater, cliffs, and nine dragons reflects the superb sculpture technology and has remarkable artistic value.

保和殿內景

Inside the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

保和殿

保和殿是故宮外朝三大殿之一，從明至清，名稱多次改易。順治皇帝居住時稱“位育宮”，大婚亦在此舉行。康熙皇帝也曾在此居住，稱“清寧宮”。

明初，這里稱“謹身殿”，是皇帝舉行大典前更換禮服的場所。清朝每年除夕和正月十五，皇帝在保和殿內宴請新疆、蒙古等的少數民族王公及公主額駙等，以示重視。

清代，乾隆皇帝將這里作為殿試場所。殿試是科舉考試最高級別的考試，皇帝親自主持，考中者稱“天子門生”。殿試前三名為狀元、榜眼、探花，可享受從午門中央門洞出宮的殊榮。

保和殿后有宮中最大的石雕，長16米多，寬3米余，厚達1.7米，重近200噸，由一整塊石頭雕成。為將此石從七八十公里外運至京城，需要先修路，再每隔一段路挖一口井，冬天從井中取水潑灑成冰，再由人力、騾馬在冰面上拖運，僅運輸即用28天。石上雕海水江崖及九條騰龍，體現了高超的建筑石刻技術，極具藝術觀賞價值。