Deep in the Liuyin Lane, on the southwestern shore of Shichahai Lake in Beijing, hides a palace complex that echoes the Forbidden City from afar. It does not have the grand scale of the Gugong, but it tells of the rise and fall of the Qing dynasty in its own way. The historical geographer Hou Renzhi said: "One Prince Gong`s Mansion — half the history of the Qing."
Here was once the home of the all-powerful court favorite Heshen, then the residence of Prince Gong Yixin, and today it is the most intact and the only palace complex of the Qing era in China open to the public.
From the Court Favorite`s Home to the Residence of Prince Gong
The mansion was founded in 1776 and initially belonged to the favorite of the Qianlong Emperor — Heshen. Its luxury even then "rivaled the imperial." In 1799, shortly after Qianlong`s death, the Jiaqing Emperor executed Heshen and confiscated his property, and granted the mansion to his brother — Prince Qing Yonglin.
In 1851, the Xianfeng Emperor transferred the estate to his sixth brother — Prince Gong Yixin. Yixin was a key figure of the late Qing, one of the leaders of the Self-Strengthening Movement. He lived here until his death in 1898, and since then the estate has borne the name "Prince Gong`s Mansion."
Yixin`s grandson, the famous painter and calligrapher Pu Xinyu, also lived here and renamed the garden "The Garden of Collected Treasures." During the years of the Republic, the mansion served as a building of Fu Jen Catholic University, and in 2008, after full restoration, it opened to the public.
The Mansion and the Garden: Northern Scale with a Southern Soul
The mansion consists of the southern part (ceremonial halls) and the northern garden, occupying about 6 hectares — second place after the Gugong in scale among Qing palaces. The ceremonial part is divided into three lines — eastern, central, and western — and strictly follows Qing rules: green glazed tiles on the roofs indicate princely status (they are lower than the yellow imperial ones).
But the true fame of the mansion is its garden, the Garden of Collected Treasures, created under Yixin. It combines the southern garden tradition with northern architectural planning and is considered "the finest among the hundred princely gardens of Beijing."
This synthesis places the Garden of Collected Treasures in a special position in the Chinese garden tradition. The private gardens of Suzhou, such as the Humble Administrator`s Garden or the Lingering Garden, embody the secluded tastes of scholar-intellectuals, "a small world in a few steps." Imperial gardens, like the Summer Palace Yiheyuan, emphasize grandeur and political symbolism. The Garden of Collected Treasures stands between them: it has princely regularity and representativeness, yet at the same time — the liveliness and elegance of a southern garden.
The Rock of Dripping Green: The Poetry of Moss on Taihu Stones
One of the most striking sights of the garden is the Rock of Dripping Green.
It is an artificial mountain made of Taihu stones. Since the Northern Song era, the Taihu stone has been a precious material for gardens, its aesthetics described by the formula "thin, porous, transparent, wrinkled." In the Suzhou Lion Grove Garden, labyrinths of caves and paths are created from such stones, where the visitor wanders as if in a stone forest.
The Rock of Dripping Green goes further: it creates a "living" landscape that changes with the seasons. On both sides of the mountain, winding paths lead to the summit, and by the paths stand vessels with holes. Servants filled them with water; in summer and autumn, the water seeped through the cracks of the stones, and bright green moss grew on the rocks. The stone is yellow, the moss is green — "dripping green," hence the name.
This embodies the principle of Chinese garden art: "water nourishes the stone, the stone gives birth to moss." Moss here is not a weed but an object of aesthetics — a symbol of silence, antiquity, and time. The garden is not satisfied with a static composition; it strives for a landscape that lives and changes with the seasons.
At the summit of the rock is the platform Terrace Inviting the Moon, the highest point of the garden. From here, a view of the entire garden opens up. Inside the mountain is hidden the main relic of the mansion — a stele with the character "Happiness," written by the brush of the Kangxi Emperor, in the Grotto of Cloudy Mystery. The stele, 7.9 meters long, pierces the entire mountain; the character can be decomposed into "many fields, many sons, many talents, many years" — "the first happiness under heaven."
The Western Gate and Other Sights
The main entrance to the garden is the western gate of white marble, the only western structure in the garden, built by Yixin modeled on the gate of the Yuanmingyuan Palace. Its appearance precisely reflects the duality of Yixin as a leader of the Self-Strengthening Movement: the desire to let in Western civilization without abandoning the Chinese foundation.
Immediately beyond the gate is the rock Peak of Solitary Joy, a Taihu stone over 5 meters high, a hint at the owner`s solitary reflections. Behind it is the Bat Pond (the bat is a homophone of "happiness"), a typical auspicious symbol of a Qing garden. North of the pond is the Hall of Calm Perfection, one of the main buildings of the garden.
In the eastern part of the garden is the Great Theater Hall, one of the largest indoor theaters in China, accommodating hundreds of spectators. Its interior is decorated with painting and carving; here Yixin received guests and watched performances.
The Ceremonial Halls and the Exhibition of Horse Harness
The ceremonial part is divided into three lines. The Hall of Serenity is the main hall of the central line, where a plaque with the brush of the Xianfeng Emperor hung; important ceremonies were held here. The eastern line — the Hall of Many Blessings (reception) and the Hall of the Joy of the Path (living quarters). The western line — the Hall of Xijin Zhai, the pearl of the mansion: here Yixin kept the "Pingfu Tie" of Lu Ji (Jin era). The interior of nanmu and rosewood is "comparable to the Hall of Ningshou gong in the Gugong."
About the exhibition of horse harness: in the Hall of Jiale tang of the mansion, important exhibitions have been held repeatedly, including a joint project with the French estate of Chantilly on the horse culture of China and France. There were exhibited stirrups, saddles, bits, spurs, as well as gilded princely saddles and paintings of the "Uniform Hunt in Mulan."
As for the attitude of Prince Gong Yixin himself toward horses: sources testify that the Qing imperial house honored mounted archery as the "covenant of the ancestors." Yixin "was born clever"; under the strict guidance of Jia Zhen, he not only mastered the Confucian canons but also "developed the martial tradition of the Manchus, mastered horseback riding and archery, surpassing his fourth brother Yizhu in almost everything." At the hunt in Nanyuan in the years of Daoguang, Yixin bagged the most game and "looked around complacently." The Daoguang Emperor granted him the honorary title "Minister of Fifteen Good Arrows" — official recognition of his skill.
The Xianfeng Emperor (Yixin`s fourth brother) also honored mounted archery: in 1847 he created the scroll "Horse Standing" with the inscription "proud bearing, how majestic the appearance." So the love of the Qing court for horses was continuous. Therefore, the horse-themed exhibition in the Hall of Jiale tang is no accident: it is deeply rooted in the Manchu tradition of mounted archery and in the personal skill of Prince Gong Yixin.
