A Theater With A Remarkable History: DeHeYuan of Summer Palace

#chinatrip The Palace of Benevolence and Peace is an entertainment complex built as a theater for Empress Dowager Cixi. The three story theater stage is the largest and best preserved wooden stage in China. Its delicate design and magnificent structure have great cultural and artistic value. At one time, famous actors of the Beijing Opera of the Qing Dynasty came here to perform in front of the Empress. A large number of precious objects used by emperors and empresses are now on display here, as well as some of the gifts given to the Qing emperors by foreign countries. The northwestern outskirts of modern Beijing is known for the fact that there, on the shores of the artificial Kunminhu Lake, the world-famous Yiheyuan Summer Palace is located. The residence of the Qing emperors turned out to be so large-scale, magnificent and original that in 1998 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From all the variety of temples, pavilions and palace. Deheyuan Palace (the Creator of Beneficence and Peace), in the center of which there is a Large Theater with the same name (the Great Theater of the same name). This is one of the most majestic imperial three-tiered stages, the best preserved to this day, in which regular major restorations played a significant role. The opening of the Deheyuan Bolshoi Theatre was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Cixi, and until her death in 1908, performances of the Beijing Jingju Opera for members of the imperial family and their guests were regularly staged on its stage. The structure, first of all, impresses with its grandeur: the stage, open to the audience from three sides, consists of three levels, reaching a height of almost 23 m, which is comparable to a modern 7-storey building. The width of the lower stage is 16 m, the depth is 17 m, each floor is decorated with laudatory sayings in honor of the Empress's birthday, the glorification of which was considered the most important function of the theater. Deeply symbolic texts are written on horizontal wooden boards of paibian and in the form of paired expressions of duilan on columns supporting the arches. Similar inscriptions typical of Chinese culture in general can be found on almost any stage of traditional construction.