Princely Privileges
During the Míng dynasty extensive princely mansions were constructed to the east of the Forbidden City. They now survive only in the name of the Wángfǔ Jǐng shopping street, which means ‘well of the Princely Mansion(s)’ (王府井).
When in 1644 the Qīng regent Dorgon installed the boy Shùnzhì emperor, some power and control over the armies, known as ‘banners’, was retained by princes of the blood and other aristocrats with effectively princely status. Subsequent emperors moved to centralise power, but being a prince of the royal blood nevertheless brought with it a luxurious lifestyle. The top two ranks (qīnwáng 亲王 and jùnwáng 君王) had the right to build an elaborate residence or occupy one built by others, such as those taken over when all Hàn Chinese except bannermen were expelled to the Outer City for security reasons in 1648. The Inner City was divided into eight sections, one for each banner (which included Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese banners), and each mansion was usually built in the banner district with which its prince was connected, although later a more cautious policy placed princes in any district but that of their own banner.
Under Qīng succession law the imperial title passed neither to the eldest surviving male member of the family nor to the eldest son of the late ruler, but to a son chosen by the emperor or if necessary adopted from his children’s generation (a rule broken by Cíxǐ). This meant that the ever-growing number of princes needed to be carefully managed as they competed for imperial attention and the prospect of succession. The Míng had tended to send their princes away to avoid trouble; the Qīng kept theirs close where they could keep an eye on them.
The size and style of the halls on the central axis was carefully controlled and coded according to 18 grades of rank, which were not straightforwardly hereditary: each new generation dropped one grade. The Qiánlóng emperor subsequently gave the system a radical overhaul. He reduced the number of ranks to 12, provided set stipends according to seniority, rehabilitated the memory of the disgraced Prince-Regent Dorgon and others of his contemporaries, and granted the top rank, qīnwáng, in perpetuity to princes of eight families that had played a leading role in the Qīng conquest. As that meant that the hats indicating princely rank could not be removed, they were known as the tiě màozi wáng (铁帽子王, ‘iron hat princes’).
For others, though, a drop in family rank as a senior prince died could mean a forced move to less luxurious quarters matching the reduced status, although the regulations were not tightly enforced, and even third (贝勒, bèilè) and fourth (贝子, bèizǐ) rank princes might retain substantial residences.
If the occupant of a mansion should succeed to the throne, the address was said to have ‘nurtured the dragon’ and could not used as a residence thereafter. Some palaces became temples, but as demand for palaces grew, some temples that were on a sufficiently grand scale became princely mansions.
Estimates of the number of princely palaces in Qiánlóng’s day (1736–95) range from 30 to 42, and from 50 to 89 during the following Jiāqìng reign (1796–1820). By the mid-19th century they were popular tourist sights, although despite their unusually wide front gates little could be seen from the outside. When imperial stipends fell away after the 1912 abdication many princes were forced to sell their treasures and sometimes sell or rent out parts of their mansions, many of which were taken for government offices or turned into schools (see Mahakala Temple).
This process was accelerated under communist rule after 1949, when senior figures took them for themselves, their staffs, and security teams, or pulled them down to build new mansions of their own. There are said to be merely 22 remaining today, and only two of these are open to the public in any real sense. At least four were reduced in size and further damaged by the 1999 construction of the cross-town highway of Píng’ān Dàdào.
Prince Gōng’s Mansion (恭王府, Gōng Wángfǔ) remains the most intact (or rebuilt) of the mansions.
Prince Chún’s Mansion (醇亲王府, Chún Qīn Wángfǔ) is repaired but currently inaccessible except for the gardens (see Former Residence of Soong Ching-ling on the East Bank of the Hòu Hǎi walk).
The Pǔdù Sì or Mahakala Temple, formerly Prince Ruì’s Mansion (睿亲王府, Ruì Qīn Wángfǔ) has been reclaimed from its role as a primary school and refurbished, and has become the Běijīng Taxation Museum, but its layout is atypical. Nor did it follow the rules, established later, of how a princely mansion should look.
The Lama Temple or Yōnghé Gōng is more magnificent, having been formerly Prince Yōng’s Mansion (雍亲王府, Yōng Qīn Wángfǔ) and thus forbidden use as a residence once he became the Yōngzhèng emperor in 1723.
Two other major mansions can be visited, but these are more princess-ly than princely. The Palace of the Héjìng Princess (和敬公主府, Héjìng Gōngzhǔ Fǔ) was home to yet more secret policemen (there’s no shortage of these in China), and as at Prince Gōng’s Mansion their occupancy may have compromised the buildings but at least kept them standing. There was talk that the courtyards here, renovated in 2003, would become part of the hotel standing behind them, the Héjìng Fǔ Bīnguǎn, but recently receptionists were still unable to say, and some of the buildings had already become offices for other businesses. Nevertheless, nosing about here will give you an idea of the scale of aristocratic mansions, and it’s worth looking in if passing along Zhāng Zìzhōng Lù (张自忠路).
The ducal Guì Family Mansion (桂公府, Guì Gōng Fǔ) was famous as the childhood home of two empresses: first Dowager Empress Cíxǐ, then the empress of the Guāngxù emperor, better known later as the Dowager Empress Lóngyù, who signed the treaty of abdication on behalf of Pǔyí in 1912. Partly abandoned and partly used as a kindergarten it was recently renovated by a private company which turned it into the Guì Gōng Fǔ restaurant. Here you can wander at will through several courtyards, and eat in them, too.
Prince Kèqín’s Mansion (克勤郡王府, Kèqín Jùn Wángfǔ) is the real thing, and having been recently almost entirely reconstructed is now №2 Primary School. According to mothers waiting fretfully outside, it is for particularly bright infants, although judging by the way they are dressed perhaps just wealthy or well-connected ones. There’s no getting through the main gate on the north side of Xīn Wénhuá Jiē (新文化街), but there are glimpses of smart courtyards glistening with fresh paint. Prince Kèqín’s was an ‘iron-hatted’ or a hereditary peerage, but the mansion, at least in part, has lasted longer than the title.
You can also get as far as the gate of Prince Qìng’s Mansion (庆王府, Qìng Wángfǔ) in Dìngfù Hútòng (定福胡同, see In the Depths of Many Flowers), although you may make the guards nervous. The gardens are now occupied by a military establishment, but peer round to the left to see some of the ancient halls still standing. The mansion of Prince Tāo lies hidden behind it, now functioning as №13 Middle School.
Prince Sēng’s Mansion (僧王府, Sēng Wángfǔ) is more typical of the current state of remaining mansions. On the south side of Bǎnchǎng Hútòng (板厂胡同), just east of the Nán Luógǔ Xiàng (南锣鼓巷) bar street, a long frontage stretches from nos. 30 to 34, indicating the three axes normal for princely mansions might still be there, originally amounting to four courtyards each. Now it’s a little labyrinth of private housing, with ramshackle brick extensions to its original halls, home to dozens of families. One thoroughly rebuilt section is the Lǚ Sōng Yuán Hotel.
Most other princely mansions exist as little more than plaques, although the brand new Jùn Wángfǔ (郡王府) and Qīn Wángfǔ (秦王府) are run as hotels at the bizarre Grand Epoch City, halfway to Tiānjīn.
The princely mansions were unique to Běijīng, the revenue flowing through them was vital to the city’s economy, and their size and layout affected the shape of the neighbourhoods in which they stood.
See links below for other Běijīng stories and other sights North Around the Back Lakes, or go to the Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing (home page).
Next in North, Around the Back Lakes: East Bank of the Hòu Hǎi (walk)
Previously: Prince Gōng’s Mansion
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