A worker put the treasure box to its original
place on the ridge center of the roof of the Hall of Supereme
Harmony in the Forbidden City on September 5, 2007. (Photo: the
first.cn)
A treasure box, once used to ward off evils and avert
misfortune, returned to its rightful place on the ridge center of
the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the most important
building in the Forbidden City, as part of the current renovation
work.
Amid a ceremony practiced according to old rules, the
gold-plated treasure box was restored to the "dragon gate", the
geometric center of the ridge of the huge roof of the magnificent
Hall of Supreme Harmony, Beijing News reported.
The treasure box has been absent from the rooftop for dozens of
years, after it was taken down and put into a warehouse during a
previous overhaul many years ago.
Jin Rongkui, vice-curator of the Palace Museum, said that
ancient people would hold a ceremony each time such a treasure box
is placed on an important building, and that this was the first
time that the Palace Museum has hosted such a ceremony.
The purpose of the ceremony, Jin explained, is not only to
protect the ancient architecture itself, but also to demonstrate
the traditional cultural concepts and ideology embedded in ancient
architecture, as they are equally important.
For ancient Chinese people, it is traditional to put a treasure
box on the ridge center of the roof of a building upon completion,
something like a crowning ceremony, in order to ward off evil
spirits. Inside the treasure box, ritual items, such as red silk,
coin, grain, and silver/gold ware are put in.
A historic document handed down from the early Qing Dynasty
(1636-1912) records that, inside the treasure box of the Hall of
Supreme Harmony, there were coins, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin
ingots and plates, as well as precious stones in five different
colors, and five Confucian Classics.
Many years have passed, and some of the precious "stuffing" got
lost, so that there are only some ingots remaining - only the
Classics and the silk are left today. To keep the old tradition
abreast with time, a modern document, recording the details of this
major repair work, was put inside the treasure box, along with the
remaining "stuffing."
The current repair work of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was
started in 2006, and is expected to be finished before the Beijing
Olympics.
(CRI.cn September 12, 2007)
