the official residence of jinjiang prince

the official residence of jinjiang prince, the city of jinjiang prince and peak of unique beauty

jinjiang royal city locates in the centre of guilin city, it is built by zhu shouqian who is first emperor of ming dynasty zhu yuanzhang’s grandson when he was honored the prince of jinjiang. the left of city wall is an ancestral temple; the right is the god of the land and the god of the grain. there are chengyun gate, chengyun palace which was around by building some floors, halls, living rooms, courtyards, and some booths, which constructed a architectural complex which is splendid in green and gold and on a grand scale.

the place was mounted as a residence of pan, after zhu shouqian was honored the prince of jinjiang. it was started to be built in the 5th ming hong wu year by zhu shouqian and was finished after 20 years. the city was surrounded by a 1.5 miles length circumvallation constructed by quadrate bluestones which was very solid. there are four gates on each orientation of the city. they are named “tiren”------ eastern chinese gate; “duanli”-----front-faced sun gate; “zunyi”----- western chinese gate; “guangzhi”-----the back gate.

the city is firm and the gate is hidden, which companies the solid feeling. there were 14 persons were honored jinjiang prince here. at last, the dingnan prince of qing dynasty owned it and changed it into the rusty prince’s official residence of nan.

after guilin was captured by the farmers’army whose leader was dingguo li, youde kou suicided by fire, which also had burned the city which had 250 years’ history to ashes. now the city is basically in good order, the chengyun gate, the steps of chengyun palace, the stone guardrail, and the fantastic ladders are entertaining visitors’ eyes.

the residence was built sticky to the regulation of the court then, with its front chengyun gate, the middle was chengyun palace, the back was royal bedrooms, and the last one was royal garden as to be the main body.

surrounded by the main architectures, there four halls, four pavilions, and over 40 other buildings which covered 19.78 hectare, with a grand scale.

the residence was beneath the sole beauty peak before it was built, there was learning palace in it in tang dynasty, iron cattle temple in which in song dynasty, it was called big circle temple in yuan dynasty, and named long life palace later.

after the residence was ruined, an examination hall was built in 14th shunzhi year. zhongshan sun had ever resident here for assembling army to fight with warlords in the north.

in the early year of the old republic of china, it has ever been successively the location of the school of the second normal university, modern elementary school, the third senior high school, and a-rank industrial school, it came out to be a zhongshan park in winter of 14th year of the old republic of china, that was in 1925 bc. in 1937, it was the residence of the government of guangxi region which was ruined during the war against japan, and re-built later. and now it is the location of the normal university of guangxi. the peak of unique beauty stands erectly and firmly. there was only the carved guardrail and the fantastic were the original of it.

　 peak of unique beauty sits in the city, which is the inalienable part of the spot. the poem “the scenery of guilin tops in the world” first occurred on the peak by carving. “scenery of guilin tops in the world”is an eternal fame used to judge the scenery of guilin, but it’s unknown that who had created before 1980s.

it’s said that it originated from zengbo li’s poem ’the scenery of guilin ranks first in the world’ which with a change of the tune. some people said it came from the sentences of the qing dynasty poet wuxiang jin.

at the middle of 1980s, carved stones had been cleared up by relic operators. a carved stone beside cliff was found; with its writer was wang zhenggong of south song dynasty. this gave an end to dispute lasted for hundred years. ‘scenery of guilin tops in the world’, this poem indicates scrubby hills, transparent waters, queer caves, fantastic stones perfectly, it ensured guilin’s domestic and international status of scenic spots resort.

three main peaks are peak of unique beauty, wave-subdued hill, piled-silk hill. altitude is 66 meters. it is consisted by deposited lime stones from 350 million years ago, it is incised by 3 crannies which are almost vertical, those crannies inlaid from top of mountain to the bottom. a sole peak was formed by water effect. the whole shape of peak is oval. it is wide in east and west direction, dignified and grand, while narrow in north and south direction, also steep and high. peak of unique beauty is honored “sole polar beneath southern sky”. xuanwu cabinet, guanyin hall, sanke temple, sanshen temple are all built on the hill, crescent pool is built at the foot of peak. when sunset, sunshine is draping on the peak which looks like a king dressed with purple clothes.