There is a Ci Ning Garden in the Forbidden City. Why do tour guides advise tourists not to take pictures in the park?

There were 9,999 houses in the Forbidden City in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The owner of this city was an emperor who claimed to be the son of the Emperor of Heaven. There are too many stories in this place where wealth, power and secrets are most concentrated. Of the four gardens in the Forbidden City, the first is the Royal Garden.

The Royal Garden is the largest garden in the Forbidden City. This garden can be regarded as a place for the Qing emperors and their families to rest, play and entertain. In order to increase the harmonious atmosphere of the family and reduce the atmosphere of strict court etiquette, the emperor will hold banquets and other activities in this royal garden every important festival such as Zongzi Festival in May, Mid-Autumn Festival in August and Double Ninth Festival.

There are not only ancient trees and strange stones, but also pavilions and pavilions in the imperial garden. Among them, the "Duixiu" stone mountain, which is built with Taihu stone against the wall of Bei Gong, can be said to be original. Emperors after the emperor can also climb the road and overlook the Forbidden City from the pavilion on the Lion Mountain.

The second garden is the West Garden of Fu Jian Palace. Xiyuan was built in Qing Qianlong for five years. It was built by order of Emperor Qianlong. The garden is 67 meters long from east to west and 64 meters long from north to south. The garden style is very exquisite. Emperor Qianlong often came to this garden to compose poems and enjoy paintings, and sealed many of his favorite treasures here.

Unfortunately, in 1923, Fu Jian Palace was burnt to white ground by a big fire, and even the garden was in ruins.

The third garden, called Cining Palace Garden, is specially designed for the Empress Dowager, Empress and Toffee. There are not only buildings such as Linxiguan and Xianruoge in the park, but also ornamental trees such as pine and cypress, phoenix tree, ginkgo and magnolia, and flowers such as peony and peony are densely planted in the park. It can be said that the scenery in the morning and evening is different.

After talking about the above three gardens, we come to the focus of this article. Let's focus on Ningshou Palace Garden, located in the northwest corner of Ningshou Palace, which was built in the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong. The length from north to south is160m, and the width from east to west is only 37m. There are more than 20 buildings in this garden covering an area of more than 5,000 square meters.

For example: Gu Hua Xuan, Xuhui Pavilion, Zhai Yi, Suixiangtang, etc. At first glance, this garden also has pavilions and bamboos, which are not much different from the other three gardens, but if you want to know the real purpose of this garden, you won't think so.

This Ningshou Palace Garden is a place for the Empress Dowager, the late emperor's husband and the royal concubines to rest, visit and relax. There was a joke that an emperor was killed and hundreds of widows suddenly appeared in the Forbidden City.

After the death of the emperor's husband, these widows will move here from the sixth palace of the imperial palace. Most of the Empress Dowager and concubines will burn incense in the morning and evening, recite Buddha in the morning and evening, and end their lives with cigarettes and chanting.

Ningshou Palace Garden was given another nickname-Widow Garden. Because of its special function, not only other ladies in the palace generally don't come to this garden, but also eunuchs and ladies in other palaces try to avoid coming to this place for one reason, for fear of contaminating the "widows" here.