It's getting cold The persimmons in the palace museum are almost ripe But despite the growing chill, the craftsmen of the Forbidden City are still focused on their work Watch your hands! A floor tile in the square of the Palace of Heavenly Purity cracks Move to that side a little bit and it'll be wider Good Who measured these two tiles? What's their size? Jin Jiatong
Tiling Craftsman (Retired)
The Palace Museum How to measure them? I don't know How do you want them to be measured? This side needs to be shorter, right? Have they mentioned this? No You can start from the beginning They didn't mention Repairing it is easier than paving the floor Few people pay attention to the floor tiles when they are walking around the Forbidden City So repairing them is a bit of a thankless task Even so, for 600 years they've been diligently maintained When you put some cement into it and then put the tile on you may find there's not enough cement So, you have to lift the tile Oh That's why we should have good judgement concerning the amount of cement Yes Right? You don't think it's enough, right? Am I right? When there's something wrong with a brick, tile, stone or a piece of wood in the Forbidden City they're repaired as quickly as possible Timely attention to such details ensures this palace remain solid and beautiful Over the years, generations of apprentices have become skilled at carrying out these necessary chores Thanks to their effort Thanks to their effort these time honored palaces will continue to shine for another 600 years And their skills will be passed down to new generations of craftsmen Episode 3 The Bronze Gallery
The Palace Museum Palace of Celestial Favor The Palace of Celestial Favor is the most distinguished palace of all the six eastern palaces It was once home to consort Dong'e beloved concubine of Emperor Shunzhi Now it is the Bronze Gallery, housing bronze vessels dating from the period since the Shang and Zhou dynasties But visitors to this place seldom notice the blank space in the ceiling paintings of the main hall According to documents the ceiling paintings in the main hall of the Palace of Celestial Favor were probably drawn in 1697 over 320 years ago But over time they became loose and this painting in the corner broke into pieces Now the paintings are waiting to be repaired and restored Department of Heritage
Architectural Technologies Department of Heritage
Architectural Technologies The Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies is north of the ice house in the Palace Museum The water room is so lively that even the wet cat likes it here This department grew out of the construction team established by the Palace Museum in 1953 And in its heyday it employed more than 400 master craftsmen Let go of it Me? I'll hold it Press it a little bit, and it'll be OK This corner Zhang Fengbing, Trainee
Skill Inheritance Team
The Palace Museum Zhang Fengbing specializes in colored painting Now, his most important work is repairing the damaged paintings of the Palace of Celestial Favor We need to paste it layer by layer This part cracks Challenging though it is this represents a rare opportunity for the youngsters to practice their skills The Forbidden City which itself has stood the test of time also has to devote time to cultivating the guardians capable of securing its future Every step must be taken to ensure that there will always be people on hand capable of keeping the Palace Museum in tip top condition With that in mind the Palace Museum has come up with a training plan to attract more young people to come here to learn the skills Zhang Fengbing and the other four specialize in color painting while the other four specialize in carpentry and tiling The weather in winter is not suitable is not suitable for tiling work So we usually cut bricks in winter This is a polisher made by us It is made of a grinding wheel and a piece of wood Xue Chao, Trainee
Skill Inheritance Team
The Palace Museum In the past there was no grinding wheel So, the craftsmen could only use coarse stone they found in the mountains to polish bricks Cutting bricks is a good opportunity to practice their skills As well as being an important skill repairing tiles is also an important aspect of the maintenance work All things in the world are subject to time and the laws of nature And the time honored the Forbidden City is no exception But thanks to the efforts of the craftsmen it is preserved from the worst ravages of time and remains as fresh and beautiful as ever Department of Heritage
Architectural Technologies The restoration of the colored painting of the Palace of Celestial Favor enters the critical stage Zhang Fengbing invites a man who used to work in this office to help them Have you searched the drawers? Did I leave some money or bankbooks in them? We spent the money You did? But we couldn't withdraw money with the bankbook Yang Zehua works for Department of Conservation Science Five years ago, this room was the calligraphy and paintings restoration team's office It's cleaner, right? Yes Look the color has changed Yang Zehua
Research Librarian
The Palace Museum Have you cleaned them? Yes Over there You hope your arms are longer, right? Yes, right OK It should be here Look It should be here Is this OK? No, it's too thin Is it? It needs to be thicker 2015. Making eighteen buckets
2016. Chopping the skin of
the wall of the west barrel What about this? It's good Good, it's perfect Have you had breakfast? Have you had breakfast? I was waiting for your praise It's great Use your nail to press it gently in and out Don't rush Don't rush Now the paste is slippery If you use too much strength, it'll slip Be careful, because the paper may be pasted on the painting I also have work to do in my department so, l've got to go OK. Thank you It's OK Be patient No problem Yang Zehua sets the youngsters' minds at ease Zhang Fengbing and his colleagues will use the traditional flour paste to repair the painting Repairing cultural relics requires both caution and patience When this bit of ceiling painting returns to the Palace of Celestial Favor 601 years will have passed since the construction of the Forbidden City Let's go I'll get a stool What the tiling trainees face Department of Heritage
Architectural Technologies is an ordinary palace wall These high walls divide the Forbidden City into many separate palaces Many people spent their lives behind these high walls Nothing sums up the Forbidden City like red coloring of its walls Even for modern people it's an ideal background color for their photos Neizuo Gate But though the walls seem to be identical in color thanks to the textures of the pigments used each wall is, in fact, uniquely tinted In the Palace Museum what the trainees deal with are real cultural relics Wu Shengmao
Tiling Craftsman (Retired)
The Palace Museum Today the trainees are beautifying this old wall under the guidance of their teacher It should be done like this Let me show you You should do like this When the plaster is not thick enough you can turn it over like this Look, the trowel and the hawk should be like an integral whole The hawk shouldn't be still You should move it OK? Look my T-shirt is not stained by it This is the base Wu Shengmao started working in the Palace Museum in the 1970s He knows every wall like the back of his hand We need to fill in this gap first The gaps between the bricks need to be filled in before plastering the walls a duck bill shovel is needed to fill the plaster into the gaps and then fragments of tiles and bricks are used to fill in the gaps Like this Don't use the brick fragments now Use the plaster to fill in the gap first Yes, right Smear it and remove the unnecessary stuff It'll become more solid Otherwise this part will be hollow Now you can use the brick fragments Fill it with the fragments A solid base will make the plastering make the plastering more durable The Section for Research
and Test of Wall Plastering Skills
Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies It's too watery It's too thin It's too thin If you have to fulfill your quota of work to get paid you won't earn a penny You are good with computers but you are not good at the work You have to think about how to do the work well and what your teachers have taught you Take it easy But do bear it in mind You'll be on your own this afternoon Practice yourselves That's it The plastering of the walls is divided into two parts the base and the finish code The basic material is fiber reinforced plaster Hemp is chopped and then added to the slate line This can prevent the finished coat from cracking The red pigment is added to the plaster This is the secret recipe that gives the walls of the Palace Museum their iconic color In the Qing dynasty this courtyard next to the East Prosperity Gate was the place of the imperial honor guard It was responsible for the carriages and ceremonial weapons that were needed for trips of emperors and emperesses Now this place serves as a warehouse storing brick and stone parts from different periods of the Forbidden City's history It's damaged Wang Liying
Senior Engineer
The Palace Museum and stained And so is this one, right? Yes These three cultural relics are just a tiny part of the Palace Museum They might not be that important for other exhibitions because other exhibitions need beautiful exhibits with pretty patterns But what we need to see is workmanship and we want them to show what the craftsmen did to them Although they are damaged Although they are damaged they mean a lot to us Wang Liying works in the Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies Conservation and protection of ancient craftsmanship is her field with brick and stonework being her special field of expertise These carefully selected cultural relics bear evidence of the skills possessed by ancient craftsmen Now they and the age old craftsmanship embodied within them are in the hands of contemporary scholars and craftsmen Department of Heritage
Architectural Technologies In the early Qing dynasty this courtyard was where dining took place in the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility In 1691 it was transformed into an imperial workshop to meet the royal family's increasing demands for various objects Perhaps the Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies was set up here because of the longstanding tradition of craftsmanship in this place It was cold in the morning It was cold in the morning So, I didn't take it off It was not that cold The Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies also strives to improve the environment and surroundings As well as leveling the ground they'll also do some archaeological work which should reveal much about the history of this courtyard Where is the brick? It's from the reign of Ming Emperor Jiajing 1536 Let me have a look Here it is This Made by Lu Kui in Linqing in 1536 Li Zenglin
Tiling Craftsman (Retired)
The Palace Museum We should go to Linqing to have a look someday OK You'll take me there I take you? Yes, right OK I'll invite you to go there Have you been there? There is only one kiln now There is only one kiln now I haven't been there They are dealing with the walls Yes 15 minutes It'll be done in 20 minutes The plastering of this wall is finished under the guidance of Li Zenglin a national level inheritor Should we finish the whole part? You can plaster this small part in a few minutes It won't take you much time Just be quick Just be quick The master craftsmen of the Palace Museum are also men of action Soon Li Zenglin starts doing the work himself Be careful not to stain my shirt Keep the scoop outward Don't worry Don't be like a lady Just do it like this It's not a big deal Li Zenglin is showing them how to plaster the wall It's done The first layer is coarse but make sure it's flat About 10 minutes later Li Zenglin finishes his work Now, the wall looks smooth and as good as new Traditional craftsmanship is passed down from hand to hand And every master craftsman has some unique expertise they gleaned from older generations that came before them The Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies uses this wall west of the Hall of Mental Cultivation as an experimental area in order to record the master's expertise The department hopes to combine the visual effects of the wall and the as built records and then to set standards for the plastering work In a few days the trainees will go to another place to perform a special task I'm done Beijing International
Vocational Education School Beijing International
Vocational Education School Today, they are not trainees but teachers I'm so nervous Hello, everyone, good morning Let me introduce myself a little bit I'm from the Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies of the Palace Museum I started to work in the department in 2007 so, l've been doing the job for 12 years I specialize in the research and preservation of ancient official architecture construction techniques In recent years Beijing International Vocational Education School
Heritage Conservation and Restoration
Senior (3) (4) Classes the Palace Museum has been working closely with colleges middle schools and primary schools all around the country providing opportunities for young people to study traditional architecture Turn it around and we'll start from this side Start from this side Plane it to make sure it's flat We need to refer to the drawing Start from here Use this finger to support it The Chinese dragon's leg should be from here to here A whisker should be connected with another and a leg should also be connected with another one Connect the whisker first You can draw it like this It's too thin Though these teachers are just trainees in the Palace Museum to these children they are master craftsmen This is how ancient techniques are passed down to future generations Garden of Palace of Peace and Longevity
The Palace Museum This will probably make things faster But the drying process may be long Grind a little more There was some wax here I tried to get rid of it with a scraper but I failed Then I tried mineral oil It worked but the drying process is longer Even if the drying process takes four days it's OK Liu Renhao graduated Liu Renhao
Librarian
The Palace Museum from the School of Architecture, Tsinghua university and works in the Palace Museum's Department of Architectural Heritage She has a keen interest in the use of traditional materials in restoration Cultural relics restoration has no end You can always do better We hope each cultural relic will each cultural relic will in the end have its own "medical record" In 200 years In 200 years when the Forbidden City is 800 years old these relics may need to be repaired The workers will know what we did to these cultural relics and what materials and techniques were used In 1770, the rebuilding of the Garden of the Palace of Peace and Longevity started And Qianlong Emperor took charge of the project which is why this garden is also known as Qianlong Garden The Studio of Ancient Glory is the main building in the first courtyard of the garden The ceiling is not decorated Studio of Ancient Glory with colored paintings Instead, it is decorated with nanmu which is rather rare in imperial gardens While these nanmu applicants are not as glorious as the patterns covered with gold leaf they are still elegant In 2001 the Palace Museum initiated a Qianlong Garden research and restoration initiative In cooperation with both Chinese and foreign professional organizations it harnessed the power of scientific and technological innovation to cultivate the next generation of cultural relic protection workers Restoring Qianlong Garden in the process Restoring Qianlong Garden in the process Liu Renhaol has investigated most kinds of adhesive B-72 is the stuff that is the most frequently used in the preservation of cultural relics It's an acrylic resin Its advantage is that it's reversible However now one big problem of the glue is that it can stick together the lid and the bottle the lid and the bottle Yes, I can see that Yes. Now they are glued together but I regret What should I do? What should I do? I can use acetone We do it every day and it's funny They are glued together every day They are glued together every day Then they'll be separated This also shows that B-72 is a reversible material They can be separated Old masters use pigskin to do it The traditional method is to dip your fingers into it and to try it like this We'll see how long it'll take before my fingers are glued together Then we'll know Then we'll know how much time we are given I don't like glue that glues things together instantly like the 502 glue because it allows no room for error because it allows no room for error It's terrifying Now I have to Now I have to use a lot of strength to separate my fingers This means that when we talked just now it was still possible for me it was still possible for me to undo what had been done But now there's no turning back When people look at a cultural relic like this a cultural relic like this in 100 years' time how will they know these two pieces were glued together in 2020 instead of in the time of Qianlong Emperor? Since B-72 is used everyone knows it wasn't done in the time of Qianlong Emperor as there was no acrylic resin back then It's almost safe to say that it takes 5 to 10 years it takes 5 to 10 years to assess the changes of a cultural relic It's not just wood that adhesive glues joined together They also bond time Liu Renhao started to participate in the restoration of Qianlong Garden when she was studying for a master's degree After graduation, she entered the Department of Architectural Heritage of the Palace Museum From listening to others' lectures to giving lectures to younger students Liu Renhao has developed alongside the restoration of the Qianlong Garden According to the plan the restoration should be carried out from north to south During the process, experts in craftsman run into one challenge after another The principle is to The principle is to minimize human intervention and to keep as much historical information as possible Yes We should preserve them to the greatest extent A seminar on the protection of colored paintings initiated by the Department of Architectural Heritage is underway The program is meant to study the factors that cause damage to these three buildings and inscribed boards the microenvironment the colored paintings are in and various materials including the pigment glue, fibrilia, base coating and so on Though different buildings Wang Shiwei
Research Librarian (Retired)
The Palace Museum suffer different kinds of damage and they were built with different materials there are still some rules that we can follow there are still some rules that we can follow Wang Shiwei used to be the chief engineer at the Department of Architectural Heritage of the Palace Museum He's played a role throughout the whole process of restoring Qianlong Garden It used to be dirty before But now it has been processed by me Reveal the original look There's no linen here, right? Linen could strengthen the structure Strengthen the structure The purpose is to enable it to last for 100 years Is this possible? We are short of time We are short of time 20 years have passed and the restoration project is coming to an end Wang Shiwei has retired But he's often invited But he's often invited to take part in discussions He and his colleagues have left their mark in every corner of this garden and devoted their lives to it Now, the protection of the colored paintings of Qianlong Garden is an urgent task facing the experts of the Department of Architectural Heritage Lab of Sample Preparation
for Raman Spectroscopy I'll test its anisotropy before I use the Raman spectroscopy In recent years the Palace Museum has cooperated with domestic and foreign scientific research institutions extensively Fu Peng
Doctoral Student
Shaanxi Normal University and applied the latest scientific and technological innovations to ancient cultural relics Let's see the result Let's see if it's flat There's some glue coming out of the gap It has been glued onto that It looks good After some discussion the Department of Architectural Heritage decides to apply the new material invented by its cooperator to the Pavilion of Soaring Beauty The scientific and technological workers from all around the country have left their traces in the Forbidden City The colored paintings in the Pavilion of Soaring Beauty are a variant of Suzhou style decorative painting Mountains, water, figures, flowers insects, and fishes are all common subjects Cyan and green are the main colors Now these colored paintings have flaked They are waiting to be restored The first step is to clean them and remove the dust and bird droppings from them Then they use syringes to inject the glue into gaps in the paintings The next step is to cover the paintings with paper and fix them with wooden boards The glue will become dry a few days later While the technicians are busy with their work Yang hong, an expert on colored painting also comes to the site She'll experience the whole process, gaining valuable experience of colored painting restoration along the way Yang Hong
Research Librarian
The Palace Museum Experts hope to extend the life of the cultural relics and at the same time to build a cultural relics protection plan that will provide reference for similar restoration projects in and out of the Palace Museum I think compared with cleaning furniture cleaning the colored paintings is… More difficult Yes They are out of doors so, there is a lot of dust on them We have to use cotton swabs to clean them gently Thanks to the help from modern technologies this 120-year-old colored painting takes on a whole new look Department of
Architectural Heritage We still need to do it today Look at the line Where? I haven't found the point in this side Here it is Look at this line It could be higher As for other representative colored paintings in Qianlong Garden Yang Hong ops for the traditional way Yang Hong ops for the traditional way of preserving them before they crack to copy them Qiao Jianjun
Colored Painting Technician It's going to rain. It's cloudy Oh It's getting dark Qiao jianjun is a student of colored painting expert Wang Zhongjie He's been invited to the Palace Museum to copy the paintings with Yang Hong It's easy to get the green color It's easy to get the green color There are some cyan parts but the color has faded Let's get some samples first and then send them to the lab of the Department of Conservation Science for tests This way we'll get to know the original material and the technologies that were used When copying the paintings they need to make sure they use the same pigments and technologies that were used in the past Department of
Conservation Science You sent us 13 samples last time Can you tell? Yang Hong comes to the Department of Conservation Science with the samples of the colored paintings So, you need to polish them OK The sample is in the middle I just need to polish the cross section Under the microscope the pigment particles clearly show what colors were exactly used The ultramarine color in the samples is from the commonly used cyan pigment It is the background color of most suzhou style decorative paintings Perhaps the painter applied a layer of paint here and then cover it with another layer We need to see the details Yes Here is the pattern of connected beads So, recording the exact sampling points is important And we have to work together And we have to work together Xushui County, Hebei Province Based on the paint formula provided by Yang Hong Qiao Jianjun starts to color the copies For us, the Palace Museum is not just a museum of cultural relics but also a museum of colored paintings I feel as if l were having a dialogue with the ancient people I'm interested in dealing with I'm interested in dealing with the challenging paintings It's like It's like I am learning painting from a teacher Nobody else can teach me these skills Nobody else can teach me these skills Qiao Jianjun cherishes the opportunity of making copies of the colored paintings of the Palace Museum Calendar of Palace Museum The Palace Museum houses the masterpieces of those nameless craftsmen These works inspire modern craftsmen to keep improving their skills This is my father the second from the east in the first row Retired Staff From Wood Conservation Studio in 1966 My father was an ex-soldier and then he worked in the Palace Museum He spent most of his life working in the Palace Museum Later he died of cancer in 2005 He worked as a department director in the Palace Museum It was interesting when I was little Every day after school I left my school went along the moat and then entered the Palace Museum through the Gate of Divine Prowess My father's department was on the 13th row and east of the Gate of Divine Prowess Hall for Ancestral Worship
The Palace Museum The Hall for Ancestral Worship is the place Hall for Ancestral Worship where the emperors kept the memorial tablets of their ancestors It was the royal family's ancestral hall Hall for Ancestral Worship In the Qing dynasty a grand ancestor worshipping ceremony was held here on the first day of the first lunar month every year 600 years after the completion of the Forbidden City this hall looks tranquil from the outside But in the hall, many people are busy working In ancient times ancient people used firwood and hemp ropes to build the scaffold while they built the high palaces Today's modern scaffolding is much more convenient and solid Once the scaffolding is installed an overall physical examination of the Hall will get underway The main hall of the Hall for Ancestral Worship is decorated with imperial style colored painting The whole ceiling is magnificent Where's the light? It's here In the past Yang Hong could only look up at the colored paintings on the ceiling like visitors do But now she can finally take a closer look at them It's dark Please shine the light on this Yeah It will be another 100 years before the Hall for Ancestral Worship is due for another checkup Which building in the Palace Museum used the most gold when it was built? Some people would say it's the Hall of Supreme Harmony, right? Actually, it is not It's the Hall for Ancestral Worship Its front hall is completely bedecked with gold People usually put copper coins on the ridge purlin of an ordinary dwelling on the ridge purlin of an ordinary dwelling But the ridge purlins of the imperial palaces are usually decorated with colored paintings Ridge purlin is the uppermost truss component of the roof structure The colored paintings on the ridge purlin usually go unnoticed Yet every corner of the exquisite imperial palace was carefully decorated by craftsman It said that when an auspicious palace was completed colorful clouds would appear in the sky For that reason, the motifs on the ridge purlin are auspicious clouds a symbol that this building is blessed by heaven and will stand here forever Ridge purlin of the central section of the back hall of the Hall for Ancestral Worship Yang Hong, once again turns to Qiao Jianjun for help turns to Qiao Jianjun for help They'll copy this unique colored painting They'll copy this unique colored painting I'll take several pictures and then get down What's the difference between this place and other places? In the past, we couldn't get here because it's too high We didn't dare climb a ladder to come to this part because it's too dangerous Without a scaffold, we couldn't get here I finally got the rubbings of the patterns of auspicious clouds the patterns of auspicious clouds It's great It's a precious opportunity Where is the rubber band? It's around my wrist I'll get down, Cui I'll take photos of them after I return to the Department of Architectural Heritage They look gorgeous and magnificent They really exemplify the essence of ancient craftsmanship This work is meaningful You are as happy as a little boy It's not because you are filming me It's because I've got rubbings of them If you have a chance to watch an excellent documentary film you'll also be happy You'll admire them and hope you can also do it I have the same feeling now It's like we just came back from the battlefield Yes We don't even need a costume or makeup This is what we look like on usual days Department of Heritage
Architectural Technologies Archaeological Excavation Site of
the Department of Heritage Architectural Technologies
October 16th, 2020 The process of renovating
and improving the surroundings of the palaces
exposes some surprising finds The Department of Heritage
Architectural Technologies accidentally stumbles upon the ruins of some
ancient buildings 600 winters after the completion of the Forbidden City an archaeological excavation gets underway The spaces between bricks have to be exposed It's winter now After one night the soil is frozen the soil is frozen Look, it's frozen Look, it's frozen After returning from Wu Wei
Engineer
The Palace Museum the Archaeological Excavation Site in Fengyang Wu Wei immediately gets down to work This is probably a mark that was left that was left when the Forbidden City was built in the early Ming Dynasty Yes The west side Have you found that point? It's 11m It's 11.1m The large bases made of bricks support the share pier Their size and the intervals between them indicate what kind of building this was and its scale indicate what kind of building this was and its scale Although we still have many questions and we don't know what exactly it was like we've lifted part of its veil We know that it was a huge palace and it was closely related with the early Ming Dynasty Here from the underground to the ground and to the surrounding things we can see the 600 years of the Forbidden City It's not steady Hold on, please You should hold on Don't say that Please make sure it is steady My life depends on you OK The archaeological work continues In the near future more information about this site is bound to emerge In the Palace Museum there's not a single building or site there's not a single building or site that is the outcome of a single era Instead, they are result of history itself In one sense buildings are all we see in the Palace Museum But behind all these buildings is time itself The 600 years of construction and maintenance that have shaped and reshaped the Palace Museum bequeath us and further generations the precious legacy of the efforts of generations of builders and restorers
