Attend The Grand Wedding of the Guangxu Emperor

The grand wedding of the Guangxu Emperor (r. 1875–1908) was held near the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).

Due to the artistic efforts of the Imperial Household Department’s vice-director Qingkuan (surname Zhao, 1848–1927) and other painters, the opulence of the wedding ceremonies was realistically depicted in the album The Grand Wedding of the Guangxu Emperor (Guangxu dahun tu), in which the nuptials held in the outer court are shown with brilliant colors in vivid detail.

This album comprises a wealth of resources for research into the imperial wedding ceremonies of the Qing dynasty. The paintings afford an unrivaled view of the Forbidden City’s primary architecture as decorated with lanterns and other ornamentation for the Guangxu Emperor’s wedding.

As part of the ceremonial proceedings known as "bestowing the title of Empress on the bride" (ce li), on the twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month of the fifteenth year (1889) of the Guangxu reign, the very day of the wedding ceremony, after greeting to the empress dowager, the emperor ascended to the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe dian) ,

where he personally conducted a formal inspection of the gold album (jince) and gold seal (jinbao) for use in the official appointment and dispatched the selected envoy (shijie) to carry the gold banner (jinjie) used to lead the bridal entourage.

The principal and assistant envoys then led the entourage bearing the imperial insignia out the Gate of Supreme Harmony (Taihe men) followed immediately by the Dragon Pavilion (Long ting) containing the gold album and gold seal.

The Phoenix Palanquin (Feng yu) of the empress was carried by sixteen men.

After the official appointment ceremony was held at the empress’ residence, the entourage would began its course to the imperial palace.

The empress’ route towards the Forbidden City through the front gate—the Meridian Gate (Wu men).

The empress and her host then passed through the central portal of the Meridian Gate (Wu men) with the sounding of bells and drums.

The central portal of the Meridian Gate was reserved exclusively for the emperor, and the empress was permitted to pass through that distinctive gate in the Phoenix Palanquin only during the grand wedding ceremony.

After entering the central portal of the Gate of Supreme Harmony (Taihe men)

the palanquin was led towards the Middle Left Gate (Zhongzuo men) at the Square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe dian).

The Phoenix Palanquin arrived at the Gate of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing men).

The principal and assistant envoys had completed their mission and, along with the grand minister of the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Guardsmen, withdrew from the ceremony.

The empress was then taken to the residential inner court. The Guangxu Emperor in his dragon robe had already been waiting for her in the west warming chamber of the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing gong).