Chamber of Joyful Longevity in the Forbidden City

The Chamber of Joyful Longevity in the Forbidden City was planned to be the bedchamber for the Super-Sovereign.

However, he never lived here. Empress Dowager Cixi used the west part of the Chamber as her bedroom and it was from here that she walked through to the back yard and ordered eunuchs to push and drown Concubine Zhen in the well. There is a throne in the center of the Chamber of Joyful Longevity for accepting felicitations. In the Chamber, there are jade boulders named “Mountain of Longevity” and“Sea of Happiness”. Each weighs thousands of jin and was made out of the precious jade found in Hetian, Xinjiang in 1780, the 45th year of the Qianlong reign.

Relevant attractions in the Forbidden City

Screen Wall of Nine Dragons
Hall of Ancestral Worship
Arrow Pavilion
Hall of Imperial Supremacy and the Palace of TranquiI Longevity
Hall of Character Cultivation
Tower of Pleasant Sounds
Chamber of Joyful Longevity
Well of Concubine Zhen
Qianlong Garden