The
Nine Dragon Screen
Facing the Gate of Imperial
Supremacy is the famous Nine Dragon Screen, the
biggest in China.
It was built in 1771 during the reign
of Qing Emperor QianLong.
Until recently, there were
altogether three Nine Dragon Screens in China. The oldest
one is located in Datong city, Shanxi Province; it was
built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The third was
built in Beihai Park during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),
which is within walking distance from the Forbidden City.
The one in Beihai is unique in having dragons on both
sides.
The most recent additon to
the Nine Dragon Screen family is the one built inside the
XiJiao (West Suburb) Park in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province
in 1985.
The Nine Dragon Screen is
6 metres high and 31 metres long. It is constructed with
270 glazed tiles.
The Legend of the Broken
Tile
If you look carefully at each
individual dragon, you will find something
unusual about the screen. The third dragon from
the left is a slightly different colour at the
bottom. Legend has it that the day before Emperor
QianLong's inspection, one tile (located at the
bottom of the third dragon) suddenly fell down
and broke into many pieces.
Because there was very little
time left, and everyone would be beheaded if one
part was left broken, as a last resort a
carpenter made a wooden one to look exactly like
the original. Fortunately, the emperor did not
discover the discrepancy and the lives of all the
craftsmen were saved.
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