Hoa Than Palace - a place that overwhelms Vietnamese visitors with its luxury

China A Palace of the Prince, half of the Qing Dynasty is the most mentioned phrase when describing the luxury of the Heshen Palace.

"Overwhelmed by the vastness" is the feeling of Minh Anh, an international student in Beijing, who visited the palace for the first time on a morning in mid-May with her friend and Chinese tour guide Tran Nhung.

Ho Than's residence was built in 1777, now called the Palace Museum, covering 60,000 square meters, like a miniature world with artificial mountains, lakes, and theater stages. Half of the area of ​​the palace is used for landscapes and gardens. The main gate has two stone lions guarding it. "This is the largest residence in the Qing Dynasty (excluding the emperor's residence)," according to Visitbeijing , a website of the Information Center, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

The vermilion-painted buildings in the palace. Photo: Beijing Visitor

In the fourth year of the Jiaqing era (1799), He Shen was executed by the king and his mansion was confiscated. When the assets in He Shen's mansion were searched, there were 800 million taels of silver. His total assets were equal to 15 years of the Qing Dynasty's national treasury. The mansion later belonged to many other nobles such as Qingxi Prince Yonglin (Jiaqing Emperor's brother) and Gongzhong Prince Yixin (Xianfeng Emperor's brother).

Hou Fang, a museum official, said the Palace is one of the few Qing Dynasty imperial residences in Beijing that visitors can visit. The others are either inhabited or in ruins. The palace underwent extensive government renovations in December 2005 at a cost of 200 million yuan (over $28 million). The garden area behind it has been a popular tourist attraction since 1988. The new palace area opened to the public in August 2008, with nearly 10,000 visitors on the first day, according to SCMP.

There are many attractions in the mansion, but the most prominent are The Western-style Gate, Grand Theatre Tower and Back Screen Buildings. The Western-style Gate is the main entrance to the garden, representing the owner's desire to "save the Qing Dynasty by learning Western culture and technology". The Grand Theatre Tower is where Ho Than and his family and friends watched plays, and is considered "the only enclosed opera house in China". The Back Screen Buildings are located at the junction of the residential area and the garden, consisting of 111 consecutive houses stretching up to 180 m.

There are two lakes in the mansion. The large lake is where people used to go boating. The small lake is where fish are raised. According to the tour guide that Minh Anh met when she visited the mansion, the small lake is called Bat Lake, surrounded by elm trees. The Chinese consider elm trees to be a symbol of wealth, and bats in Chinese mean "fortune". In the spring, the elm leaves falling into the lake symbolizes that all the money in the world flows into Ho Than's house.

Minh Anh was impressed by the pillars made from Kim To Nam Moc, a precious wood with a grain like golden silk, fragrant and mosquito-repellent, used to build royal palaces. According to Baidu , each of these wooden pillars is worth up to 2.7 billion yuan (more than 382 million USD). Hoa Than's room has four pillars made from this wood. Visitors are not allowed to enter this area, they can only stand outside and look. However, Minh Anh still smelled the faint scent of the wood.

Minh Anh also said that a tour guide at the palace said that most of the furniture in the palace had been taken away for storage. The side rooms were empty, only a few main rooms displayed ancient artifacts.

According to tour guide Tran Nhung, the Ho Than mansion was the residence of the richest and most powerful people in the Qing Dynasty, and every detail has its own meaning. Nhung encourages international tourists to hire a tour guide when traveling on their own because "they know this place very well and tell very interesting stories related to Ho Than".

A small gate in Hoa Than palace.

Minh Anh likes Hoa Than Palace more than Forbidden City because it has many trees and is cool. Forbidden City does not have many trees because of fear of ambushes in the trees.

According to Minh Anh, to get to the Palace, visitors should take the subway because it is convenient and cheap. The Palace is located in the city center, at 17 Hai Tay Street, Tay Thanh District. The train ticket from the suburbs to this area is 7 yuan (1 USD). The entrance fee is 20 yuan (nearly 3 USD) for students and 40 yuan (nearly 6 USD) for adults. Visitors can buy tickets via wexin, find the Palace website to book tickets. After arriving, visitors bring their passports to the counter to exchange for a swipe ticket. You can buy directly at the counter, but Minh Anh recommends buying online because the queue to buy on the spot is very long.

The Palace is open from 8am to 5pm, and stops accepting visitors from 4:30pm onwards. There are many shops selling food and souvenirs in the surrounding area. "Because it is a tourist destination, the taste of the food has become much lighter. Original Chinese food is very greasy and spicy, making it difficult for Vietnamese people to eat," Minh Anh said. A large bowl of noodles costs 30 yuan (more than 4 USD). Beijing yogurt is one of the dishes Minh Anh recommends trying.

In addition to the Palace, visitors should visit the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace (a park located in the west of the city), and the Yuanmingyuan (a complex of palaces and gardens).

Minh Anh felt satisfied because she had set foot in one of the places associated with a famous figure in Chinese history and known to many Vietnamese people. "A palace, half of the Qing Dynasty is the phrase that Chinese friends tell me the most when mentioning this place. Only when you see it with your own eyes can you see all the luxury. This is a place worth visiting," Minh Anh said.

Phuong Anh Photo: MLB Chineses

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