Myei-'yang Palace

The Mjeis-'jang Palace (未央宮, mjeis-'jang-kjung) is a palace located in Rak-lang City, Themiclesia. It was initially built during the reign of Emperor Ngjuan (I Ye) of the Meng-Rjang Dynasty and has been improved several times since.

Name

The name Mjeis-'jang is taken directly from the Menghean palace of the same name (未央宮 / 미앙궁, Old Menghean reconstructed *mjəts *ʔjaŋ *kjuŋ, Standard Menghean mi'ang-gung), first built at the start of the Meng Dynasty (2nd c. BCE) in Yŏng'an (永安 / 영안, gwrjiang'-'an), then rebuilt in the 3rd c. in Ryu'yang (柳陽 / 유양, rju'-lang) when the Meng court was forced to flee there. The term literally means "yet [to] fulfill", meaning that something was not yet at the highest possible point and could still improve. This is a reference to Menghean philosphy that when an extreme is reached, affairs must reverse course; hence, by stating that something is not yet at the highest possible point, the inevitable reversal can be semantically averted.

Construction

When the Meng court suddenly arrived in Themiclesia in 542, the incumbent ruler was forced to abdicate to permit the Meng emperor to continue his rule; yet politics in Themiclesia prevented the new ruling house from having much more influence than it enjoyed while still in Menghe. The Emperor Ngjuan, initially satisfied that his dynasty was preserved from destruction, later was miffed by his lack of influence over policies in Themiclesia. Thus, he turned his attention to construction projects, on which he was able to proceed without much impediment, since Themiclesia had much untapped natural resources that made building large edifices easier than in Menghe. To the court's surprise, he selected the relatively under-developed Rak-lang County as the site of his new palace. Historians have provided alternative views on this choice, some stating that the choice of the small town indicated his will not to compete with the court for power, while others providing that the sheer distance from the capital city, the requisite mustering of manpower, and the concentration of resources there only showed Emperor Ngjuan's desire to establish a new seat of power.

Construction began in 550, only eight years after the founding of the new dynasty, lasting eight years to 558. According to records, over 200,000 labourers from nearby counties were mobilized, and the construction of the palace at epic proportions "balded mountain after mountain [of trees] and flattened hill after hill [of crests]". It seems over half of the revenues of the Themiclesian treasury was expended on the palace during this period, and a large (albeit unknown) number of soldiers were also mobilized for the project. This latter source of labour supports the idea that Emperor Ngjuan desired to weaken the estates of the aristocrats who opposed his rule or them in general, since aristocratic households at the time regularly retained men-at-arms in the hundreds or thousands. Prior to this time, the state called on these households to provide military force, a fact that Emperor Ngjuan took to be a threat to his personal rule. Additionally, Emperor Ngjuan appointed Mru Sjip-nei, a general who fought in Menghe, as manager of the construction; however, the court would not permit this unless the Prime Minister also was made co-manager of the project, arguing that "construction of a palace for the sovereign is a matter of national importance".

History

Immediately after dedication, Emperor Ngjuan abdicated in favour of his successor, Emperor Hwal, and became a Retired Emperor (太上皇帝, t'aih-djang'-ghwang-tis). He took up residence in the new Mjeis-'jang Palace and lived until 580, outliving his own heir. After completing his palace, it seems Emperor Ngjuan did not pursue his political goals as much as before, so much as telling his servant that he "saw the ruins of the Mjeis-'jang Palace in Yŏng'an as a child and always lamented how powerless the Chŏllo state was in its final years", indicating that he saw the new one in Themiclesia as a compensation for his inability to reconquer the former territories of the Meng Dynasty. While he was at the Mjeis-'jang Palace, his successor paid annual homage to him, necessitating a new, expanded highway to accommodate the massive procession of officials.

Layout

Relationship with the city

Geographically, the Palace is located in the southwestern quarter of the Rak-lang County's walled section. This part of the city is lower in altitude that most others and is a cause for the Palace's frequent flooding before the modern period.

Walls and gates

The outer perimeter of the Palace is defined by a set of rammed-earth walls 20 meters thick in most places and 9 meters tall. These walls were initially constructed in the 6th century and later repaired and strengthened. The base of the outermost layer of the wall is reinforced with a stone foundation that extends into the ground. The walls are surfaced with plaster and dyed a light shade of crimson. Records indicate these walls were initially perfumed with spices regularly, but this fell into disuse by the 17th century at the latest. Broadly speaking, the Palace forms a perfect rectangle, with quadrillateral walls at right angles with each other. The north and south walls are parallel to within 2° in deviation, and the east and west ones, 2°30'.

The east wall faces the Drjang-glakw Palaces in the south and the Mrjang-kwang Palace in the north. Facing the street formed between those two edifices, the Mjeis-'jang Palace's east gate, the East Captain Gate is found. There is also a southern gate called the South Captain Gate. These two gates named for the officials that staff them, the "Captain of the Gate". Within the walls, the northern half of the palace is forested, initially meant for regular hunts; however, recently, almost all fauna seems to have died for unknown reasons. That royalty almost never live here plus cuts in staffing during the Pan-Septentrion War both seem to have contributed to the decline of this function. The southern half of the interior grounds are taken up by buildings formerly used as barracks and military installations.

A second set of walls, forming a nested citadel, is located within the outer set of walls. The citadel is located towards the east side of the palace. These walls share their dimensions with the outermost set of walls. They were constructed in the 7th century to enhance security of the inner sections that contained civilian offices and hosted political functions. The gates on this set of walls are all called Carriage Stop Gates, modified by their cardinal directionality, as rules of etiquette required most individuals to stop their carriages at this gate and proceed on foot within; this was very likely a security consideration to prevent chariots from being amassed inside. To enforce this rule, the gates were placed on an elevated threshold that effectively prevented any sort of wheeled vehicle from entering; only very narrow carriages, drawn by hand, could pass.

Front Hall

The Front Hall (前殿, dzian den, lit. "front dais") sat on an elevated dais about two meters off the level grond. The term hall (殿, den), in its use to describe a building situated on a dais, was cognate with "buttocks" (臀, del) and "plateau" (𠂤, ter, especially man-made). The tradition of placing the main building in a complex atop a high, commanding area was an ancient one, attested almost universally in palaces found in Menghe. The requirement of a large courtyard before the main building, for performance of ceremonies and accommodate of assemblies, prohibited the use of a natural hill for this task; hence, the Front Hall was generally situated on an artificial plateau or plateau-like area.

Around the Front Hall was a set of walls that are mostly corridors rather than earthenwork. Traditionally, this is where palace guards would have rested and stood guard, but given Emperor Ngjuan's paranoia about being subject to further attack by Chikai forces, these terraced corridors were left empty or deferred to civil servants. Instead, the palace guards received vast barrack buildings not only to recuperate, but perform military exercises within the palace compound. The gate on the east was named the "Gate of Myriad Springs", and on the west the "Gate of Thousand Autumns", patently refrains to imperial longevity. The gate on the south, the main gate to the Front Hall, was called the "Gate of Rectitude". In combination with the South Captain Gate and the South Carriage-Stop Gate, this is the third gate before the main hall.

The Front Hall takes an elongated, rectangular shape narrower in the east-west axis than the north-south one. The main hall in this complex was the Tek-glang Hall, or "Hall of Illustrious Character". It measures 122 meters wide and 61 meters deep. The frontal breadth of the hall was supported by fifteen columns; the depth, nine columns. Not counting the overhang, the covered area of this hall is 7,224 m², largely similar in all dimensions with the ruins found in Gwrjiang'-'an in Menghe; these measurements implicitly support Emperor Ngjuan's desire to replicate his ancestors' palace in Themiclesia. This building was used for major ceremonies relating to the emperor. Directly north of the main hall was the Skwjan-stjit Hall, mainly used for banquets after proceedings at the main hall had ended. To the rear of Skwjan-stjit is 'wen-stjit Hall and the T'in-glakw Pagoda, which served as royal libraries.

Rear court

Behind the T'in glakw Pagoda and north of a wall that segregates the nested citadel into north and south halves is the Rear Court. This area is named thus because the proper orientation of the emperor, as held in traditional Menghean philosophy, was facing south, while his subjects faced north; from his position, the northern half of the palace was in the rear. The rear of the palace was less symmertrical that front, as it was meant as the personal quarters of the emperor and served mostly utilitarian functions, rather than political and symbolic ones. Slightly west of true north of the Front Hall lies the Gljing-mrjang Hall (承明殿), where the emperor lived.

Around the Gljing-mrjang Hall situated five other minor halls that were each enclosed within walls; these were the residences of the emperor's favoured concubines. Their names are Kwang-ghwra Hall (光華殿), T'jang-t'ais Hall (昌泰殿), Gwreng Hall (衡殿), Le-stjuns Hall (怡順殿), and Tsjiang-gljang Hall (清涼殿).

Dominating the eastern part of the Rear Court is the compound of the Tsjaw-pjang Hall (椒房殿), the seat of the empress. The Tsjaw-pjang Hall itself consists two buildings, in imitation of the Front Hall that the emperor uses; likewise, the empress holds court in the south hall of Tsjaw-pjang and resides in the rear hall. The south hall in this compound is the largest building in the entire Rear Court and reflects the status of the empress, held to be equal to that of the emperor. At the beginning of each month, civil servants also meet here to deliver gifts to the empress, like they do for the emperor. The name Tsjaw-pjang literally means "Zanthoxylum room", referring to the liberal inclusion of building materials soaked in Zanthoxylum oils to provide the entire premise with its aroma, an extreme luxury.

Aside from the residences of the royal family, a number of other facilites exist, mainly for servants and certain government officials. Traditionally, the inner sanctum of the palace is open to government ministers, royal secretaries, and regular attendants. Emperor Ngjuan, however, were suspicious of most of them and their ulterior motives at court; hence, he excluded their residences from his new palace. In their places, he employed a large number of eunuchs, such as the practice in Menghe but not as much in Themiclesia. The most privileged of the eunuchs enjoyed a residential area in the Rear Court.

Other grounds

In the northwest of the palace, a small section is walled off, called the Cloud-Reaching Pagoda (凌雲臺, Rjeng-gwjen-de). Originally, it had elaborate gardens about it with a wooden platform 15 or so meters off the ground as its centrepiece. Records show that this place was used for banquets, but there was also a barracks very close to it. Some believe it actually was purposed as an observation post when the palace was under attack or siege.

Maintenance and administration

The Mjeis-'jang Palace is currently not used, but it is considered the official residence of the Empress Dowager, who currently lives in the Kien-k'ang Palace with the Emperor, who is in his minority; when the latter comes of age, it is expected the Empress Dowager would take up residence in the Mjeis-'jang Palace. Since the 14th century, virtuall all empresses dowager have lived here, while the great empress dowager (the current emperor's legal grandmother and consort of the next-to-previous emperor) would live in the Drjang-glakw Palace, which is directly adjacent to the Mjeis-'jang Palace.

Despite the Empress Dowager's absence, officials have already been appointed to the palace. The Empress Dowager nominally has three counsels (太后三卿), who are the Marshal of the Guard (衛尉, gwrjais-'wjet), the Privy Treasurer (少府, stjawh-pja’), and the Grand Steward (太僕, t'ais-bok). All three have offices within palace grounds.

Timeline

• 550: construction beings
• 557: completed
• 802: Front Hall burns down
• 810: Front Hall rebuilt
• 892: Kaw-men Hall built
• 1012: Gljing-mjrang Hall rebuilt
• 1120: Gwreng Hall and Kwang-ghwra Hall collapse after high winds
• 1133: Gwreng Hall and Kwang-ghwra Hall rebuilt

See also

• Themiclesia
• Menghe