Hall of Mental Cultivation

I am the Hall of Mental Cultivation, a building in the inner courtyard of the Forbidden City, west of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Built in 1537 during the Ming dynasty, I served as the bedchamber of the Wanli Emperor. In the Qing dynasty, I witnessed the death of the Shunzhi Emperor, and during the Kangxi reign, I became an imperial workshop for crafting objects like clocks. From the Yongzheng Emperor onward, I was the emperor's winter residence and political hub. The Qianlong Emperor established the Hall of Three Rarities in my Western Warmth Chamber, housing calligraphy by Wang Xizhi, Wang Xianzhi, and Wang Xun. During the Tongzhi reign, the two empress dowagers ruled from behind a screen in my Eastern Warmth Chamber. In 1912, the Empress Dowager Longyu issued the abdication edict here, ending the Qing dynasty. I closed for restoration in 2015 and reopened in 2025. I have housed eight emperors and witnessed the rise and fall of an empire.