Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang

China

N39 54 58.8 E116 23 27.2 ref: 439bis

Brief Description

In Shenyang, it has been inscribed as an extension of the Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties site inscribed in 1987. The property is now to be known as the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang. The Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty in Shenyang consists of 114 buildings, constructed between 1625-26 and 1783. It contains an important library and testifies to the foundation of the last dynasty that ruled China, before it expanded its power to the centre of the country and moved the capital to Beijing. This palace then became auxiliary to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. This remarkable architectural edifice offers important historical testimony to the history of the Qing Dynasty and to the cultural traditions of the Manchu and other tribes in the north of China.

Justification for Inscription

Criterion (i): The Imperial Palaces represent masterpieces in the development of imperial palace architecture in China.

Criterion (ii): The architecture of the Imperial Palace complexes, particularly in Shenyang, exhibits an important interchange of influences of traditional architecture and Chinese palace architecture particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Criterion (iii): The Imperial Palaces bear exceptional testimony to Chinese civilisation at the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, being true reserves of landscapes, architecture, furnishings and objects of art, as well as carrying exceptional evidence to the living traditions and the customs of Shamanism practised by the Manchu people for centuries.

Criterion (iv): The Imperial Palaces provide outstanding examples of the greatest palatial architectural ensembles in China. They illustrate the grandeur of the imperial institution from the Qing Dynasty to the earlier Ming and Yuan dynasties, as well as Manchu traditions, and present evidence on the evolution of this architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries.