Pavilion of Pleasant Sounds (Changyin Ge)

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Under the reign of Emperor Shunzhi, Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng, the Qing dynasty enjoyed political stability and economic prosperity for a quite longtime. The ruling class gradually got relaxed in military practice and pursued more luxurious life. Emperor Qianlong loved music and opera. He introduced the opera into the Qing court.A poem says that Emperor Qianlong always buried himself in hard work. If he had a rare spare time, he would compose music to play with Xiao(a traditional Chinese musical instrument).

However, it is hard to believe that the Emperor worked so hard without leisure.

Many theatres were built in the Forbidden City to meet his love for operas. The five remaining are the Pavilion of Pleasant Sounds, the Lodge of Retirement, two theatres in the Lodge of Fresh Fragrance and one in the Palace of Eternal Spring. The Pavilion of Pleasant Sound is the largest one. It was built in 1772 with three floors, the Floor of Happiness, the Floor of Prosperity and the Floor of Longevit connected with a removable ceiling in the centre. When playing gods or immortals, the actors could fly down from the ceiling. Five vats were buried down the four corners and the center of the Pavilion to achieve good sound effect. Opposite to the Pavilion is the Hall for Viewing Opera where sat the Emperor and Empress. Shengping Department was in charge of the performance in the court. Sometimes, famous actors were invited to play in the court. When celebrating the birthdays of the Emperor or the Empress, the performance would go on for several days. Some of the concert programmes were kept in the collection of the Palace Museum. Empress Dowager Ci Xi was an expert of operas. She was able to point out the mistakes of the actors It was said that once, when Sun Yiyun,a famous actor, was singing “the goat was eaten by the tiger unable to come back”he was driven out of the stage before finishing the sentence as the Empress Dowager was born in the year of Goat. Later, the wording of it was changed into “the fish was caught in the net unable to come back”. The love of the Empress Dowager on operas promoted the development of the Peking Opera. In 1922 when the Last Emperor Puyi got married,30,000 liang of silve was spent on the opera in the Lodge of Fresh Fragrance which lasted for three days.

The imperial family had great fun in viewing the opera but not the courtiers incompany. The courtiers who had the honor to accompany the emperor in viewing the operas were put in the corridors on the tw