Is the dragon drop unique to the Forbidden City?

According to the statistics of experts in the Forbidden City, there are 2632 dragon patterns on the roof, eaves and dripping water of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. 5,732 dragon patterns on eaves and painted doors and windows, 4,037 dragon patterns on eaves and ceilings of the main hall, golden pillars, algae wells and thrones in the main hall. The wooden pillar in the hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is called Golden Pillar, with a height of12.7m and a diameter of1.06m.. The pillar is decorated with a golden dragon coiled around it, which is very spectacular. The algae well at the top of the temple is equipped with a "Xuanyuan mirror" with a dragon ball hanging on it. The ceiling consists of countless squares, and each square is painted with "two dragons playing with beads". This alone drew more than 3000 dragons. According to incomplete statistics, there are as many as 13844 dragons in various forms, such as dragon patterns and dragon carvings inside and outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The decorative layout of this "pilgrimage to a thousand dragons" constitutes a dignified and mysterious atmosphere in order to obtain the effect of deifying power and intimidating subjects.

There are three existing Nine Dragon Walls in China, namely the Forbidden City Nine Dragon Wall, Beihai Nine Dragon Wall and Datong Nine Dragon Wall. The Nine Dragon Wall of the Forbidden City is one of the most exquisite. The glazed Nine Dragon Wall in front of the Forbidden City is gorgeous in color and rigorous in composition, which is amazing. There are dragons, ascending dragons and descending dragons in shape, and each dragon is rolling freely with different expressions. In order to highlight the image of the dragon, craftsmen use relief technology for modeling and firing, which is full of three-dimensional sense; And the use of bright yellow, blue, white, purple and other colors, making the carving of the Nine Dragons Wall extremely beautiful and colorful. Experts believe that the reason why the Nine Dragons Wall of the Forbidden City looks lifelike is that craftsmen adopt the principle of color compensation when mixing colors.

Not many people know the legend of Ma Dechun's grafting to repair the Nine Dragon Wall. It was in A.D. 1773, and Emperor Qianlong decided to build a "painted glazed screen wall" in front of the palace, commonly known as the Kowloon Wall, to show his royal majesty. Jiulong wall is made of 270 colored glazed tiles. At that time, due to the underdevelopment of science, it took dozens or more pieces of waste products as the price of choice to burn a glass product, not to mention that these works were made for Emperor Qianlong. Jiulongbi was fired by the official kiln "Xitonghe Kiln" in Qing Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the royal gardens were built on a large scale, and the glass kiln in the "Glass Bureau" village in Mentougou was changed to a private official supervisor while expanding its production scale. The kiln owner who undertakes the kiln is Zhao, a family who burns colored glasses. His ancestral home is in Shanxi. During the reign of Tongzhi and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, Sun Zhao, the first16th generation of Zhao family, presided over kiln affairs, and was also named as the "five-grade imperial court". The Zhao family became a "imperial merchant" who burned colored glasses for the court.

Ma Dechun is very experienced in firing colored glazed tiles. He and the craftsmen burned for forty-nine days and finally succeeded. On the day of installation, people came and went in front of the palace. Suddenly a clear and crisp noise came, which startled Ma Dechun. A small craftsman stayed there, staring at a broken glazed tile. Ma Dechun knew he was in big trouble. He pieced together the broken tiles carefully and said to the craftsmen around him, "You can't tell anyone about this. Anyone who confides a word will be killed! " It's too late for Ma Dechun to re-fire glazed tiles. He will take the risk of trying to remedy it to deceive the monarch! Seeing that the construction period is coming in a few days, he put his heart on the line and waited for death to try his luck.

The news of the completion of the Nine Dragon Wall reached the emperor in time. The next day, Qianlong took several ministers to see it. As soon as he entered Xiqingmen, he suddenly saw the majestic Kowloon Wall. Take a closer look, these nine dragons are lifelike, just like real ones. Emperor Qianlong felt brilliant and could not help admiring. He walked to the front of the wall and carefully appreciated the dragons on each glazed tile, one by one from east to west. Mad, who followed the crowd, almost choked, sweating on his head and his legs were weak. After reading it back and forth for three times, Gan Long really liked it from the bottom of his heart. He repeatedly praised Ma Dechun's superb craftsmanship and gave him five hundred and twenty pieces of silver. Off the emperor Qianlong, Ma Dechun that hanging heart also put down. If you want to ask Ma Dechun why he is worried, it is because he skillfully replaced the Nine Dragon Wall with flowers.

In order to make up for a glazed tile broken by a small craftsman, Ma Dechun made great efforts. It took him two days and two nights to carve a dragon out of a piece of nanmu. On the first day, Ganlong took his ministers to watch it and hastily installed it!