In front of you is the entrance to Gōngwángfǔ, Prince Gong's Mansion. It is the best-preserved aristocratic residence in Beijing, but its story begins with a man who was no prince: Heshen.

1Qianlong's favourite

Heshen was a young Manchu guardsman when, around 1775, he caught the eye of the Qianlong Emperor. Within a few years he had piled up posts, titles and an immense fortune. His son married the emperor's favourite daughter, and in the 1780s a great residence was built here for the couple and for Heshen himself.

2The fall

Heshen's power would last only as long as his protector. Qianlong died in February 1799, and just days later his son, the Jiaqing Emperor, had the minister arrested, charged him with twenty crimes and ordered him to take his own life. His property was confiscated. A saying was born that people still repeat: “Heshen fell, and Jiaqing ate his fill.” The figures for his fortune that circulate, such as that it equalled fifteen years of state revenue, have no reliable basis.

In the mid-19th century the house passed to Prince Gong, brother of the Xianfeng Emperor, and took his name.

In a grotto in the garden stands a stele bearing the character 福, “happiness”, attributed to the Kangxi Emperor. Tradition says Heshen smuggled it out of the palace.

No document proves it, but thousands of visitors touch it every day to take away a little luck.

3What to look for

  • The boulder with the red characters 恭王府 on the square.
  • The grey roofs of the entrance pavilions, typical of a princely mansion.
  • The rockery grotto in the photo, which holds the “fu” stele.
The rockery of porous stones with a grotto in the garden of Prince Gong's Mansion
The grotto that holds the stele with the character “fu”.

Documented

The residence was built for Heshen and Princess Hexiao in the 1780s; Heshen was condemned in 1799 and the house passed to Prince Gong in the mid-19th century.

Oral tradition

That Heshen stole Kangxi's “fu” stele and hid it in his garden is a tradition with no documentary proof.

Sources and credits

Prince Gong's Mansion Museum, official information; Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), “Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period” (1943), entry on Heshen; Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage.

Photos:

  • The entrance square of Prince Gong's Mansion, with a boulder carved with red characters: Hermann Luyken, CC0.
  • The rockery of porous stones with a grotto in the garden of Prince Gong's Mansion: Temlsth, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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