The Study of the Cultivation of Nature - Yang Xing Zhai was constructed during the founding of the Imperial Palace in the Ming Dynasty.
It is a two storied structure in the classical Ming Dynasty Style : red, with golden lining and with colorful ceramic decorations.
The Study of the Cultivation of the mind is located in the South-Western Section of the Palace Garden and stands adjacent and overshadowing the south-western gate into the Western Long Corridor, the passage to the Inner Courts' Western Palaces.
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The Study of the Cultivation of Nature was a favorite Palace of the JiaJing and DaoGuang Emperors of the Ching Dynasty, who often came here to rest or seek some privacy and quiet to read a book.
View of the Study of the Cultivation of Nature inside the Palace Garden.
The Upper Floor of the Wooden Structure viewed over Rockeries of the Imperial Garden.
The closed off entrance and white marble stairs leading into the Study of the Cultivation of the Mind.
Surrounding rockeries of the Palace Garden and the Study o/t Cultivation of Nature building.
Pathway to the Western Palaces of the Inner Court leading from the Garden past the Yang Xing Zhai Study.
The Front of the Study of the Cultivation of the Mind with it's rockeries.The Rockeries make this Garden Pavilion an especially private place and the 2nd floor gives a good overview of the Garden.
One of the last to make use of the Study was the now famous Tutor to the Dragon Emperor, Sir Reginald Flemming Johnston.
As vividly depicted in the masterpiece Film "The Last Emperor" and described in his book "Twilight in the Forbidden City", it was in this Palace that Johnston taught his English Lessons to China's abdicated Last Emperor, the boy Pu Yi (Emperor Xuan Tong).
During his assignment as the Tutor to the secluded last Ching Emperor Sir Reginald Flemming Johnston was the only westerner allowed inside the Palace, leaving him a unique witness to this period in China's History. He left a unique account of the Court & Life in his Book "Twilight in the Forbidden City".
