News Article

Tucked behind the massive walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the onetime seat of China’s emperors, is Juanqinzhai, the Studio of Exhaustion from Diligent Service. A jewel among the many yellow-tile roofed buildings that comprise the royal precinct (now known as the Palace Museum), this intimate, exquisitely designed two-story structure was built for the Qianlong emperor (reigned 1736–95) and completed in 1776. It is situated within the Qianlong Garden, a meandering complex of pavilions, halls, courtyards, ancient trees, rockeries (false mountains) and grottoes in the northeastern section of the precinct that the emperor designed for his retirement.