The Palace of Prince Shi of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

　　The Palace of Prince Shi of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, located at No. 52-3 Jiufang Lane, Guli, east of Jinhua City, is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit. Constructed in 1861 after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s Prince Shi, Li Shixian, captured Jinhua, it is the most well-preserved, largest in scale, and richest in murals and other artworks among all existing Taiping Heavenly Kingdom architectural sites nationwide.

　　Prince Shi Li Shixian, a key military leader in the later period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, captured Jinhua in 1861 and established the Zhejiang base of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with Jinhua as its center. The Palace of Prince Shi served as the command center of the Taiping forces in Zhejiang at that time. The entire palace complex consists of four parts: ceremonial halls, residential quarters, gardens, and logistical facilities, adjacent to a vast training ground, covering a total area of over 63,000 square meters. The current preserved built-up area exceeds 3,000 square meters and is divided into eastern and western courtyards. The eastern courtyard is dominated by the main hall. In front of the hall stands the only remaining screen wall from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom era. The main hall was once the council chamber where Taiping leaders held meetings, with its walls and beams adorned with various murals and painted decorations, all of which are magnificent and grand.

　　In 1939, during a critical moment of the Anti-Japanese War, Premier [Zhou Enlai] delivered an important wartime speech here. The western courtyard primarily consists of residential buildings, arranged in four sections. Between the first and second sections lies a long corridor forming a “工” (work) shape, similar to how the main hall and the second hall in the eastern courtyard are connected by a passageway to form the same shape — a distinctive feature of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom palace architecture. The walls and beams of these four sections are covered in murals and painted artworks, especially notable for “The Woodcutter Removing a Thorn,” “Fishing in the Four Seasons,” and “Watchtower Barracks.” Two ancient cypresses in front of the Cold-Enduring Pavilion, standing several zhang tall and believed to have been planted personally by Qian Liu, King of Wuyue during the Five Dynasties period, have survived over 1,100 years. Though leaning, their trunks remain upright and their branches reach toward the sky, thus earning the title “living cultural relics.” The Palace of Prince Shi is an artistic treasure trove of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, boasting the largest collection of murals and painted artworks in the country—more than the combined total preserved at all other Taiping-related sites nationwide. These artworks not only hold significant artistic value but also serve as precious historical materials for studying the revolutionary history of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

　　The total area of the Palace of Prince Shi is approximately 24,000 square meters, divided into eastern and western courtyards. The eastern courtyard preserves structures such as the screen wall, main hall, rear hall, and Cold-Enduring Pavilion. The screen wall was built by Taiping troops, standing about 6 meters high and 17 meters wide, decorated with stone and brick carvings of dragons and phoenixes. The other buildings were repurposed from an old examination hall, featuring official-style architecture with hard mountain roofs and brick-and-wood structures. The main hall, also called the Council Hall, has five bays in width and 11 rafters in depth, serving as the site where Li Shixian held important military meetings. The western courtyard is a residential area built on the former site of a garrison command, consisting of four sections. The first section is the entrance hall, connected by a long corridor; the second section's main hall was Li Shixian’s administrative office, flanked by gardens; the third section contains five single-story rooms; the fourth section includes nine single-story rooms, serving as the residence of Prince Shi and his subordinates. The walls and beams of these four sections are richly decorated with paintings and murals, particularly the main hall, which has 68 murals and over 270 painted panels on the beams. The subjects depicted are diverse, including regulated themes of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom such as dragons, lions, and elephants; military life scenes like barracks and watchtowers; and popular folk motifs such as fishing, woodcutting, farming, and studying. The open area southwest of the western courtyard’s entrance hall was the training ground in those days. The earthen mound north of the fourth section marks the site of the watchtower.