Wanshou Palace, Palace-style historic building in Gusu District, Suzhou, China
Wanshou Palace is a Qing-dynasty palace-style complex at 98 Minzhi Road in Gusu District, Suzhou. Three historic structures survive: the palace gate, the ceremonial gate and the Wanshou Hall, a south-facing hall 21.6 m wide and 14.4 m deep with a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof on a stone platform. Newer side buildings now serve the Suzhou Senior University.
The site began as the residence of Southern Song general Yang Cunzhong, became the Dalin nunnery in the late Yuan, and was rebuilt in the Ming as Zhengjue Temple, also called Zhutang Temple. In 1717 Jiangsu governor Wu Cunli built Wanshou Palace on that foundation. Li Xiucheng's Taiping troops destroyed it in 1860; governor Ding Richang rebuilt it in 1870, and the city restored it in 1951.
The name Wanshou, "ten thousand longevity", refers to the emperor's birthday, the Wanshou Festival, when Suzhou's officials gathered here for grand ceremonies; on an emperor's death a mourning hall was set up instead. At other times the hall received imperial edicts. Since 1991 the halls have served the Suzhou Senior University, which marked the building's 300th anniversary in 2017.
Wanshou Palace stands at 98 Minzhi Road in the Gusu District, and its three surviving historic structures — the palace gate, the ceremonial gate and the Wanshou Hall — line up along a central axis, with newer annex buildings on either side. The site is occupied by the Suzhou Senior University, so the halls serve as classrooms and offices; visitors should keep this in mind and move quietly around teaching areas.
The three-storey stone-pillar archway with glazed tiles in front of the palace carries a plaque inscribed "People's Cultural Palace" in the calligraphy of Guo Moruo, added during the 1951 restoration. The palace marked its 300th anniversary in 2017.
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