Office at the center of ancient power

: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, May 22, 2014

Located in the center of downtown Baoding, the office is a key cultural relic site under State protection. As the nation's only well-preserved provincial government office building of the Qing Dynasty, it has 105 rooms with the distinct features of a northern government office. Built in the Yuan Dynasty (1368-1644), Zhili Provincial Governor's Office served as a government office throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties and the early years of the Republic of China. In the eighth year of the rein of Emperor Yongzheng (1730), it became the office of the governor of Zhili (Hebei Province), the highest-ranking local official whose jurisdiction covered today's Hebei province, Beijing and Tianjin municipalities and parts of Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, Inner Mongolia and Liaoning. As a south-facing compound, the office's gate, middle gate, main halls, side halls, official residence and main rooms are built on a central axis. [China.org.cn]