The Qing Dynasty emperors did not take their meals in just one place. Often they ate where they lived, worked, or played. Banquets, feasts and dinners were given in Taihe Hall (the Hall of Supreme Harmony), Baohe Hall (the Hall of Preserving Harmony), Qianqing Palace (the Palace of Heavenly Purity), and the Ziguang (Purple Light) Pavilion in the Western Garden (the South and Central Lakes, where the headquarters of the Chinese government is located today).
The emperors took their daily meals in Yangxin Hall (the Hall of Mental Cultivation), Chonghua Palace (the Hall of Double Glory), or the Imperial Library. These details are clearly recorded in the archived imperial diets of the Qing Palace General Office of Internal Affairs. The following was recorded about Emperor Qianlong. ¡°At about 7 a.m. on the 30th day of the ninth month in the 12th year of Qianlong's Reign, His Majesty (Emperor Qianlong) took his breakfast in the Hongde Hall (the Hall of Grand Virtue).¡± And, ¡°at about 2 p.m. on the first day of the 10th month, His Majesty took his late meal in the eastern heated room of Chonghua Hall.¡± On the same day, ¡°His Majesty asked for a dinner of 15 courses with wine, wild game, and fowl to be served on red porcelain plates in Yangxin Hall.¡± He selected three different places for his meals in just two days.

The Qing Dynasty emperors ate two formal meals a day: breakfast after 6 a.m. and the second meal after 12 or 2 p.m. Besides the two formal meals, there was c cocktail and snacks, usually after 4 p.m., the exact time and menu as ordered by the emperor.

At meal time the emperor ordered his bodyguard to summon the meal. The senior or junior officials in the imperial kitchen immediately ordered the eunuchs to set the table in the hall where the emperor wanted the meal served. The eunuchs then brought the dishes prepared according to the menu the emperor had ordered and placed them on the table according to the strict rules.

The emperors were always afraid of being murdered and did not trust even their closest attendants or bodyguards, much less the officials and eunuchs in charge of the imperial meals. Therefore, when the dishes were put on the table, the emperors did not immediately eat. First they took a small silver plate and inserted it several times into each dish. It was believed that if poison were present, the silver plate would change color.

Even when the silver test was negative, the emperors still had fears so they asked the waiting eunuch to taste all the dishes. If there were poison, the eunuch would get poisoned, not they. It was thus evident that the emperors, once they were enthroned, regarded everyone as their enemy and isolated themselves totally.

On those days when officials wanted to present memorials or be called in, they each submitted a plate at the emperor's meal time. Princes, dukes and members of the Royal Family used red plates. Civil officials above the rank of Deputy Chief of the Court of Censors and military officers above the rank of Provincial Military Governor used green plates. Civil officials from outside the capital above the rank of Chief Prosecutor of the Provincial High Court and military officers above the rank of Area Commander used common plates.

The Memorials Office officials gave the plates to the emperor to decide whether the memorials would be presented and who would be called in. Because the plates were submitted at the emperor's meal time, the plates for calling in the officials were called ¡°meal plates.¡±

Profound philosophical thought and a thorough base of knowledge went into the emperors' diets during the Qing Dynasty. According to the ancient Chinese classic, The National Language ¨C The Language of the Zheng State, dishes should not be of a single ingredient or several monotonous ingredients, but should be diverse. The diversification should not be s simple mixture, but a reasonable blending. The precise term for this reasonable blending was ¡°harmony,¡± which meant scientific coordination.

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. Tea and Its Healthy Effects . Tea Drinking in the Palace . Hot Pot Dishes in the Palace . Western Kitchen, Cixi Private Kitchen . Characteristics of Imperial Meals . Meals for Emperors . Imperial Food in the Qing Dynasty . Imperial Food in the Ming Dynasty . The History of Chinese Imperial Food . Alternative Imperial Cuisine

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