Legend of the Duanhong Bridge in Forbidden City

Duanhong Bridge, aka Broken Rainbow Bridge, is located outside Gate of Supreme Harmony (Taihemen) and to the east of Hall of Martial Valor (Wuyingdian) in Forbidden City. This north-south bridge is about 19 meters (21 yards) long and 9 meters (10 yards) at its widest point, which spans across the Inner Golden Water River. The floor of the bridge is paved with white marble stones. The stone balusters on both sides are carved with dragon patterns and on the top of these stone balusters are stone lions looking different and vivid. Delicate as the bridge is, it is more well-known for an allegorical saying, “Monkey on Duanhong Bridge - Covered with Cloth”, derived from a legend about the bridge.
   

Map of Duanhong Bridge

  According to some historical records, Duanhong Bridge was originally a royal bridge in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). It is said that there were three arch bridges, named as Rainbow Bridges at the beginning. Two of them were demolished in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) when building the Forbidden City. Thus the remaining one was called Broken Rainbow Bridge. If the records are true, Duanhong Bridge should be the oldest building inside the Forbidden City.
 In ancient China, there was an emperor who loved an imperial concubine from the western regions very much. This imperial concubine loved to baths. Then the emperor built a western style bath room inside the Hall of Martial Valor for her and gave her a jade ladle as a present. 

Gate of Supreme Harmony

 Later, something weird happened. When taking the bath, the concubine always saw a dark shadow outside the bath room. However, when she opened the window and had a look, there was nothing. She sent servants to check out and nothing was found, either. 
 One day, she came to bath again. A clear figure showed on the window suddenly. Seeing it, the imperial concubine was very scared and threw the jade ladle to hit it away. She then sent servants to exam around the bathroom very carefully. But still, nothing was found, even the jade ladle was missing. 
 After expanding the search area, the jade ladle was finally found in the hands of a stone monkey on Duanhong Bridge. It turned out to be that the stone monkey, who absorbed the essence of the sky and land after being exposed long enough, had turned into an immortal spirit, then peep the imperial concubine bathing naughtily. 
 However, the jade ladle couldn’t be taken off from the monkey’s hands no matter how hard they tried. The imperial concubine was afraid that the emperor would see it and punish her. Finally, she came up with an idea: Cover the stone monkey by a piece of cloth when the emperor passed through Duanhong Bridge.

From then on, ‘The Monkey of Duanhong Bridge Was Covered’ was spread, meaning something is hidden. 
 
It is said that one of stone lions was once really covered with cloth and this had something to do with a secret in the Forbidden City.
 Emperor Daoguang of Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) had high expectations for his eldest son named Yiwei, hoping that he could inherit the throne in the future. However, the higher expectation, the greater disappointment. Yiwei made no effort to seek progress, thus he was often criticized by his teacher. Yiwei was so upset and hated the teacher. One day, he had a quarrel with the teacher and shouted that ‘I will kill you if I become the emperor’. 

Hearing about this, Emperor Daoguang was very angry and gave Yiwei a firm kicking. Unexpectedly, Daoguang kicked the important part of Yiwei and Yiwei fell down immediately clutching his stomach. Emperor Daoguang was panic and ordered imperial doctors to rescue his son. However, Yiwei passed away a few days later, at the age of only 23. 
 Emperor Daoguang felt sorrowful and guilty about this. One day when he passed the Duanhong Bridge, he saw one of the stone lions very much like his son clutching the stomach. The stone lion made him feel even more miserable. After that, the stone lion was covered with cloth as long as the emperor Daoguang passed this bridge.
 This secret later spread outside of the royal palace from mouth to mouth. The stone lion became stone monkey by mistake because ordinary people are not allowed to enter the Forbidden City and couldn’t see what was really on the Duanhong Bridge.


Further Reading:
Legends of Crows in the Forbidden City