4 Plaques with 3 Languages in the Forbidden City

In the Forbidden City, they are many plaques under the eaves of palaces and gates. These plaques are mostly inscribed with Chinese only, or with both Manchu and Chinese. However, there are 4 plaques inscribed with 3 languages of Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese in the Forbidden City. They are hanging in the main hall of the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility (Cininggong) and three gates of this palace: Gate of Compassion and Tranquility, left Gate of Huiyin and right Gate of Huiyin.
 

The four plaques in the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility with Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese were kept because the mother of emperor Shunzhi, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang once lived here and she was Mongolian. The plaques with Mongolian was specially designed and kept for her.
 

In the Ming Dynasty, the owners of the Forbidden City were Han Chinese, so the language on the plaques were Chinese.
 

After the Ming Dynasty fell off and rulers of the new Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) moved into the Forbidden City, the plaques in Chinese were replaced by those inscribed with Manchu, Mongolian and Chinese. This was because Manchu was the official language of the new rulers; and before Nurhachi, the founder of the Qing Dynasty created Manchu writings, the Manchu people used Mongolian writings; Chinese was kept because most people of the country used it.

The middle of the plaque is Manchu, the left is Mongolian, and the right is Chinese characters in seal style. The reason why seal character was used may be that the Manchu people at that time, especially the royal family, did not had a deep understanding of Chinses characters. They thought that the best Chinese character style corresponding to Manchu and Mongolian writings was the neat seal characters with flexibility in length.
 

In 1657, Emperor Shunzhi issued a decree to cancel the Mongolian on the plaques of the Forbidden City. Since after only Manchu and Chinese were used, with Manchu in the right and Chinese in the left. The four plaques of the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility became the only remaining plaques of the early Qing Dynasty style.
 

Some plaques only inscribed with Chinese appeared again after subversion of the Qing Dynasty. The outer court of the Forbidden City which symbolized the state power was took over by the government of the Republic of China after Emperor Puyi abdicated. Then the plaques in these areas were inscribed with only Chinese characters instead of Manchu and Chinese to indicate the change of state ruler. Later, the previous Qing royal families were driven out of the inner court of the Forbidden City. In 1925, Palace Museum was established and the original plaques with Chinese in the outer court of the Forbidden City and those with Manchu and Chinese in the inner court were preserved.