This gate is the entry to Prince Kung's garden. The main buildings of his palace are built in front of the garden. The entire estate is surrounded by a sturdy, high wall.
There is a large building behind the spot where I stood to take this picture with more buildings in front of that one.
The woman with the yellow flag is leading a tour group through the garden. Each tour group seemed to have a different colored flag.
We arrived early and I took this shot on the way out just as the tour groups were pouring in.
In My Splendid Concubine, Robert Hart meets Prince Kung for the first time during a brief and bitter interview in Shanghai, the first summer after Robert arrived in China (chapter ten, page 118).
In Our Hart, the sequel to My Splendid Concubine, Prince Kung will give Robert Hart gifts (several carp better known as koi) from the Bat Pond in his Palace to put in a similar pond where Hart lives.
To keep birds of prey from taking the carp (koi), the elm trees were planted and trained to grow and cover the pond.
You may have heard of Koi because of Japan. However, Chinese history mentions koi as far back as 2,500 years--way before Koi appeared in Japan.
Robert Hart did not live far from Prince Kung's palace. From what we were told by the rickshaw man, Hart lived in the same Hutong.
