palace / temple / castration (as corporal punishment) / first note in pentatonic scale
状元
zhuàng yuán
top scorer in the palace examination (highest rank of the Imperial examination system) / see 榜眼[bang3 yan3] and 探花[tan4 hua1] / top scorer in college entrance examination 高考[gao1 kao3] / (fig.) the most brilliantly talented person in the field / leading light
to come first in triennial palace examinations (idiom, refers to the carved stone turtle head in front of the imperial palace, next to which the most successful candidate in the imperial examinations was entitled to stand) / to be the champion / to be the very best in any field
James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin (1811-1863), British High Commissioner to China who ordered the looting and destruction of the Old Winter Palace Yuanmingyuan 圓明園|圆明园 / in 1860 / Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841), who stole the Parthenon Marbles in 1801-1810
ink stone or ink slab made from an antique palace tile
甲申政变
Jiǎ shēn zhèng biàn
unsuccessful and bloody Korean palace coup in 1884 by Westernisers against conservatives, crushed by Qing troops
紫微宫
zǐ wēi gōng
palace of Jade emperor (in Taoism)
诣阙
yì quē
to go to the palace to see the emperor
诺塞斯
nuò sāi sī
Knossos (Minoan palace at Iraklion, Crete)
邸报
dǐ bào
imperial bulletin, palace report dating back to Han dynasty
额尔金
E2 ěr jīn
James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin (1811-1863), British High Commissioner to China who ordered the looting and destruction of the Old Winter Palace Yuanmingyuan 圓明園|圆明园 / in 1860 / Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841), who stole the Parthenon Marbles in 1801-1810
Mukden Palace, aka Shenyang Imperial Palace, the main imperial palace during the early years of the Qing dynasty (1625-1644), a secondary palace in subsequent years, now a museum
White Tiger Hall, a Han dynasty palace hall in which the famous Virtuous Discussions Held in White Tiger Hall 白虎通德論|白虎通德论 / were held under the aegis of Han Emperor Zhang 漢章帝|汉章帝
Qilin Pavilion, located in the Weiyang Palace, a hall decorated with portraits of famous officials
三元
sān yuán
(old) first place in civil service examinations at three levels: provincial 解元[jie4 yuan2], metropolitan 會元|会元[hui4 yuan2] and palace 狀元|状元[zhuang4 yuan2]
连中三元
lián zhòng sān yuán
(old) to rank first in the imperial examinations at the provincial capital, the national capital and the palace successively / (sports etc) to achieve three successes in a row (three matches in a row, three goals in a match etc)
gōng