The Eastern Jin called the imperial court's restricted precincts the "Terrace," hence the name Taicheng, "Terrace City," for the imperial enclosure. With Wang Dao's assistance, Emperor Yuan of Jin established the ancestral temples and altars of state in Jiankang, using the eastern residence as Taicheng. It was exceedingly plain and cramped. Neither Emperor Yuan nor Emperor Ming altered its layout; expansion began only during Emperor Cheng's Xiankang era. There were three concentric palace walls. Within the outermost wall stood the ordinary palace offices and the garrison; within the second were the central government offices, with the court hall and Department of State Affairs to the east, and the Secretariat, the Secret Archives (the imperial library), and Yongfu Palace, where imperial princes lived, to the west. Only inside the third wall lay the actual imperial palace and inner grounds. The front was the court precinct, containing the main hall, Taiji Hall, alongside the East Hall and West Hall. Behind it was the residential precinct, with the emperor's Shiqian Hall, also called the Central Retreat, in front, and the empress's Xianyang Hall behind. Each formed its own palace courtyard, with wing halls on either side, creating a three-hall arrangement like that of Taiji Hall. Taiji Hall, Shiqian Hall, and Xianyang Hall, together with the hall gate south of Taiji Hall and the palace's main gate, formed the central axis of the entire palace. North of the residential precinct lay the inner garden, Hualin Garden-
The Secretariat's Western Secretariat and the Department of State Affairs' Secret Archives stood on opposite sides of the court hall. Following Wang Biaozhi, Pushe of the Department of State Affairs, Chen Caozhi passed from the Western Secretariat through a long corridor to the third palace gate. Palace Attendant Zhang Ping, whose courtesy name was Zhang Changzong, met them