The Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin Dian) once served as a workshop which manufactured myriad articles for the imperial family. Emperor Yongzheng, the third successor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), moved to the hall and made it his residence. Subsequently, seven emperors lived in the hall and handled their routine work there. It has a separate courtyard with a gate as its entrance and stands to the southwest of the Hall of Heavenly Purity.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation includes a front hall, a rear hall and side rooms. In the front hall, a room in the center served as the emperor's office with a throne and other furnishings. The east chambers were where Cixi, the Dowager Empress, attended to state affairs from behind a curtain for forty-eight years. The west part of the hall was divided into several chambers, where the emperor read documents, conducted private discussions with his ministers and worshipped the Buddha respectively. One of these rooms is a study where Emperor Qianlong placed three rare calligraphy treasures written by different celebrated masters. The rear hall has five rooms which were the bedrooms of the reigning emperor. The empress lived in the east side rooms and the high-ranked concubines lived in the west side rooms.

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