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the Forbidden City in Beijing
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Covering an area of 720,000 square meters, the Forbidden City is surrounded by a 10-meter-high red wall and a 52-meter-wide moat. It is indeed a city within a city.
Forbidden City- the Largest and Best-Preserved Imperial Palace
Walk through the Tiananmen Gate and you will enter the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum. The Forbidden City represents a high level of ancient Chinese architecture. It enjoys a history of around 600 years. It was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third Ming emperor Yongle, who usurped the throne and determined to move his capital north from Nanjing to Beijing. Twenty-four emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties (1420-1911) lived and ruled China from there. It was the scene of many significant events in the course of Chinese history.
The Forbidden City is the grandest integral palace complex still remaining in China. This rectangular-shaped palace extends 753 meters from east to west, and 961 meters from north to south, containing 800 buildings and 9,000 rooms. As the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world, it has been listed by UNESCO, declared a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987. Now the Forbidden City is no longer forbidding, but inviting. A visit to the Palace Museum will enrich your knowledge of history, economy, politics, arts as well as architectures in ancient China. You can enjoy the feel of being a Chinese Emperor.
At each corner of the wall stands a watchtower with a double-eave roof covered with yellow glazed tiles.
The Forbidden City is rectangular-shaped and each of the four sides is pierced by a gate. All the man buildings, the six great halls, one following the other, are set facing south along the central north-south axis, which is also the tourist trap route of the Forbidden City. In those days, most of the compound, except the central tourist route through the main palaces, was off limits to tourists
The Palace area is divided into two parts: the Outer Court and the Inner Palace. The former consists of the first three main halls, where the emperor received his courtiers and conducted grand audiences and ceremonies, while the latter was the living quarters for the imperial residence. At the rear of the Inner Palace is the Imperial Garden where the emperor and his family sought recreation.
The largest stone carving in the palace
Three Great Halls of the Outer Court - the southern part of the Forbidden City
At the north end of the large courtyard is a three-tiered white marble terrace, seven meters above the ground, on which, one after another, stand three majestic halls: the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Complete Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.
The throne itself, the platform and the screen are all carved with dragon designs.
Hall of Supreme Harmony
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, rectangular in shape, 27 meters high, 2,300 square meters in area, is the grandest and most important hall in the Forbidden City. It is the largest wooden-structured palace existing in China.
This hall used to be the throne hall for ceremonies which marked great occasions: the Winter Solstice, the Spring Festival, the emperor's birthday and enthronement, and the dispatch of generals to battles, etc. On such occasions there would be an imperial guard of honor standing in front of the Hall that extended all the way to the Meridian gate- the main gate to the Forbidden City at the south end.
On the north face of the hall and in the center of four coiled-golden dragon columns is the "Golden Throne", which was carved out of sandalwood. The throne rests on a two-meter-high platform with a screen behind it. In front of it, to the left and right, stand ornamental cranes, incense burners and other ornaments.
Hall of Complete Harmony, Forbidden City.
Hall of Complete Harmony
The Hall of Complete Harmony is smaller and square with windows on all sides. The emperor would come to the hall to rest before he came to the Hall of Supreme Harmony for grand ceremonies, and meet his high officials, discussed domestic events and issued orders.
Hall of Preserving Harmony, Forbidden City.
Hall of Preserving Harmony
The Hall of Preserving Harmony was the place where banquets and imperial examinations were held.
Behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony lies a huge marble ramp with intertwining clouds and dragons carved in relief. The slab, about 6.5 meters long, 3 meters wide and 250 tons in weight, is placed between two flights of marble steps along which the emperor's sedan was carried up or down the terrace. It is the largest piece of stone carving in the Imperial Palace. Quarried in the mountains scores of kilometers southwest of Beijing, this gigantic stone was moved to the city by sliding it over a specially paved ice road in winter. To provide enough water to build the ice road, wells were sunk at very 500 meters along the way.
The Gate of Heavenly Purity leads to the Inner Court.
Three Great Halls of the Inner Palace - the northern part of the Forbidden City
The three halls of the Inner Palace are replicas of the three halls in the front, but a bit smaller in size. They are the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Palace of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.
Hanging on the wall in the center is a plaque bearing an inscription by Emperor Shunzhi saying "to be fair and open".
Palace of Heavenly Purity
The Palace of Heavenly Purity was once the residence of the 14 Ming emperors and the first two of the Qing emperors. However, even after Emperor Yongzheng moved his residence to the Palace of Mental Cultivation, which is located just to the west of this Palace, this Palace continued to be a place for the emperors to handle state affairs and receive foreign ambassadors. After the emperor's death his coffin was placed here for a few days of mourning. The last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi, was married in 1922 in this Palace.
Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Forbidden City.
Palace of Union
The Palace of Union was the empress's throne room and a place for the activities of the empresses, such as empress' birthday celebrations.
Palace of Earthly Tranquility
Palace of Earthly Tranquility was once a private living room for the empress. The west chamber served religious purposes and the east one was the bridal chamber where the newly married emperor and empress spent their first two nights after their wedding ceremony.
The Empress' Phoenix Crown and the Red Coral Lion Sculpture in the Museum of Jewelry and Treasures where rare pieces of imperial collections are on display
Six Palaces at the East and West wings
The six Western Palaces and the six Eastern ones were all residences for concubines. But now they serve as special museums: the Museum of Bronze, the Museum of Porcelain, the Museum of Traditional Chinese Paintings and the Museum of Arts and Crafts of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
One of the four pavilions in the Imperial Garden symbolizing the four seasons
Imperial Garden
The Imperial Garden was laid out during the early Ming dynasty. Hundreds of pines and cypresses offer shade while various flowers give colors to the garden all year round and fill the air with their fragrance.
In the northeastern corner of the garden is a rock hill, known as the Duixiu (accumulated refinement) Hill, which is topped with a pavilion. It is said that on the ninth night of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, the empress would climb up the hill to enjoy the autumn scene. It is also believed that climbing to a high place on that day would keep people safe from contagious diseases.
Shenwu Gate (Gate of Military Prowess)
You can exit the palace through the Shenwu Gate and continue on to Jing Hill where the last Ming Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide by hanging himself on a tree.
