Beijing - The Forbidden City
The Forbidden City Guardian Lion (Female) - Beijing
The Forbidden City Photo Gallery (Downloadable Pictures)
Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called
Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace for twenty-four
emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was first
built throughout 14 years during the reign of Emperor
Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Ancient Chinese
Astronomers believed that the Purple Star (Polaris) was in
the center of heaven and the Heavenly Emperor lived in the
Purple Palace. The Palace for the emperor on earth was so
called the Purple City. It was forbidden to enter without
special permission of the emperor. Hence its name 'The
Purple Forbidden City', usually 'The Forbidden City'.
Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of
Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's
largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by
a 52-meter-wide moat and a 10-meter-high wall are more than
8,700 rooms. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the
Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Divine Might
(Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. The distance between
these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between
the east and west gates is 750 meters. There are unique and
delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of
the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace
and the city outside.
The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern
section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised
his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or
the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family.
Until 1924 when the last emperor of China was driven from
the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming dynasty and
ten emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here. Having
been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses
numerous rare treasures and curiosities. Listed by UNESCO as
a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is
now one of the most popular tourist attractions world-wide.
Construction of the palace complex began in 1407, the 5th
year of the Yongle reign of the third emperor (Emperor
Chengzu, Zhu Di) of the Ming dynasty. It was completed
fourteen years later in 1420, and then the capital city was
moved from Nanjing to Beijing the next year. It was said
that a million workers including one hundred thousand
artisans were driven into the long-term hard labor. Stone
needed was quarried from Fangshan, a suburb of Beijing. It
was said a well was dug every fifty meters along the road in
order to pour water onto the road in winter to slide huge
stones on ice into the city. Huge amounts of timber and
other materials were freighted from faraway provinces.
Ancient Chinese people displayed their very considerable
skills in building the Forbidden City. Take the grand red
city wall for example. It has an 8.6 meters wide base
reducing to 6.66 meters wide at the top. The angular shape
of the wall totally frustrates attempts to climb it. The
bricks were made from white lime and glutinous rice while
the cement is made from glutinous rice and egg whites. These
incredible materials make the wall extraordinarily strong.
Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the
dominant color in the Forbidden City. Roofs are built with
yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted
yellow; even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a
special process. However, there is one exception. Wenyuange,
the royal library, has a black roof. The reason is that it
was believed black represented water then and could
extinguish fire.
Nowadays, the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum is open
to tourists from home and abroad. Splendid painted
decoration on these royal architectural wonders, the grand
and deluxe halls, with their surprisingly magnificent
treasures will certainly satisfy 'modern civilians'.
(TravelChinaGuide.com)
Interesting Websites on the Forbidden City:
Kinabaloo: The Forbidden City (Many
pictures and corresponding information)
Kiku: Virtual Tour (Quicktime panaramic
view with map of Forbidden City)
