The Forbidden City is known as one of the largest architectural structures in China. The palaces on the eastern and western sides are symmetrical with an axis stretching from the Bell Tower and Drum Tower in the north to Yongding Gate in the south.
Today, it serves as a symbol of the time-honored Chinese history and shows the marvelous achievements the ancient Chinese have made in architecture. Today, there are various comprehensive art galleries in the Forbidden City, displaying art pieces such as paintings, porcelains, bronze vessels, handicrafts of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, inscriptions, toys, the four treasures of the study, clocks and calligraphic works, altogether 1,, pieces of rare and precious pieces.
Thus, it is hailed as a museum housing the largest amount of cultural relics. As the largest architectural ensemble with the largest amount of cultural relics that are unparalleled. It is said to be a world-renowned imperial architecture complex characterized by a structured layout and exquisite adornments.
The cultural relics in the Forbidden City are displayed in two themes, the palace theme and the art theme. There are 51 authentic displays shown in over 10 exhibition halls there. Over one hundred exhibitions have been hosted, and for over then times, they have made their way into Europe, Asia, America, Oceania and Africa. All these exhibitions help promote the splendid ancient Chinese civilization and facilitate the cultural exchanges between China and other countries in the world.
As the largest ancient imperial architectural structure in China, it was inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage Site List in Today, it has a history of over years.
Its status as the supreme court lasts for years. Located at the heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City just reposes on the axis of Beijing that stretches 8 kilometers.
The structures in the eastern and western sides are asymmetrical with an axis that overlaps with that of Beijing. The Zhongshan Park on the right front used to be alters where emperors offered sacrifices to the god of land and the god of grains. There was once a government office in the front and a trade market at the back. The Forbidden City has an area of over , meters squared, meters in length and meters in width. Today, there are over 8, rooms, surrounded by a meter-high city wall, outside of which is a meter-wide moat.
It consists of interior and exterior regions. If you climb up to the top of "Scenery Hill" in Jingshan Park and overlook the Forbidden City, you will see an expanse of yellow glazed tile roofs. There is a row of mystical animal statuettes placed along the ridge line of halls that were only for official use. The animals, like dragons , phoenixes, and lions, have powerful meanings in Chinese culture.
The number of animals is different based on the importance of the buildings. You can see 10 animals on the Hall of Supreme Harmony , the most important structure in the Forbidden City, and seven on the Palace of Earthly Tranquility , the residence of the Empress. In Chinese culture, the lion is the king of the animals, and is regarded as a symbol of power and strength. Stone and bronze lions are popular as symbolic guardians , and can be seen beside the gates of many Forbidden City palace compounds.
The lions are always in pairs, with the female lion on the left and the male on the right. The Palace Museum holds more than a million rare and valuable works of art , a sixth of the total number of cultural relics in China. The collection includes ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, timepieces, jade pieces, ancient books, and historical documents. The main exhibitions are:. The Forbidden City is now years old , counting from when the Forbidden City was completely constructed.
The Forbidden City used to be the residence of emperors. After the last emperor of China left the palace in , it became a museum open to the public.
Now it is the most popular tourist attraction in Beijing not counting the Great Wall. Legend has it that Emperor Yongle, who built the Forbidden City originally planned 10, rooms to be built. However, the night before issuing the order, he dreamed the God of Heaven was very angry and told him that the number of rooms he had planned for the Forbidden City was the same as the number of palaces in Heaven, i.
Therefore, the Forbidden City was built with half a room less than planned. The half room is a small room on the west side of the first floor of Wenyuan Pavilion. In ancient Chinese architecture , one room refers to a square space among four pillars in a hall. By the latest count in , there are 8, rooms in the Forbidden City. The Last Emperor was the first feature film permitted to be filmed on a large scale inside the Forbidden City. After this film, in order to protect its cultural relics, the Forbidden City no longer allows filming.
The 'Cold Palace' is not a name for a particular palace in the Forbidden City. Concubines or princes who made mistakes and lost the favor were placed in remote and discarded palaces in the Forbidden City. These palaces were called 'Cold Palaces'. The Forbidden City was where 24 emperors lived and worked. The Forbidden City is a must-see attraction for visitors to Beijing. Visitors are limited to 80, a day. It is advisable to book well in advance.
China Highlights uses cookies to give you the best possible service. If you continue browsing, you agree to the use of cookies. More details can be found in our privacy policy. Home Travel Guide. Forbidden City. An aerial view of the Forbidden City. Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Palace Museum. Meridian Gate Wu Men. Palace of Earthly Tranquility Kunning Gong. Palace of Union and Peace Jiaotai Dian. Hall of Supreme Harmony Taihe Hall. History of the Forbidden City - to the Present. Defensive Wall of the Forbidden City. Meridian Gate. Forbidden City plan view: click to enlarge. The ancient Chinese viewed yellow as the color of earth, producer of all life, which they considered to be the single-most critical element. Thus, yellow was held in particular esteem and was reserved for the exclusive use of the emperor.
Its prominence in the Forbidden City was meant to illustrate that the emperor, as the son of heaven, had a special connection with the earth that legitimized his rule. In fact, Ming law stipulated that yellow could only be used for Imperial palaces, tombs, and temples, and it became a custom for emperors to wear yellow robes with an embroidered dragon.
Yellow glaze roof tiles, much favored by the Ming Dynasty, feature prominently on great halls and buildings throughout the Forbidden City, and serve as an indication that the emperor would have had business within the structures. Smaller buildings that served more utilitarian purposes were often marked with gray roof tiles. There is one exception to the choice of yellow for Imperial roofing.
The auspicious color red, which the Chinese associate with power, happiness, wealth, and honor, is ubiquitous in the Forbidden City. High walls were washed with red clay from Shandong Province, which was also used to fix roofing tiles in place, and red can be seen prominently on gates, doors, window frames, exterior timbers, and interior columns.
Gold leaf from Suzhou was often applied for finer decorations on pillars and gables. Yang was seen to represent the front and odd numbers among other things , which explains why the builders chose to erect an odd number, three, of great halls—the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Military Eminence, and the Hall of Literary Brilliance—at the front of the compound.
Yin, by contrast, signified the back and even numbers, so there was originally an even number of buildings—the Palace of Heavenly Purity and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility—in the rear. Nine appears repeatedly elsewhere. The watchtowers each had nine roof beams, eighteen pillars, and seventy-two ridgepoles. Visitors will also notice that the gates in the Forbidden City are decorated with studs that held deeper meaning beyond their decorative value. Any gate that would be used by the emperor would be painted bright red and inlaid with nine rows of nine golden studs.
Princely gates would have gold studs on red, but they were limited to forty-nine in seven rows of seven. Lesser officials would have green or black gates, depending on rank, and could have twenty-five bronze or iron studs in five rows of five. Another striking element of the Forbidden City is the rows of decorative roof ridge statuettes of mythical creatures used to indicate the importance of the person found within, nine representing that pinnacle.
These always appeared in odd numbers—China had a strict patriarchal system, and yang represented both males and odd numbers—and appeared in a specific order. A building used by the emperor, for example, would have all nine statuettes, each of which embodied a particular virtue or protected the compound.
The immortal riding a phoenix represented turning bad luck into good, the dragon was a symbol of Imperial authority, the phoenix signified virtue, the lion showed bravery and warded off evil spirits, the Pegasus demonstrated strength, the sea horse brought good fortune, the second lion controlled the rain and prevented disasters, the fish summoned the wind and storms, the goat-bull stood for bravery and power, and the bull was a second line of defense against evil omens.
Lesser buildings would feature fewer statuettes, reducing them from back to front. The sole exception to the nine-statuette limit is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the largest and holiest in the Forbidden City, which had a tenth, the Hangshi, a sword-wielding, monkey-faced immortal that warded off demons. The Palace of Heavenly Purity features nine statuettes, one fewer, that are also slightly smaller than those found on the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Other halls had fewer and smaller statuettes, according to their. Instead of razing the Forbidden City, he chose it as the site for a public celebration on October 1, , of the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. Were he able to see this, the Yongle Emperor would doubtlessly be immensely proud of the former and offended to his core by the latter.
Lou Qingxi, trans. Qingxi, Geremie R. Eugenio Bregolat, trans.
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