Forbidden City

This is the Palace Museum, also known as the Purple Forbidden City. It is the largest and most well preserved imperial residence in China today. Under Ming Emperor Yongle, construction began in 1406. It took 14 years to build the Forbidden City. The first ruler who actually lived here was Ming Emperor Zhudi. For five centuries thereafter, it continued to be the residence of 23 successive emperors until 1911 when Qing Emperor Puyi was forced to abdicate the throne. In 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recognized the Forbidden City as a world cultural legacy.

It is believed that the Palace Museum, or Zi Jin Cheng (Purple Forbidden City), got its name from astronomy and folklore. The ancient astronomers divided the constellations into groups and centered them around the Ziwei Yuan (North Star). The constellation containing the North Star was called the Constellation of Heavenly God and the star itself was called the purple palace. Because the emperor was supposedly the son of the heavenly gods, his central and dominant position would be further highlighted by the use of the word purple in the name of his residence.

In folklore, the term "an eastern purple cloud is drifting" became a metaphor for auspicious events after a purple cloud was seen drifting eastward immediately before the arrival of an ancient philosopher, Lao Zi, to the Hangu Pass. Here, purple is associated with auspicious developments. The word jin (forbidden) is self-explanatory as the imperial palace was heavily guarded and off-limits to ordinary people.

The colors used to apply on the palatial buildings in the Forbidden City, except for the outside beautification, attributed much more to the feudalistic implications in politics. The purple - red walls in combination with the yellow roofs form a strong and eye - catching contrast, showing the absolute "authority," "supremacy" and "richness" of feudal emperors.

Ever since ancient times, yellow color, has always been regarded by rulers of various dynasties as to denote supremacy. Because in the theory of Five Elements in ancient China, yellow, referring to the earth that occupies the central position, represents supreme royal power in the center.

"Red" in China has as always been mentioned in the same breath with righteousness and auspicious ceremonies, suggesting solemnity and happiness. It is said that even the upper - cave men of 40,000 - 50,000 years ago liked to paint their dwellings in red.

As to the use of yellow - glazed tiles in the constuction of royal palaces, it was initiated as early at least as the Song Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing dynasties it was specified that only imperial palaces, tombs for demised emperors and temples or altars built according to imperial edicts could use yellow glazed tiles in the construction. Whoever went against these rules should be put to death without exception.

As the imperial palace was the residence for emperors and his families, the most part was built with the walls painted in red and the roofs covered with yellow glazed - tiles.

However, there were still a few palace buildings with black or green tiles. This is because these palace buildings were not used by emperors, and still, it was due to some superstitious reasons. For instance, the three palace buildings located to the south inside the Donghuamen Gate they were the residences for the Qing princes. According to the given rules only green tiles could be used for the Qing high - ranking nobles, such as princes and their like and no yellow tiles should in any case be used.

The other example is the Wenyuan Pavilion with black tiles. According to the theory of Five Elements, black represents water. Since the pavilion was meant for storing books, it was easy to catch fire. Therefore, in line with the superstitious idea of the ancients, black tiles were used instead in its construction so as to suggest that it could subdue

The Forbidden City is rectangular in shape. It is 960 meters long from north to south and 750 meters wide from east to west. It has 9,900 rooms under a total roof area 150,000 square meters. A 52-meter-wide-moat encircles a 9.9-meter-high wall which encloses the complex. Octagon-shaped turrets rest on the four corners of the wall. There are four entrances into the city: the Meridian Gate to the south, the Shenwu Gate (Gate of Military Prowess) to the north, and the Xihua Gate (Western Flowery Gate) to the west, the Donghua (Eastern Flowery Gate) to the east.

Manpower and materials throughout the country were used to build the Forbidden City. A total of 230, 000 artisans and one million laborers were employed. Marble was quarried from Fangshan County on the outskirts of Beijing. Five-colored rocks were cut from Mount Pan in Jixian County in Hebei Province. Granite was quarried in Quyang County in Hebei Province.

Paving blocks were fired in kilns in Suzhou in southern China. Bricks and scarlet pigmentation used on the palatial walls came from Linqing in Shandong Province. The wood materials were taken from the mountains of Sichuan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan and Yunnan. It is said that the trees felled had to be brought down by mountain torrents during rainy seasons, and then were towed to Beijing through waterways.

The structure in front of us is the Meridian Gate. It is the main entrance to the Forbidden City. It is also known as Wufenglou (Five-Phoenix Tower). Ming emperors held lavish banquets here on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar year in honor of their courtiers. They also used this place for punishing officials by flogging them with sticks.

Qing emperors used this building to announce the beginning of the new year. Qing Emperor Qianlong changed the original name of this announcement ceremony from ban li ( announcement of calendar ) to ban shou (announcement of new moon) to avoid coincidental association with another Emperor's name, Hongli, which was considered a taboo at that time. Qing Dynasty emperors also used this place to hold audience and for other important ceremonies. For example, when the imperial army returned victoriously from the battlefield, it was here that the Emperor presided over the ceremony to accept prisoners of war.

To complete this solemn, magnificent and palatial complex, a variety of building patterns were applied. Most important, all of the palaces and their accommodating buildings were arranged on a north-south axis, an 8-kilometer-long invisible line that has become an inseparable part of the City of Beijing. The Forbidden City covers roughly one-third of this central axis. Most of the important building in the Forbidden City were arranged along this line. The design and arrangement of the palaces reflect the solemn dignity of the royal court and the rigidly-stratified feudal system.

The Forbidden City is divided into an outer and an inner court. We are now standing on the southernmost part of the outer court. In front of us lies the Gate of Supreme Harmony. The gate is guarded by a pair of bronze lions, symbolizing imperial power and dignity. The lions were the most exquisite and the biggest of its kind. The one on the east playing with a ball is a male, and the ball is said to represent state unity. The other one is a female. Underneath one of its fore claws is a cub that is considered to be a symbol of perpetual imperial succession.