The Imperial Palace (the Forbidden City)
Author：tercal From：：2007-11-27
This is the place to go if you want to see the most complete and best- preserved collection of ancient buildings and historical treasures in China. Having been the center of Chinese politics, economics, culture, and religion for nearly 500 years, the Palace is a vast complex of halls, pavilions, courtyards, and walls. It is within these walls that 24 emperors of two dynasties, aided by their ministers, eunuch guards, concubines and servants, acted out the drama of ruling imperial China form the early Ming in 1420 the fall of the Qing in 1911. The palace witnessed more cases of murder, betrayal, adultery, homosexuality, power struggle, and money hunger than the entire soap opera watching population of the world.
This palace was originally built in the year of 1420 by over 200,000 workmen at the direction of the third Ming emperor and was mostly burnt to the ground in 1644 during the Manchu takeover. Rebuilt and renovated many times, it nonetheless retains the initial design set down 500 years ago. Occupying an area of over 183 acres, the complex is indeed more like a city than a palace. As most ancient Chinese architectures, an extraordinary sense of balance is maintained between the buildings and the open spaces that surround in the Palace. The scale is monumental but never oppressive; the design symmetrical but not repetitive. As in the Chinese predilection for harmony over diversity, the Palace makes use of a single style of building in an awe-inspiring combination of geometric planning and aesthetic beauty. All the buildings are carefully laid out on a north-to-south axis as most buildings in China, but there is no sense of rigidity to them. Like the Louvre or the Taj Mahal, the Imperial Palace is a monument that can be visited with pleasure again and again.
The Palace can roughly be divided into three different but associated parts. In the foreground are four gates, each of which may look so large that many first-time visitors think that this is the palace itself. Beyond these gates is the center of the complex, there are three principal halls of monumental size and scope and this is where the emperors conducted important State ceremonies.
-The Palace Gates
By passing through the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian'anmen) and the Upright Gate (Duanmen), you arrive at the imposing Meridian Gate (Wumen), which is the traditional entrance to the Forbidden City. The horseshoe-shape of the Meridian Gate's massive fortress walls, topped with five towers, seems to draw the visitor submissively forward through the entrance to the inner precincts. This gate was originally used for important State functions such as victorious troops and announcing the lunar calendar. The emperor was the only person that was permitted to pass through the central opening of the gate.
Beyond this gate lies a courtyard leading to the fourth and final gate, the Gate of Supreme Harmony (Taihemen), a huge open porch supported by red lacquered pillars. Visitors will need to cross a stream by one of five marble bridges, all of which are beautifully and skillfully built with flowers and animals carved on their sides. Two striking bronze lions guard this entrance. These lions symbolize the power of the emperor and the subservience demanded by him.
- The Principle Halls
The next courtyard, called the "Sea of Flagstones" by the Chinese, was designed to accommodate 90,000 people during an imperial ceremony. In its center stands the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian), the largest and grandest structure in the Palace. Here were held the most solemn of ceremonial occasions, such as celebration of the New Year and the emperor's birthday or announcing the successful candidate of the imperial examinations. The treasures in this hall include bronze incense burners, musical chimes made of jade, and a nine-dragon screen behind the throne.
Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony are the halls of Complete Harmony (Zhonghedian) and Preserving Harmony (Baohedian). In the former, the emperor donned formal regalia before proceeding to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, or performed lesser State functions like inspecting seeds for a new planting. The Hall of Preserving Harmony had been used for a time as the site for the highest level of the imperial examinations. Behind this hall, between the descending staircases, is the "Dragon Pavement", an exquisitely carved a single block of marble said to weigh over 200 tons.
- The Inner Court
The three rear halls, the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqinggong), the Hall of Union (Jiaotaidian) and the Palace Earthly Peace (Kunninggong), were also the sites of lesser State functions. During the Ming dynasty, emperors lived among these buildings, but later the Qing rulers moved to smaller, less f
The Imperial Palace The Imperial Palace,the Forbidden City28
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