The Forbidden City
The Forbidden City in the center of Beijing embodies the splendors of China’s imperial
past and demonstrates the beauty of Chinese architecture which is a very important part
of the Chinese tradition. It also indicates the world view of the Chinese people and their
conceptualization of the cosmological order.
Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called gugong 故宮, in Chinese, was the
imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is called the Palace Museum now. It
lies 1 kilometer north of the Tian'anmen Square, with its north gate, the Gate of Devine
Might (Shenwumen), facing the Jingshan Park. 960 meters long and 750 meters wide, the
world largest palace complex covers a floor space of 720,000 square meters, having a
total number of 9,999 buildings. The rectangular city is encircled in a 52-meter-long, 6-
meter-deep moat and a 10-meter-high, 3,400-meter-long city wall which has one gate on
each side. There are four unique and delicate structured corner towers overlooking the
city inside and outside on the four corners. Generally, it was divided into two parts, the
northern half, or the Outer Court where emperors executed their supreme power over the
nation and the southern half, or the Inner Court where they lived with their royal family.
Until 1924 when the last emperor in China was driven out of the Inner Court, 14
emperors of the Ming dynasty and 10 emperors of the Qing dynasty had reigned here.
About 500 years being the imperial palace, it houses numerous rare treasures and
curiosities.
Construction of the palace complex started in 1407, the 5th year of the Yongle reign of
the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, and was completed 14 years later in 1420. It was
said that a million workers including 100,000 artisans were driven into the long-term hard
labor. Stones needed were quarried from Fangshan, suburb of Beijing. It was said a well
was dug along the road every 50 meters in order to pour water onto the road in winter to
slide huge stones on ice into the city. Huge amount of timbers and other materials were
all freighted from faraway provinces. Ancient Chinese people fully displayed their
wisdom in building the Forbidden City. Take the grand red city wall for example, the
ladder shaped wall has an 8.6 meters wide bottom and a 6.66 meters wide top. The shape
of the city wall totally frustrate attempt to climb onto the wall. The bricks of the wall are
said made from white lime and glutinous rice while the cement is made from glutinous
rice and egg whites, and 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 in 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.
In 1987, the Forbidden City was listed by the UN as World Cultural Heritage and is now
the hottest tourist magnets in Beijing.
The Forbidden City
The Forbidden City
Tiananmen---Gate of Heavenly Peace
Taihedian —Hal of Great Harmony
The Stairway leading up to the Hall of Great Harmony
The throne
Zhonghedina (Hall of Central Harmony) and Baohedian (Hall of Protection of Harmony)
Tiantan---The Heavenly Altar
