The Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden City, purple is the "purple" of the "purple violet", meaning that the emperor is also the earth's "in the middle". The "forbidden" refers to the emperor's residence, strictly prohibited intrusion. The Forbidden City is located in the center of Beijing, is the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties in Chinese history. According to reports, the Forbidden City is 961 meters long from north to south, 753 meters wide from east to west, with a total area of 720,000 square meters, *** there are 9,999 palace rooms. Some people have speculated like this. If a newborn child, live in each room for one night, wait until he lived in all the rooms, has been a 27-year-old youth. I walked and talked with my colleagues, and I happened to realize that not only is the house of the Forbidden City 9, but the copper nails in each channel of the Forbidden City are also 9 horizontally and vertically. Why is this? Ancient Chinese people believe that the word "9" is the largest single-digit word, and the emperor as the largest person on earth, you must use the corresponding "9" word will match; and "9" of the harmonic for the "Jiu", that is, "permanent", implying that the world and the world for a long time. Allegory is only allegory; it is the will of the people that will last forever.
In the main gate of the Forbidden City, there is this introduction: According to relevant information, the first half of the 13th century, this is still a wilderness, to the 13th century 60s, Yuan Shizuizu Kublai conquered the Golden State, only in the northeast outskirts of the Golden Central Capital City constructed the capital, named Metropolis. At the same time, in the area of today's Forbidden City to build a large inner palace, the Forbidden City in Beijing was built on the basis of the Yuan Dynasty. The Forbidden City was built in 1406 and completed in 1420. The third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di (year number Yongle), moved the capital from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, to Beijing, and from then on *** there were 24 emperors (14 during the Ming Dynasty and 10 during the Qing Dynasty), who ruled here and ruled China for 491 years. 1911, the Xinhai Revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and the last emperor was Puyi, who came out of the palace in 1912. 1925 saw the founding of the Forbidden City Museum.
The large Forbidden City can be roughly divided into two major parts, the south for the handling of imperial affairs, that is, the outer court. The main building of the outer court has the Hall of Supreme Harmony (commonly known as the "Hall of the Golden Emperor"), is the place where the emperor held a ceremony. There are also in the Hall of Harmony, the Hall of Baohe. North for the life of the place called Nayan, Nayan is the emperor's consorts live in the place, commonly known as the "Three Palaces and Six Courts". Three palaces is the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kuning Palace. Six houses are the three palaces as well as the east and west sides of the East and West Six Palaces. All the buildings of the outer and inner courts are arranged on the central axis of Beijing. The total floor area is 150,000 square meters. Surrounded by a 10-meter-high wall, there is a 52-meter-wide moat outside the wall, and at each of the four corners of the wall, there is a delicate and curious corner tower. The entire Forbidden City building, the layout of unity, primary and secondary order, the scale of the grand, magnificent form, exquisite architecture, space, rich and varied.
The main gate of the Forbidden City - Noon Gate
We visit the Forbidden City, generally from the Tiananmen Gate inward, along a straight avenue, through the end of the door, walk through the stone Royal Road, in front of the eyes of the Forbidden City is paved with bricks - Noon Gate. Observe carefully, the area of the Noon Gate presents convex shape, there are heavy buildings. There are three holes on the front. On both sides there are left and right tuck door. According to the provisions of the palace. The center door is exclusively for the emperor to enter and exit. To the Qing dynasty, the new section of the scholar, eye, flower, the day of the list can be from the door in and out once, in addition, the emperor married, the empress can take the sedan chair in the door into the palace. Other civil and military scholar according to the name of the examination, singular walk left tuck door, really rank, shall not be violated. The overall shape of the noon gate looks like the wings of the phoenix bird, so also known as "five phoenix building".
According to records: the Ming Dynasty, in front of the Noon Gate is the emperor's "staff" courtiers place. Every year on the 15th day of the first month, the Noon Gate hanging lights and colors, the emperor gave banquet officials, and personally watch the lights, with the civil and military ministers together with poems, known as the lamp car. Qing dynasty, the noon gate is the emperor every year on the winter solstice issued the following year's calendar place: war victory held here "division", "offering prisoners" ceremony. The two hipped rooms from the Noon Gate to the Duanmen Gate were originally used as court rooms. The east hipped room with officials, households, rituals and other offices; the west hipped room with military, criminal, labor and other offices.
Entering the Noon Gate, we see the three great halls of the external dynasty, Taihe, Zhonghe, Baohe. Wenhua, Yingwu two halls for the two wings. After the Hall of Wenhua is the Wenyuan Pavilion, where the Siku Quanshu is placed. Yellow glazed tiles, in the setting sun's afterglow irradiation, glittering, as if a golden Great Wall. From the hall's door plate, the three halls were built in Ming Yongle eighteen years (1420), each for Fengtian, Huagai, the body of the three halls, April that year was destroyed in a lightning fire, six years of Zhengtong (1441) restoration, 1562, renamed the whole pole, in the pole, build the pole hall. 1645 changed to the current name.
Taihe Temple first, the guide told us that, Taihe Temple area of 1,800 square meters, is the largest gate of the Forbidden City. Not waiting for the guide, we can see a pair of bronze lions on both sides of the gate. East is a male lion, its front feet step on an embroidered ball, which symbolizes the power, but also symbolizes the unity of the universe; West is a female lion, left breast fiddle a small lion, symbolizing the prosperity of the heir. According to historical records: the lion is not living in China's species, it is with the introduction of Buddhism, initially as a kind of protection of the beast in Buddhist art, soon the shape of this animal will appear in the emperor's palace and mausoleum, began to become the guardian of China's feudal emperors of the animal. In the Forbidden City, lions were only placed in front of the gates of the palaces where the emperors lived and used, to show the aura of kingship. The square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, an area of 36,000 square meters, the square east and west sides of the room 32. Inside there is a jade belt shaped like the Jinshui River, more than 200 meters long, across the alabaster stone bridge five. The bridge is beautifully modeled. With the majestic and spectacular Noon Gate Tower, the glorious Hall of Supreme Harmony contrast, attracting attention. The courtyard and fireproof waterproof iron tank, some statistics, in the Forbidden City **** 308 mouth, including 231 copper tank, copper tank in 18 mouth is gilded. In the Ming Dynasty, Taihemen was the place where the Emperor's Royal Gate heard politics. Qing Dynasty, the emperor held banquets here. Ritual altar out of the palace here to get off the sedan chair for the car. The emperor's marriage Na Cai Ceremony, register, welcome ceremony are to pass through this door, and then go forward, is the outer court area.
Taihe Forbidden City and the door
Walking into the main hall, in the middle of a 4-meter-high 7-storey wooden square platform, I repeatedly measure, this is not the time I used to listen to my parents speak of the emperor sitting in the Golden Eluan car? The tour guide said, you talk about the right, this wooden seat is called Jinluan throne. Although small, but it forms a whole with the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony, and sitting in the imperial seat of the emperor has become the soul of the building, the human scale and the scale of the building combined together, perfectly creating a unity of heaven and man, the supremacy of the emperor's environmental atmosphere. Above it rests the gold lacquer carved dragon throne. Behind it are seven gold-carved dragons surrounding the screen. On both sides of the square platform there are six leaching color paste gold coiled dragon gold columns, I carefully observed, each 12.7 meters high, 1 meter in diameter, each large column is coiled with a robust golden dragon. Look up at the top of the temple, beam square color painting, stone green, stone tapestry, silver Zhu, peach red various colors bright and pleasing to the eye. Red and yellow colors of gold dragon pattern, posture. Here there are two dragons playing pearls, single dragon flying; there are walking dragon, sitting dragon, ascending dragon, descending dragon, dragon body is also lined with flowing clouds around the flame. Temple top central algal well, is a huge carved gold coiled dragon, from the mouth of the dragon hanging down a silver-white large round beads, next to 6 small beads around, the dragon's head, the treasure beads right below the throne of the Jinluan, really become a big dragon, small dragons, like a dragon's museum. According to architectural experts, the emperor's throne in the Forbidden City, Beijing, on the central axis point, meaning the emperor as the core of the symbol of imperial power. The central axis in the south from the noon gate all the way to Tian'anmen extends to Yongdingmen, to the north from Shenwumen all the way to Tian'anmen, the total length of about 8 kilometers.
The Palace of Imperial China
The Palace of Imperial China
After the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the Hall of Central Harmony. Zhonghe Hall is square, three rooms across the vertical and horizontal, surrounded by corridors, save the pointed roof, four ridges converge in the gilt dome under the temple, the temple set up the imperial seat, this temple for the emperor before the dynasty's preparatory room, the equivalent of the backstage lounge now.
Walking into the Hall of Baohe, it is smaller than the Hall of Supreme Harmony, according to the hall door plate, the hall was rebuilt in 1765. The face of 9 rooms, 5 rooms deep, heavy eaves and hermetic roof, very beautiful. The space between the hall is spacious. This hall is the emperor held a great feast and the use of the palace examination.
Three halls **** built on an 8.12-meter-high three-story white marble Sumeru-style pedestal, which highlights the hall's grandeur. In the three marble steps, there are 18 mirror casting of copper incense burners. These copper incense burner is the emperor held a variety of ceremonies when burning sandalwood incense with. According to evidence, the Qing Dynasty, China **** there are 18 provinces, these 18 copper incense burners each represent a province. The side steps of each level of the pedestal are made of alabaster stone dragon head. Dragon mouth are a small garden hole, is the pedestal of the drainage pipe, when it rains heavily, the water from the dragon's mouth out, like a thousand golden dragons in the spray, so that both beautiful and practical, solved the problem of rainwater runoff, showing the ingenuity of the ancient Chinese people.