Beijing China: FORBIDDEN CITY

Day 1 in Beijing: FORBIDDEN CITY 
(Destination 4 of 6)

Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang, as inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.

The Forbidden City is home to the emperor and his family.  The place is divided into two parts: the outer court, where the ceremonies are held, and the inner palaces, the home of the emperor and his family.

"In ancient times, the emperor claimed to be the son of Heaven, and therefore Heaven’s supreme power was bestowed upon him. The emperors’ residence on earth was built as a replica of the Purple Palace where God was thought to live in Heaven. Such a divine place was certainly forbidden to ordinary people and that is why the Forbidden City is so named." (China Highlights)

I learned from our guide that both the outer court and inner palaces have three major structures. The structures in the outer court are the (1) Hall of Supreme Harmony, "the ceremonial centre of imperial power", where the emperor held ceremonies; (2) Hall of Central Harmony, where the emperor prepared and rested during ceremonies; and the (3) Hall of Preserving Harmony, where rehearsals were held.   

The inner palaces are the residences of the emperor and the empress.  The emperor stays in his residence alone because attempts on the life of the emperor had been made while asleep.

"The Emperor, representing Yang and the Heavens, would occupy the (1) Palace of Heavenly Purity. The Empress, representing Yin and the Earth, would occupy the (2) Palace of Earthly Tranquility. In between them was the (3) Hall of Union, where the Yin and Yang mixed to produce harmony." (Wikipedia)

It is more dramatic to enter from the gate leading first to the inner palaces then to the outer court because from smaller structures, one is led to the biggest and grandest structure of them all, the Hall of Supreme Harmony.  The courts also get bigger and bigger as one moves to the entrance/exit leading to Tian'anmen Square. 


The Chinese government approved the filming of the movie The Last Emperor, a story about the six-year old Puyi, the last emperor who was overthrown by the Chinese Communist, within the Forbidden City.  After being in Forbidden City, one will appreciate the movie even more.  And if one is imaginative enough, one can actually visualize the imperial life centuries ago. 

Our guide also told us these details:

Yellow is the imperial color.  Red signifies happiness.  Red and yellow are dominant on the structures in the place.

The roof of the buildings is decorated with animal statuettes, the number of which tells how important the building is.  The "animals" are in between a man riding a phoenix (front/leader) and an imperial dragon (rear).  In this picture, the animals total 9, which is the number representing the emperor.  The empress is represented by 7, the lower numbers 5, 3, 1 represent lower "status".

 
According to Wikipedia.com,"The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10 (animal statuettes), the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times. As a result, its 10th statuette, called a "Hangshi" is also unique in the Forbidden City."

  

The City is surrounded by a moat, for security reasons.  The ground excavated to make the moat is the artificial hill in Jingshan Park. 

Photos of other details in architecture and other artifacts -

1 Female lion fronting the empress's residence - the female lion has a cub under her left paw representing fertility (a male has a ball under his paw, representing power)

2 Incense burner near the Palace of Heavenly Purity

3 Turtle statue

4 Key still in the lock

5 View of the room inside the empress's palace

6 Door detail 

7 Bronze vat - in the past, this was kept full of water for extinguishing fires  

8 Door (Hall of Union)

Our next stop was Tian'anmen Square.