Monday, July 21, 2014

The Forbidden City





The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. It is located in the center of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.



The Forbidden City at night

Forbidden City - Palace Museum

When was it built? 

The Forbidden City was built under the orders of the powerful Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty between the years 1406 to 1420. More than one million people worked on the construction of the expansive palace. The best materials were brought in from all over China including specially made "golden" bricks, logs of the rare Phoebe zhennan trees, and blocks of marble. When the palace was completed, the Yongle Emperor moved the capital of the empire to Beijing city. 


How big is the Forbidden City? 

The Forbidden City is enormous. It covers an area of 178 acres that include 90 palaces with courtyards, 980 total buildings, and at least 8,700 rooms. The total floor space is over 1,600,000 square feet. Imagine if it was your job to clean that floor. The emperor had an army of servants, however, to take care of his palace and all the people that lived there. 


Layout 

The layout of the Forbidden City followed many Ancient Chinese rules of design. The main buildings all were aligned in a straight line from north to south. There are two main sections to the palace: the outer court and the inner court.
Outer court - The southern part of the palace is called the outer court. It was here that the emperors conducted official ceremonies. There are three main buildings in the outer court including the Hall of Preserving Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The largest of the three is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It was in this building that the emperors held court during the Ming dynasty.
Inner Court - To the north is the inner court, where the emperor and his family lived. The emperor himself slept in a building called the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The Empress lived in a building called the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.



People lined up in the courtyard of the palace


Interesting Facts about the Forbidden City:


- Twenty-four different Chinese emperors lived in the palace over the course of nearly 500 years.

- About 100,000 artisans and craftsmen worked on the palace.

- The last emperor of China, Puyi, continued to live in the Forbidden City for twelve years after he abdicated the throne in 1912.

- The Chinese name for the palace during ancient times was Zijin Cheng which means "Purple Forbidden City". Today the palace is called "Gugong" which means "Former Palace".

-The movie The Last Emperor was filmed inside the Forbidden City.
 

 You may also like: 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

You may also like:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...