Forbidden City

 Beijing 2016

An Imperial lion inside the Forbidden City with his claws on a globe, symbolic of the power they held over the world as they knew it.

There is an impressive walk up to the Forbidden City (called the "Palace Museum" in China) so that visitors are suitably impressed by the magnificence of the preliminary buildings and courtyards and in a state of awe by the time they eventually reach the front gate!!


The journey starts at the Tiananmen Gate on Tiananmen Square.   Today it displays a picture of Mao and jolly slogans;  but in the past, announcements were made  from the balcony to inform the public about such matters as who would be the next Emperor.  

We then walked through a large courtyard or plaza and through another gate, called the Upright Gate.  The barbican, the building on top of the gate, was used to house all the royal regalia used by the Emperor and his troops on ceremonial occasions.

 
  

Anne at one of the huge doors on the Upright Gate. (Many doors had 9 rows of 9 bolts signifying "long" or "enduring".)

We now entered a much larger courtyard lined on both sides by small buildings which were used as "business centres" where officials prepared the paperwork for their meeting with the Emperor or his representative.  (Here is some of the renovation work in progress outside one of the "centres" in preparation for the 600th Anniversary in 2020).

We're here at last - the front door - or Meridian Gate.  This was a highly fortified three-sided gate built over the palace moat.  Any invaders trying to break down the doors would be annihilated by archers on the battlements and towers on three sides!

In the past there was strict protocol as to how all these gates were approached:  the largest and middle gate was for the exclusive use of the Emperor (the Empress was allowed to use it only once and that was on her wedding day).  Ministers and important people used the gate on the right and the Imperial Family used the gate on the left.

The Emperor reviewed his troops from the balcony of the Meridian Gate.  Also, after wars, captured enemies were paraded here and sometimes there were mass executions.

The Forbidden City is divided into two parts - the front half or "outer court" where the Emperor exercised his power with pomp and ceremony in ruling the empire;  and, the back half or "inner court" where the Imperial Family resided.  All matters inside the palace were managed by thousands of eunuchs.

We are now inside the Forbidden City in the "Outer Court" in another large plaza.  First, we cross a white marble bridge and approach another line of buildings forming another barrier - The Gate of Supreme Harmony.

 Originally this building was used by the Emperor to hold morning court with his ministers but later on  was transferred to a building closer to the Emperor's living quarters (after all the walking we did, I don't blame him!!)   The buildings on each side were used as warehouses to store such items as fur, porcelain, silver, etc.)

This was an important building as the Emperor's wedding ceremonies were held here.  

 

The roofs of all the buildings are yellow as this was the royal color.  (Only one building has a black roof and that is the Library.  Black denotes "water" and that would be appropriate if the library caught fire.  This is the largest wooden palace in the world and parts of the Forbidden City were often destroyed by fire or lightening.  There are  several huge cauldrons which were used to hold water in case of fire.  

As we walk through the Gate of Supreme Harmony we see another building across another vast square - the Hall of Supreme Harmony.  This is the ceremonial centre of the Forbidden City.  On this hot day pollution spoils our view.

We decide to take a break and eat lunch in the shade of the wall.  My GPS audio guide tells me that these cauldrons were used to burn cyprus and other sweet smelling wood so the palace was enveloped in fragrant air.

The buildings seen on the side of the plaza, like most buildings in the Forbidden City, are locked and empty.   The treasures were moved to Taiwan when China was invaded and remain there.

This is the throne inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony where the Emperor received high officials and exercised his rule over the empire.  Grand ceremonies were held here when a new Emperor ascended the throne, or on his birthday, Chinese New Year, etc.

Inside the throne room are all sorts of symbolic decoration but in the middle of the ceiling is the design of two dragons playing with pearls.  The pearl was said to be able to detect a usurper and if anyone who was not the descendant of the Emperor Huang Di ever took the throne, the pearl would drop down and strike him dead.

Visitors are not allowed in these buildings so you have to look through the large doorways.  On the day we visited it was relatively easy to get to the front of the crowd to take a picture. 

Behind the large, formal building was a smaller, more comfortable building called the Hall of Central Harmony.  This was more of a waiting room, where the Emperor relaxed without the crowds while he waited for the  ceremonial hall to be ready for his presence.  Here he wrote his speeches and sat on a more comfy throne while he held intimate meetings with his ministers and guests.

And behind that hall was another throne room called the Hall of Preserved Harmony where the emperor retreated to change his clothes.  Important banquets were also held in this building.

This was the end of the ceremonial "outer court"  and the remaining buildings were part of the private, family, "inner court" which were off bounds to everyone except the eunuchs.

They claim that there are 999 buildings within the Forbidden City but that is an auspicious number and probably exaggerated.  However, our feet were telling us that whatever the number was it was big!

Anne posing in front of the famous Nine Dragon Screen - dragons were considered protectors and 9 was an auspicious number. 

I was delighted to get this pic of the Forbidden City cat!

large courtyards

                                       & small courtyards

  Long alleyways 

                                         ... and murder

We leave through the back gate of the Forbidden City and cross a bridge over the moat.   The hill of JingShan Park opposite was made of the soil removed to dig the palace moat.

The Forbidden City moat which is 6 kms long.