According to ancient Chinese astrological theory, Ziweiyuan (the North Star) is located in the middle of the sky and is the residence of the Emperor of Heaven. Heaven and man correspond to each other. Therefore, the Emperor's residence is also called the Forbidden City. After the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, decided to move the capital to Beijing after seizing the throne, he began to build this palace and it was completed in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420). In 1911, the Revolution of 1911 overthrew the Qing Dynasty, the last feudal monarchy in China. In 1924, the successor emperor Puyi was expelled from the palace. During this period of more than 500 years, 24 emperors of Japan lived here and ruled the country.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 10m high wall and a 52m wide moat. The city is 961m long from north to south and 753m wide from east to west. It covers an area of ??780,000 square meters and has 8,700 houses. There is a gate on each side of the city wall, among which the Meridian Gate in the south and the Shenwu Gate in the north are now exclusively for visitors to visit. The layout of the palace buildings in the city spreads out to the east and west sides along the central axis. The red walls, yellow tiles, painted pillars and carved beams are magnificent. The buildings and towers of the palace are scattered in different heights and are spectacular and majestic. In the morning and evening, it is like a fairyland on earth. The southern half of the city is centered on the three main halls of Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe, supplemented by the Wenhua and Wuying halls on both sides. It is the place where the emperor held court meetings and is called the "former dynasty". The northern half is centered on the three palaces of Qianqing, Jiaotai, Kunning, the six east-west palaces and the Imperial Garden. On the east side are the Fengxian and Huangji halls, and on the west side are the Yangxin Hall, Yuhua Pavilion and Ci Palace. Ning Palace, etc., is where the emperor and his concubines lived, held sacrifices and religious activities, and handled daily government affairs. They were called "hou sleeps". The total building area of ??the front and rear parts of the palace reaches 163,000 square meters. The layout of the entire palace building is rigorous and orderly, and every brick and tile follows the feudal hierarchy and etiquette, reflecting the emperor's supreme authority. In the era of feudal monarchy, ordinary people could not and did not dare to get close to it.
The palace city where the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties lived is called the Forbidden City. There are two Forbidden City, one in Beijing and one in Nanjing.
Why is this Forbidden City called the Forbidden City? It turns out that ancient Chinese astronomy theory, based on long-term observations of celestial bodies in space, believed that the Ziwei star cluster resides in the middle of the sky, and its position remains unchanged forever, and it is the residence of the Emperor of Heaven. Therefore, the Heavenly Palace where the Emperor of Heaven lives is called the Purple Palace, and there is a saying that "Zi Wei is in the middle".
Feudal emperors claimed to be the sons of the Emperor of Heaven, the true Dragon Emperor; and the palace they lived in was likened to the Purple Palace in the sky. They also hope that if they live in the Purple Palace, they can govern with virtue, be naturalized from all directions, and come to court from all directions. This will make the country permanent and maintain the purpose of long-term rule.
The emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to maintain their own authority and dignity and consider their own safety, built palaces that were both magnificent and fortified. This city not only has many palaces and pavilions, but is also surrounded by a 10-meter-high city wall and a 52-meter-wide moat. It is also heavily guarded with sentry posts. It is absolutely not allowed for ordinary people to look at the terraces and palaces, even to look at the doors and corners.
In addition to the maids, eunuchs, and guards who served them, only summoned officials and authorized personnel could enter the palace where the Ming and Qing emperors and their families lived. This is a place where outsiders cannot go beyond [filtered words]. Therefore, the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties were both called the Purple Palace and forbidden areas, so they were formerly called the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City in Beijing covers an area of ??724,250 square meters, not counting the moat and the green belts between the moat and the city wall. The construction area of ??the palace buildings is 155,000 square meters. The Forbidden City is a rectangular city, 961 meters long from north to south and 753 meters wide from east to west. It is surrounded by a city wall more than 10 meters high. The outer perimeter of the city wall is 3428 meters (there is a 52-meter-wide moat outside the city wall, which protects the Forbidden City. important facilities). There is a gate on each side of the city wall, the Meridian Gate in the south, the Shenwu Gate in the north, the Donghua Gate in the east, and the Xihua Gate in the west. There are four exquisitely designed turrets at the four corners of the city wall.
The Forbidden City in Beijing was planned to be built in the fifth year of Yongle (1404-1424 AD), the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and was built in the 15th to 18th years of Yongle. The entire construction project was supervised by Marquis Chen Gui, and the specific responsible person was planner Wu Zhong. The Forbidden City is located in the center of the capital, and the central axis passes through the center of the imperial city, that is, through the three main halls and palaces in the Forbidden City. The main entrance of the Forbidden City is the Meridian Gate, the South Gate. The Meridian Gate is the highest gate in the palace. Major ceremonies such as amnesty and prisoner presentation are held at the Meridian Gate. Its north gate is Shenwu Gate, its east gate is Donghua Gate, and its west gate is Xihua Gate.
As the palace city of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City was also divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court. The outer court is where the emperor works. All major national events and various rituals are held in the outer court. The outer court consists of the central axis composed of Tiananmen - Duanmen - Meridian Gate - Taihe Hall - Zhonghe Hall - Baohe Hall and the pavilions and verandas on both sides of the central axis. The inner court is where the emperor's concubines live, and it consists of the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kunning Palace, Imperial Garden on the central axis, and the six east and west palaces on both sides.
The Forbidden City in Beijing was the palace of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Starting from the fifth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (AD 1407), Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty gathered craftsmen from all over the country and recruited 200,000 to 300,000 migrant workers and military workers. After 14 years, this large-scale palace complex was built. After it was used in the Qing Dynasty, it was only partially rebuilt and renovated, and the overall layout remained basically unchanged.
It embodies the culmination of ancient Chinese architectural art and is a concentrated expression of the imperial power ideology of China’s autocratic society for more than 2,000 years. The perimeter of the Forbidden City wall is about 3,000 meters, covering an area of ??more than 720,000 square meters, with a construction area of ??about 150,000 square meters and more than 9,000 houses. The palace is slightly rectangular in plan, with tall gates on the east, west, south and north. There is an exquisite turret on each corner of the palace. There is a 52-meter-wide moat surrounding the city wall, forming a grand, spectacular and heavily fortified castle. . Like the imperial palaces of all dynasties in China, the overall planning and architectural form of the Forbidden City completely obeyed and reflected the requirements of ancient patriarchal rituals, highlighting the supreme imperial authority. The entire palace is divided into two parts: "outer dynasty" and "inner extension".
The outer dynasty is dominated by the three palaces of Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe. There is the Taihe Gate in front and two groups of palaces, Wenhua and Wuying, on both sides. Judging from the function of the building, the outer court was the place where the emperor handled government affairs and held court meetings, naturally in the front of the Forbidden City, while the inner extension was mainly the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, and Kunning Palace. In the Ming Dynasty, it was the imperial palace. The residence is located at the back of the Forbidden City.
On both sides of this group of palaces are the East and West Sixth Palace for residential use, Ningshou Palace, Cining Palace, etc.; and finally there is an imperial garden. There are also rooms for the imperial guards and some service buildings in the palace, as well as small houses where eunuchs and maids live. Between the Meridian Gate and Tiananmen Gate, the main entrance of the palace, there are court rooms on both sides of the imperial road. Outside the court room, there is the Taimiao Temple in the east and the Sheji Altar in the west. Jingshan in the north of the palace is another group of buildings attached to the palace.
Taihe Gate was built in the 18th year of Yongle. It is the south gate of the three main halls of the outer dynasties. It was called "Fengtian Gate" in the early Ming Dynasty and "Taihe Gate" in the Qing Dynasty. It is located on a one-story stone Xumi court with a height of three meters. It is nine rooms wide, four rooms deep, and 23.8 meters high. It is the tallest and largest door among the existing ancient buildings in my country. Its roof form is double-eaves Xieshan style. There is a pair of tall bronze lions in front of the door. There are two gates on both sides of Taihe Gate: Zhaode Gate and Zhendu Gate; on the east and west sides of the courtyard, there are Xiehe Gate and Xihe Gate; there are verandas connecting each gate, and there are Chou Towers on the northeast and northwest corners. . The scale and volume of all these gates, towers and verandas are smaller than that of Taihe Gate, which makes Taihe Gate occupy a prominent position in the entire square. After entering the Gate of Supreme Harmony, there is a larger courtyard. It is still 200 meters wide from east to west and about 190 meters deep from north to south, enough to accommodate an honor guard of ten thousand people. In the Guangting are the three main halls of the outer dynasty: Taihe Hall, Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was the tallest building in the Beijing palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It includes a three-story Xumizuo with a height of 35.05 meters, and a total height of 37.44 meters including the Zhengqi. Each floor is in the form of a Xumizuo, surrounded by The white jade railing has a pillar head on the railing and a chi head spitting water below. Each pillar head is decorated. Its hall is eleven rooms wide and five rooms deep, with a construction area of ??2,377 square meters. It is also the largest wooden structure palace among the existing ancient buildings in my country. The roof of the main hall is in the veranda style with double eaves, which is the "four heavy houses" of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and is a "supreme" shape. The horned beasts and dougongs on the roof also have the largest number of jumps; the carvings on the royal road and railings, the paintings in the palace and the caisson patterns all use dragon and phoenix themes that represent imperial power; the sundial, jialiang, bronze turtle, etc. on the platform are all used. Bronze cranes, etc. can only be displayed here. The gold-lacquered dragon "throne" in the palace is a symbol of autocratic imperial power. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the place where the emperor holds enthronement ceremonies, celebrations, and receives congratulations from civil and military officials. If a general is ordered to go on an expedition, he must also receive his seal in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In the Ming Dynasty, palace examinations and New Year's Day banquets were also held in Taidian. The Zhonghe Hall behind the Taihe Hall is a building with a medium square plan, three deep and three wide rooms, and corridors around it, covering an area of ??580 square meters. The roof has a single eaves and pointed roof, and a gilded copper roof. It was the emperor's resting place when he went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to attend court.
The main entrance of the inner court is called Qianqing Palace. In front of it is a long and flat courtyard, commonly known as Hengjie. To the south of Hengjie is the Baohe Hall, and to the north of Houbao Hall is the three-story platform to reach Hengjie, so this is the junction between the outer court and the inner court. Qianqing Gate is located in the north of Hengjie, centered in the middle and facing south. It is a palace-style gate with five bays in width, a single-eave gable roof, and a white stone platform below. The specifications of Qianlongmen are slightly lower than the Taihe Gate, the main entrance of the three main halls. On both sides of the door, there is a screen wall decorated with colored glaze arranged in a figure of eight. The pair of screen walls are made of bricks, with a glazed eaves on the red wall and a glazed xumi pedestal below. The center and four corners of the walls are also decorated with glazed.
Kunning Palace is located to the north of Qianqing Palace. It is also a nine-bay main hall with double eaves and verandah roof. It has been the main palace where the queen lived during the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. During the Shunye period of the Qing Dynasty, Kunning Palace was renovated according to Manchu customs and habits, mainly dividing the palace into east and west parts. In the west part, a ring-shaped Kang was added along the wall, and a large pot was placed indoors. The east part of Kunning Palace was built as the emperor's wedding bridal chamber. The entrance was changed to the east. There are double happiness palace lanterns in the palace, a red background and golden double happiness screen wall. There is a dragon and phoenix wedding bed against the north wall. In front of the bed there is an embroidered The colorful gauze curtain of Baizi Tu. After the reconstruction, the original Linghua still remains in the Kunning Palace? The sash was changed to a vertical pane hanging window.
The Qianqing Palace is the main hall of the Housan Palace. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the early Qing Dynasty, the Qianqing Palace has been the bedroom of the emperor and queen. The shape of the palace is nine bays wide, with a verandah-style roof with double eaves. There are two small halls connected to the left and right, Zhaoren Hall and Hongde Hall. In addition to the emperor's residence, he often summoned court officials here, read memorials, handled government affairs, and even received foreign envoys in the palace.
In the eastern and northern half of the Forbidden City, there is a complete group of palace buildings, which is the Ningshou Palace complex.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was also a group of buildings here, but the scale was not very large. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Ningshou Palace was built here. This is a very complete group of buildings, which is divided into two parts: the palace in the front and the dormitories in the back. part. In the latter part, it can be divided into three areas. The middle road is the residential area, the east road is the entertainment area, and the west road is the garden area. The entire building complex is surrounded by high walls and becomes a fairly closed and independent area.
The front entrance of the Ningshou Palace complex is Huangji Gate. There is a horizontal courtyard in front of the door. On the left and right are Qinxi Gate and Xiqing Gate. A screen wall is laid out in the south facing Huangji Gate, forming a gate. The square in front. Huangji Gate uses colored glaze to make three doors on the outside of the wall, with three rooms on the seventh floor and hanging lotus pillars. The three door openings have glazed tiles eaves, and there are dougongs and beams under the eaves, and there are spirals made of colored glaze on the beams. There are colorful paintings, there is a stone Xumizuo on the door, and four water tanks are placed in front of the door. The whole door is gorgeous and solemn. To the south of Huangji Gate stands a glazed screen wall with nine dragons on it, commonly known as the Nine Dragon Wall.
After entering Huangji Gate, you will come to the courtyard in front of Ningshou Gate. The courtyard is very wide and surrounded by pine trees to indicate its special use by the Supreme Emperor. Ningqing Gate is located in the center of the north side of the courtyard. It has five bays and a wide gabled roof. Below is a white base. There are three steps in front of the base. Zhongshi is the royal road. There are screen walls on the east and west sides of the gate. Opened in a figure of eight, there are two gilded bronze lions on the left and right in front of the door. The entire gate is very similar to the Qianqing Gate of the Housan Palace in shape and scale.
The Forbidden City is located in the center of Beijing and is now called the Forbidden City, meaning the past imperial palace. It was the royal palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and it is also the largest, most majestic and best-preserved ancient palace and ancient building complex in the world today. Among them, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the tallest and most splendid, where grand ceremonies such as the emperor's enthronement, wedding, canonization, appointment of generals, and expeditions were held here. The most famous one in the inner court is the Yangxin Hall, where Empress Dowager Cixi listened to politics behind a curtain for more than 40 years. Beijing is an international metropolis and China's transportation hub. The world's major airlines have flights to and from Beijing and other international cities and major Chinese cities.