The Forbidden City was the palace of 24 emperors in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties. After seizing the throne, Zhu Di, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, decided to move the capital to Beijing, and began to build the Forbidden City Palace, which was completed in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (142). According to China's ancient astrology theory, Ziweiyuan (i.e. Polaris) is located in Zhongtian, where the Emperor of Heaven lives, corresponding to heaven and man. It is also called the Forbidden City based on the residence of the Emperor.
the forbidden city is 961m long from north to south and 753m wide from east to west, covering an area of 72,㎡. There are 98 houses, including 874 rooms. Surrounded by a wall 1 meters high and a moat 52 meters wide. There is a city gate on all sides of the city wall, of which the Wumen 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 extends along the central axis to the east and west sides. Red walls and yellow tiles, painted buildings and carved beams, resplendent and magnificent. The halls and terraces are strewn at random and magnificent. In the evening, it is like a fairyland on earth. The southern half of the city is centered on the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe, and is flanked by the Hall of Wenhua and the Hall of Wuying. It is the place where the emperor held the court meeting, which is called the "former court". In the northern half, there are three palaces of Ganqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kunning Palace, six palaces of East and West and the Imperial Garden as the center. On the east side, there are temples of Fengxian and Huangji, and on the west side, there are hall of mental cultivation, Yuhua Pavilion and Cining Palace. It is the place where emperors and empresses live, hold sacrifices and religious activities and handle daily affairs, which is called "the back bedroom". In addition, there are Zhai Palace, Yuqing Palace, Zhong Hua Palace, etc., with a total building area of 163,㎡. The layout of the whole group of palaces is strict and orderly, and every inch of bricks and tiles follow the feudal hierarchical etiquette system, reflecting the supreme authority of the emperor. In the era of feudal monarchy, ordinary people can't and dare not go any further.
The Forbidden City is located in the center of Beijing. It is now called the Forbidden City, which means the imperial palace in the past. It is the imperial palace of Ming and Qing dynasties, and it is also the largest, most magnificent and well-preserved ancient palace and ancient architectural complex in the world today. Among them, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the tallest and most splendid, and grand ceremonies are held here for the emperor's accession to the throne, wedding, canonization, command and expedition. The most famous of the imperial palace is hall of mental cultivation. There are two Forbidden Cities built in the Ming Dynasty, one in Beijing and the other in Nanjing.
[ Edit this paragraph] The origin of the name of the Forbidden City
The name of the Forbidden City comes from the metaphor of the Purple Star Pagoda. Ancient astronomers in China once divided the stars in the sky into three walls, twenty-eight constellations and other constellations. Three walls include Taiweiyuan, Ziweiyuan and Tianshiyuan. Ziweiyuan is in the middle of Sanyuan. According to China's ancient astronomy, based on long-term observation of celestial bodies in space, it is believed that Ziwei Xingyuan is in the middle of the sky and its position is eternal, so it has become a constellation representing the Emperor of Heaven. It is the residence of the Emperor of Heaven. Therefore, it is said that the Heavenly Palace where the Emperor of Heaven lives is the Purple Palace. Forbidden, on the other hand, is more understandable, meaning that the palace is a royal stronghold, and other people are not allowed to come here.
The feudal emperor claimed to be the son of the Emperor of Heaven, and he thought he was the real dragon emperor. And the palace where they live is compared to the purple palace in the sky. They also hope that they can live in the Purple Palace, govern by virtue, be naturalized in all directions, and come to Korea from all sides to achieve the goal of maintaining long-term rule.
The emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties built palaces that were magnificent and guarded, out of concern for their own authority and dignity and their own safety. This city is not only full of palaces and pavilions, but also surrounded by a wall more than 1 meters high and a moat 52 meters wide. Moreover, it is full of sentries and heavily guarded. Needless to say, it is absolutely not allowed for ordinary people to enjoy the balcony and pavilion, even if they are close to it.
Except the maids, eunuchs and guards who served them, only the summoned officials and privileged personnel can enter the palace where the emperors of the Ming Dynasty and their families lived. This is a place where outsiders can't cross the line. Therefore, the imperial palace in the Ming Dynasty was both called the Purple Palace and a forbidden area, so the architectural pattern of the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City in Beijing covers an area of 724,25 square meters, not counting the moat and the green belt of the city wall. The total area of the palace building is 163,㎡. The Forbidden City is a rectangular city with a length of 961 meters from north to south and a width of 753 meters from east to west. It is surrounded by a wall with a height of more than 1 meters. The outer circumference of the wall is 3428 meters, and there is a moat with a width of 52 meters outside the wall. It is an important facility for guarding the Forbidden City. There is a gate on each side of the city wall, with the Wumen Gate in the south, the Shenwu Gate in the north, the Donghuamen in the east and the Xihuamen in the west. There are four exquisitely designed turrets at the four corners of the city wall. The palaces in the Forbidden City are all wooden structures, with yellow glazed tile roofs and blue and white stone bases, decorated with splendid colorful paintings. Its plane layout, three-dimensional effect, and majestic, grand, solemn and harmonious form can be said to be rare in the world. The collection of China's ancient architectural art is the concentrated expression of China's imperial power thought in autocratic society for more than 2, years. Like the imperial palaces in China, the overall planning and architectural form of the Forbidden City completely obeyed and reflected the requirements of the ancient patriarchal system, highlighting the supreme imperial authority.
The Forbidden City in Beijing was built in the fifth year of Yongle (144-1424), the founder of the Ming Dynasty, and in the fifteenth to eighteenth years of Yongle. The whole construction project was built by Marquis Chen Gui, and the specific responsibility was planner Wu Zhong. From the fifth year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (AD 147), Ming Chengzu concentrated the national craftsmen and recruited 2, to 3, migrant workers and military workers. After 14 years, this group of large-scale palaces was built. After it was used in the Qing Dynasty, it was only partially rebuilt and rebuilt, and the overall layout remained basically unchanged.
The Forbidden City is located in the center of the capital of Beijing, and its central axis passes through the center of the imperial city, that is, through the third hall and the third palace in the Forbidden City. The main entrance of the Forbidden City is the south meridian gate, also known as the "Wufeng Tower". The Meridian Gate is the tallest gate in Miyagi, and major ceremonies such as amnesty and prisoner offering are held at the Meridian Gate. Its north gate is Shenwumen, its east gate is Donghuamen, and its west gate is Xihuamen.
As a Miyagi in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Forbidden City is divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court. Located in the front of the Forbidden City. The outer court consists of the central axis consisting of Tiananmen-Duanmen-Wumen-Hall of Supreme Harmony-Zhonghe Hall-Baohe Hall and the halls and corridors on both sides of the central axis. The outer court is dominated by three halls, namely, Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe, with Taihe Gate in front and Wenhua and Wuying palaces on both sides. Judging from the function of the building, the foreign court is the place where the emperor handles government affairs and holds court meetings, and all major national activities and ceremonies are held in the foreign court. The imperial palace is the place where the emperor's empresses live, including Ganqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kunning Palace, Imperial Garden and six palaces on both sides. The imperial palace is located in the back (north) of the Forbidden City, including Ganqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace. It is the place where the Empress lived. On both sides of this group of palaces, there are six palaces for living, Ningshou Palace and Cining Palace. And four imperial gardens distributed throughout the imperial palace. There are also imperial duty rooms and some service buildings in Miyagi, as well as short houses where eunuchs and maids live, between the main entrance of Miyagi and Tiananmen Square, and courthouses are built on both sides of Imperial Road. Outside the house, the ancestral temple is in the east and the country altar is in the west. Jingshan in the north of Miyagi is another group of buildings attached to the palace.
Taihe Gate, built in the 18th year of Yongle, is the south gate of the three halls of foreign dynasties. It was called "Fengtianmen" in the early Ming Dynasty and renamed "Taihe Gate" in the Qing Dynasty. It is located on the first floor of the Stone Sumitomo Pavilion, which is three meters high. It has nine rooms in width, four rooms in depth and a height of 23.8 meters. It is the tallest and largest door among the existing ancient buildings in China. Its roof is in the form of double eaves and hills. There are a pair of tall bronze lions in front of the door. On both sides of Taihe Gate are Zhaode and Zhendu Gate. There are Concord, Xihe and Gate Two in the east and west of the courtyard. All the doors are connected with each other, and there are special buildings in the northeast and northwest corners. All these doors, buildings and bedrooms are smaller in scale and volume than Taihe Gate, which makes Taihe Gate stand out in the whole square. After entering the Taihe Gate, there is a bigger courtyard. The width from east to west is still 2 meters, and the depth from north to south is about 19 meters, which is enough to accommodate a ceremonial procession of 1, people. There are three halls in the Guangting: Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Zhonghe and Hall of Baohe (called Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall and Shenshen Hall in Ming Dynasty, renamed as Huangji Hall, Zhongji Hall and Jianji Hall in Jiajing).
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the "Golden Throat Hall", is the tallest building in Miyagi, Beijing in Ming and Qing Dynasties. It consists of three floors of Sumitomo with a height of 35.5 meters and a total height of 37.44 meters. Each floor is in the form of Sumitomo, surrounded by Bai Yushi railings, and there are expected capitals on the railings, with water-spitting decapitated heads under them. Each pillar is decorated. Its halls are eleven rooms wide and five rooms deep, with a building area of 2,377 square meters. It is also the largest wooden temple among the existing ancient buildings in China. The roof of the hall is double-eaved, that is, the "four heavy houses" in Yin and Shang Dynasties, and it is "supreme". The number of horns and buckets jumping on the roof is also the largest; The sculptures on the imperial road and railings, the colorful paintings in the hall and the patterns of algae wells all use the theme of dragons and phoenixes representing the imperial power, and only here can the Japanese rules, Jia Liang, bronze turtles and bronze cranes on the platform be displayed. The Golden Qi Diao Dragon "throne" in the temple is a symbol of autocratic imperial power. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the place where the emperor holds the enthronement ceremony, celebrates and receives congratulations from officials of civil and military affairs. If a general is ordered to go out to war, he will also be printed in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. In the Ming Dynasty, palace examination and New Year's Day banquets were also held in Taidian.
the zhonghe hall behind the hall of supreme harmony is a building with a square plane, three rooms deep and three rooms wide, and corridors around it, covering an area of 58 square meters. The roof is a single-eave, pointed, bronze-tire gilded roof, which is the place where the emperor rested and practiced etiquette when he went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The Baohe Hall behind Zhonghe Hall is the place where the emperor gives a banquet to foreign princes and princes every New Year's Eve. During the Qing Dynasty, it was the place where the palace examination was held.
The main entrance of the imperial palace is called Ganqing Gate, and in front of it is a flat courtyard, commonly known as Hengjie. To the south of Hengjie is Baohe Hall, and to the north of Baohe Hall, you can reach Hengjie by going down three floors of abutment, so this is the handover part of the outer court and the inner court. Ganqing Gate is located in the north of Hengjie, with the center facing south. It is a five-bay, single-eave, hill-resting roof and a white stone platform under it. The specifications of Ganqing Gate are slightly lower than those of Taihe Gate, the main entrance of the Three Halls. On both sides of the gate, there is a screen wall decorated with glass in a figure of eight. This pair of shadow walls is made of brick, with a glazed eaves on the red wall and a glazed sumeru pedestal under it, and the center and four corners of the wall are also decorated with glazed tiles.
Ganqing Palace
Ganqing Palace is the main hall of the last three palaces. In the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, Ganqing Palace was always the bedroom of the emperor and queen. It was at the front of the imperial palace, with a height of 2 meters. The shape of the palace was wide and nine rooms, with a double-eaved roof, and two small halls, Zhaoren Hall and Hongde Hall, were connected on the left and right. The hall between the two ends is a hall, which can communicate with the Thai Hall and the Palace of Kunning. In addition to the emperor's residence, he often summoned court officials here to read the throne, handle government affairs, and even met foreign envoys in the temple.
Ganqing Palace is the main hall of the Imperial Palace. There is a throne in the middle of the hall, and there is a "fair and square" plaque inside. There are warm pavilions at both ends. Ganqing Palace was the bedroom of the feudal emperor. Before Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, this was the place where the emperor lived and handled government affairs. After Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty, the emperor moved to hall of mental cultivation, but he still read and played newspapers here, appointed officials and summoned liegeman.
Jiaotai Hall is located between Ganqing Palace and Kunning Palace, which means "heaven and earth are in harmony, well-being and happiness". It was built in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the third year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1798). It is a square temple with four corners, a gilded treasure top and dragon and phoenix patterns. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this hall was the place where the Queen's birthday celebration was held. The so-called silkworm-kissing ceremony of the Empress in Qing Dynasty needs to check the preparations for the ceremony. The "Bao Xi" (seal) of the Qing Dynasty is also collected here.
Kunning Palace
Kunning Palace is located in the north of Ganqing Palace, and it is also a hall with a width of nine rooms and a double roof. It was the main palace where the Empress lived in the Ming and early Qing Dynasties. During the reign of Shunye in Qing Dynasty, according to the customs and habits of Manchu, the Kunning Palace was transformed, mainly dividing the palace into two parts: east and west. In the western part, a circular kang was added along the wall, and a cauldron was placed indoors. In the eastern part of Kunning Palace, the wedding room for the emperor was built, and the entrance was changed to the east. There were palace lanterns with double happiness, a golden screen wall with double happiness on a red background, a bed with dragons and phoenixes on the north wall, and colorful gauze veils embroidered with the ancient philosophers hanging in front of the bed.
hall of mental cultivation is located on the west side of the Palace of Ganqing in Neiting. It is an independent courtyard, about 63 meters long from north to south and 8 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 5, square meters. The front hall of hall of mental cultivation is three rooms wide, three rooms deep, the main hall is seven rooms wide and three rooms deep. During the two hundred years from Yongzheng to the end of Qing Dynasty, the emperor lived here and carried out daily activities. In the east and north half of the Forbidden City, there is a complete group of palace buildings, which is Ningshou Palace complex. In the Ming dynasty, there was also a group of buildings here, but the scale was not very large; During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, after Emperor Qianlong announced his abdication, the Ningshou Palace was built here as a pension for the emperor. This is a very complete building group, which is divided into two parts: the front palace and the back bedroom. In the latter part, it can be divided into three areas, middle road is residential area, east road is entertainment area and west road is garden area. The whole building complex is surrounded by high walls and becomes a fairly closed independent area.
The entrance to the front of Ningshou Palace complex is the Imperial Gate, and there is a horizontal courtyard in front of it. The left and right sides are the Qinxi Gate and the Xuanqing Gate, and the south side is covered with a shadow wall facing the Imperial Gate, forming a wide courtyard in front of it. The huangji gate is made of colored glass outside the wall in the form of three doors with hanging lotus columns on the seventh floor. There are glazed tiles on the eaves of the three doors, a bucket and a cross beam under the eaves, a revolving color painting made of colored glass on the beam, a stone sumeru pedestal on the door, and four water tanks placed in front of the door. The whole gate is gorgeous and solemn. In the south of Huangjimen, there is a glazed screen wall with nine dragons on it, commonly known as the Nine Dragons Wall.
When you enter the Imperial Gate, you come to the courtyard in front of Ningshou Gate. The courtyard is very wide, and pine trees are planted around it to show its special use for the emperor's father. Ningqing Gate is located in the center of the north of the courtyard. It has a wide five-bay, single-eave hill-resting roof, and a white pedestal below. There are three steps in front of the pedestal. The middle history is Imperial Road. There are shadow walls on the east and west sides of the gate in a figure of eight, and there are two gilded bronze lions on the left and right sides of the gate. The whole gate is very similar to the Ganqing Gate in the last three palaces in terms of shape and scale.
Historical evolution
The Forbidden City was founded in the fifth year of Yongle in the early Ming Dynasty (147). It was rebuilt and added in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty and the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, which finally made the Forbidden City form today's architectural scale. The architecture of the Forbidden City is a masterpiece of ancient palace architecture in China, from which we can appreciate the rich accumulation of Chinese architectural culture for 5, years.
The four periods of Beijing's construction in Ming Dynasty-Zhu Di, the founder of Ming Dynasty, ordered the construction of Beijing Palace in the fourth year of Yongle (146). Since then, the construction works have been continuously carried out until the end of Ming Dynasty. In addition to general maintenance, it can be roughly divided into four periods in terms of engineering quantity.
first, the pioneering period of Yongle. During this period, combined with the construction of the capital city, the old city of the Yuan Dynasty was pushed southward as a whole, and the construction of the Beijing city wall was completed, thus determining the location and scale of Miyagi. Because the Forbidden City was built by absorbing the experience of palace construction in Fengyang and Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty, its layout is more complete. The north and south of Miyagi are divided into the front and the back, and the central axis runs through the north and south, which is symmetrical from left to right, with three roads in a row and six palaces in the east and west, showing the trend of stars arching the moon, basically planning according to the rules of the city in traditional documents such as Zhou Li. The existing Forbidden City has basically maintained the plane pattern laid in Yongle period.
second, the orthodox completion period. This period includes orthodoxy, Jingtai and Tianshun dynasties.