[Edit this paragraph] Introduction to the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the palace of 24 emperors of China's Ming and Qing dynasties. 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 the Forbidden City Palace and it was completed in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420). According to ancient Chinese astrological theory, Ziweiyuan (i.e. 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.
The Forbidden City is 961m long from north to south, 753m wide from east to west, and covers an area of ??720,000 square meters. There are 980 houses and a total of 8,704 rooms. It is surrounded by a 10m high city wall and a 52m wide moat. 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 Hall, Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall, supplemented by Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall 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 Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kunning Palace, six East and West Palaces and the Imperial Garden. On the east side are the Fengxian and Huangji Palaces, and on the west side are the Yangxin Palace and Yuhua Pavilion. , Cining Palace, etc. are the places where the emperor and his concubines lived, held sacrifices and religious activities, and handled daily government affairs. They were called "hou sleeps". In addition, there are Zhai Palace, Yuqing Palace, Chonghua Palace, etc. The total building area of ??the front and rear palaces 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 take a step closer.
Looking at the Forbidden City from the direction of Shenwumen
The Forbidden City is located in the center of Beijing. It is now called the Forbidden City, which means the former 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. There were two Forbidden City built in the Ming Dynasty, one in Beijing and one in Nanjing.
[Edit this paragraph] The origin of the name of the Forbidden City
The name of the Forbidden City is a metaphor for the Ziwei Star Altar. Ancient Chinese astronomers once divided the stars in the sky into three constellations, twenty-eight stars and other constellations. The three altars include Taiwei Altar, Ziwei Altar and Tianshi Altar. The Ziwei Altar is in the center of the three walls. According to ancient Chinese astronomy, based on long-term observations of celestial bodies in space, it is believed that the Ziwei star cluster resides in the middle of the sky and its position remains unchanged forever, so it has become a constellation representing the Emperor of Heaven. 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".
The feudal emperors claimed to be the sons of the Emperor of Heaven and considered themselves the real Dragon Emperor; and the palace where they lived 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, so as to achieve the goal of lasting stability and 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. Common people are not allowed to even look at the towers and palaces, even if they get closer.
In addition to the maids, eunuchs, and guards who served them, only summoned officials and authorized personnel could enter the palace where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties and their families lived. Outsiders were not allowed to enter the palace. A place that is one step beyond the thunder pool. 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.
[Edit this paragraph] Architectural layout of 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 total building area of ??the palace reaches 163,000 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 moat 52 meters wide 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 palaces in the Forbidden City are all wooden structures, with yellow glazed tile roofs, blue and white stone bases, and are decorated with magnificent colorful paintings. Its plane layout, three-dimensional effect, and majestic, grand, solemn, and harmonious form can all be said to be rare in the world. It is a masterpiece of ancient Chinese architectural art and a concentrated expression of the imperial power ideology of China's authoritarian society for more than 2,000 years. 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 Forbidden City in Beijing was planned to be built in the fifth year of Yongle (1404-1424 AD) 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.
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.
The Forbidden City is located in the center of the capital of Beijing. The central axis passes through the center of the imperial city, that is, through the three main halls and the three back palaces of the Forbidden City. The main entrance of the Forbidden City is the Meridian Gate due south, also known as the "Five Phoenix Tower". The Meridian Gate is the tallest gate in the palace. Major ceremonies such as amnesty and prisoner sacrifice were 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 is divided into two parts: the "outer court" and the "inner court". Located in front of the Forbidden City. 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 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. All major national activities and various rituals were held in the outer court. 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 inner court is located at the rear (north) of the Forbidden City, including the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, and Kunning Palace. It is where the emperor and his queen lived. On both sides of this group of palaces are the East and West Sixth Palace for residence, Ningshou Palace, and Cining Palace. etc.; and four imperial gardens distributed throughout the inner court. 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 was renamed "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 (called Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall and Jinshen Hall in the Ming Dynasty. During the Jiajing period, they were renamed: Huangji Hall, Zhongji Hall and Jianji Hall). ).
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the "Jinluan Hall", 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 a Xumizuo. The form is surrounded by white jade railings, with pillar capitals on the railings and chi heads 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 China. 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 is surrounded by corridors. It covers an area of ??580 square meters. The roof has a single eaves and pointed roof, and a gilded copper roof. It was a resting place and a place for the emperor to practice etiquette when he went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to attend court. The Baohe Hall behind the Zhonghe Hall is the place where the emperor gives banquets to princes from other vassals every New Year's Eve. During the Qing Dynasty, it was the place where imperial examinations were held.
The main entrance of the inner court is called Qianqing Gate. In front of it is a long and flat courtyard, commonly known as Hengjie. To the south of Hengjie is the Baohe Hall. To the north behind the Baohe Hall, you can reach Hengjie by going straight down three floors of the platform. Therefore, 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 a width of five bays, a single-eave gable roof, and a white stone platform below. The size of Qianqing Gate is slightly lower than that of Taihe Gate, the main entrance of the three main halls. On both sides of the door, there is a glazed screen wall 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.
Qianqing Palace
Qianqing Palace is the main hall of the Housan Palace. In the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, Qianqing Palace has always been the bedroom of the emperor and queen. At the front of the inner court, the high 20 meters in height, the palace is nine bays wide, with a verandah-style roof with double eaves. There are two small halls, Zhaoren Hall and Hongde Hall, connected to the left and right. There is a passage between the two ends, which can communicate with Taidian Palace and Kunning Palace.
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.
The Qianqing Palace is the main hall of the inner court. There is a throne in the middle of the hall and a plaque saying "Justice and Brightness" inside. There are warm pavilions at both ends. Qianqing Palace was the residence of the feudal emperor. Before Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, this was the place where the emperor lived and handled government affairs. After Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor moved to Yangxin Hall, but he still reviewed memorials, selected officials and summoned ministers here.
Jiaotai Hall is located between Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace, which means "the union of heaven and earth, health and happiness". It was built in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the third year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1798 AD). It is a square hall with pointed corners, a gold-plated roof and dragon and phoenix patterns. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this hall was the place where birthday celebrations were held for the Queen. The queen of the Qing Dynasty had to come here to check the preparations for the so-called silkworm kissing ceremony. The "Baoxi" (seal) of the Qing Dynasty is also collected here.
Kunning Palace
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.
The Yangxin Hall is located on the west side of the Qianqing Palace in the inner court. It is an independent courtyard with a length of about 63 meters from north to south and a width of 80 meters from east to west, covering an area of ??5,000 square meters. The front hall of Yangxin Hall is three rooms wide and 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 the Qing Dynasty, emperors mostly lived here and conducted daily activities.
In the northern half of the eastern part 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 Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong announced his abdication and became the Supreme Emperor and built the Ningshou Palace here. This is a very complete building group, which is divided into the front There are two parts: the palace and the sleeping quarters at the back. 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 sides are Qinxi Gate and Xiqing Gate. A screen wall is laid out in the south facing Huangji Gate to form the 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 pedestal. There are three steps in front of the pedestal. 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.
[Edit this paragraph] Historical evolution
The Forbidden City was first built in the fifth year of Yongle (1407) in the early Ming Dynasty. It was continuously renovated and added during the Ming and Qing dynasties, especially during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. The restructuring and reconstruction during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty finally brought the Forbidden City to its current architectural scale. The architecture of the Forbidden City embodies the culmination of ancient Chinese palace architecture, from which one can appreciate the rich accumulation of five thousand years of Chinese architectural culture.
The four periods of construction of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty - Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, ordered the construction of the Beijing Imperial Palace in the fourth year of Yongle (1406). Since then, the construction projects have been carried out one after another until the end of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to general maintenance, based on the engineering volume, it can be roughly divided into four periods.
1. The founding period of Yongle. During this period, combined with the construction of the capital, the entire ancient capital of the Yuan Dynasty was moved southward, and the construction of the Beijing city wall was completed, thus determining the location and scale of the palace city. Since the Forbidden City was constructed based on the experience of palace construction in Fengyang and Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty, its layout is more complete. The north and south of the palace are divided into front dynasties and back quarters. The central axis runs through the north and south. It is symmetrical from left to right. There are three roads in a row, and six palaces in the east and west are arranged in a circle. They are in the shape of stars over the moon. They are basically in accordance with the regulations of the royal city in traditional documents such as "The Rites of Zhou". Make plans. The existing Forbidden City basically maintains the layout laid down in the Yongle period.
2. The period of completion of orthodoxy. This period included the Zhengtong, Jingtai, and Tianshun dynasties. It was a period of initial stability and prosperity after the founding of the Ming Dynasty. The country had relatively abundant financial and material resources. It successively completed the construction of major altars, temples and imperial gardens in Beijing, the reconstruction of the three main halls of the Forbidden City, and the construction of two palaces in the Forbidden City. The renovation of the palace was also a major project during this period. After Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, his first major undertaking was the construction of the Forbidden City, which started in the first year of Zhengtong (1436) and was completed in the tenth year of Zhengtong (1446).
3. Jiajing expansion period. At this time, the Ming Dynasty became increasingly prosperous, commercial capitalism developed, and a prosperous commercial district gradually formed outside the first three gates of Beijing.
In the 23rd year of Jiajing (1544), Wailuo City in the south was built for defense. The key projects during this period were still the projects of the three main halls of the Forbidden City. This dynasty had the most fires. The fire in the 36th year of Jiajing (1557) actually caused "three halls and fifteen gates to be destroyed". It had to be rebuilt one after another, and it was not rebuilt until the 41st year of Jiajing (1562). During this period, the construction of the three main halls was temporarily stalled due to the reconstruction of the Longevity Palace.
4. The period of decline in the late Ming Dynasty. From Wanli to the end of Ming Dynasty, signs of decline became increasingly obvious, and the government was no longer able to carry out large-scale construction. Another fire broke out in the three main halls of the Wanli Dynasty, but this time the reconstruction was put on hold for 18 years. The project lasted 12 years and was not completed until the Tianqi period.
[Edit this paragraph] Architectural French
Architectural French refers to a set of special systems formed during the development of ancient Chinese architecture with wooden frames as the main structural method towards standardization and stereotypes. The "Building Code" published in the second year of Chongning in the Northern Song Dynasty (1103) is a specification for the design, construction and materials used in palaces, temples, official offices, mansions and other buildings. Accordingly, modern architectural historians refer to the various parts of ancient buildings and the specifications, proportions, and construction requirements of their components as "French style".
The architectural style of the Forbidden City Palace has developed on the basis of inheriting the past tradition of standardization and stereotypes. The "Engineering Practice" promulgated in the twelfth year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (1734) was a regulation and specification for the construction of housing including palace buildings, which further institutionalized the legal requirements for palace construction.
The architectural style of palaces in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was more complete, detailed and practical than before. There are clear regulations on all aspects. The institutionalization of the architectural French style, on the one hand, marks the high maturity of the architectural system, which is conducive to improving work efficiency and strengthening project management. However, on the other hand, it also has a tendency to become rigid, which greatly limits the creativity of architectural designers.
[Edit this paragraph] Construction technology
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, construction technology developed to a great extent. The design and construction are highly standardized and finalized, which not only speeds up the project progress, but also facilitates construction and fund management.
The construction of palaces in the Qing Dynasty was jointly managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Works. The Ministry of Internal Affairs established a Construction Department responsible for the renovation of the Forbidden City. The Construction Department has a "sample room" and a "calculation room" and is responsible for designing drawings, making "hot samples" and estimating work materials. In the twelfth year of Yongzheng's reign (1734), the Ministry of Industry issued "Engineering Practice" as the standard for the design, construction, and labor and material accounting of temples, palaces, warehouses, city walls, temples, palaces, and other buildings. There are a total of eleven majors in construction and about twenty types of work. The division of labor is clear and each has its own department. There are eight major majors: wood, tile, stone, brickwork, soil, paint, color painting, and pasting. All majors cooperate with each other to ensure project quality.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the production of bricks, tiles and glazed components greatly exceeded the previous ones in both quantity and quality. Palace buildings generally use glazed tile roofs, important palaces use gold bricks to cover the floors, and the architectural decorations are also extremely luxurious.
[Edit this paragraph] Architectural Art
Ancient Chinese architecture has its unique artistic characteristics, such as the symmetrical layout, courtyard combination, spatial arrangement, single building, architectural decoration, The indoor and outdoor furnishings, roof forms and architectural colors all reflect the artistic characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture, from which we can understand and appreciate the beauty of ancient Chinese architecture. The Forbidden City has not only achieved extremely high artistic achievements in terms of overall planning and individual architectural design, but it is also a representative of traditional Chinese architectural art in the use of architectural colors.
Contrast techniques are widely used in the color design of the Forbidden City, resulting in an extremely bright and magnificent overall color effect. When people enter the palace city through Tiananmen and Meridian Gate, the sharp contrast between the blue sky and yellow tiles, green paintings and vermilion doors and windows, white platform base and dark ground along the way gives people a strong artistic impression.
The main building on the central axis of the palace strictly follows the above-mentioned overall effect, while other areas are flexibly processed according to the building function and the surrounding environment. For example, the roof of Wenyuan Pavilion on Waichaodong Road is made of black glazed tiles with green edges, and the doors, windows, and pillars are also green. Together with the stacked stones and flowers and trees in the courtyard, they form a quiet literati garden architectural environment. In the inner palace gardens such as the Imperial Garden and the Qianlong Garden, there are a large number of pavilions and pavilions with a relatively free application of colors and rich changes.
The color treatment of the Forbidden City buildings involves both large-scale management and detailed consideration. Taking the Huangji Hall as an example, the green paintings under the eaves, the dougongs, the vermilion eaves pillars, and the doors and windows create an overall effect of warmth and coldness, as well as light and dark contrasts; and the pads between each dougong and the pads between the upper and lower forehead beams It is red, and the couplets hanging on the eaves are mainly blue, creating a situation where contrasting colors penetrate each other. Contrast tones account for a small proportion of the main color tone and do not destroy the overall color effect, but play a role in reconciliation and balance. The extensive use of gold decoration also makes the transition between the two contrasting tones less abrupt. For example, gold dragon patterns are often used in the green and green paintings on the forehead beams; gold foil is often used to decorate the skirt panels and center of the vermilion doors and windows, and the borders are outlined with gold lines. In addition, the clever use of black and white and the technique of "secondary colors" all played an important role in the processing of color details in the Forbidden City's architecture.
The interior colors of buildings are mostly processed according to their functions.
The main building on the central axis plays an important role. The ceilings and beams in the hall are painted in green and green, the doors and windows are red, and gold decoration is used extensively to create a solemn and luxurious atmosphere. But in the palace where the emperor and empress rested and entertained, the color treatment was completely different. Doors, windows, sash fans, and ceilings usually maintain the natural color of wood, and the interior walls are whitewashed or covered with white paper. The style and color of the decorations tend to be simple and elegant. Together with the mahogany furniture and furnishings in the room, the overall tone tends to be peaceful and tranquil.
[Edit this paragraph] The Royal Palace in Hue, Vietnam
In addition to the Forbidden City in China, there is also a Forbidden City in Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam, which is the Royal Palace in Hue, Vietnam. The Forbidden City in Hue is the royal palace of the New Nguyen Dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam. It was built from 1802 to 1945. During the 143 years after the demise of King Nguyen, it has been the residence of the royal family. The Forbidden City in Hue is built after the layout of the Forbidden City in Beijing, with a moat outside the palace. The palace has four gates. The main entrance, the Meridian Gate, has double gates like the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City. Among the four gates of the palace, only the Meridian Gate has a tower. The palace imitates the Forbidden City in Beijing, and built three main halls: the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Civilization and the Hall of Qinzheng. The important palaces, pavilions and Meridian Gate Tower in the palace are all decorated with glazed tiles on the top, which is very gorgeous. Many of the palaces within the palace were destroyed during the war, but have been rebuilt. The palace includes Qinzheng Hall where the emperor handles government affairs, Qiancheng Hall where the emperor lives, Kuntai Palace where the queen lives, Guangming Hall where the prince lives, and Shunhui Courtyard where the concubines live. The gardens and rivers of the palace are evenly distributed throughout the palace.
[Edit this paragraph] Origin of the name
The Forbidden City is also known as the Forbidden City, and its name is derived from the metaphor of the Ziwei Star Altar. Ancient Chinese astronomers once divided the stars in the sky into three constellations, twenty-eight stars and other constellations. The three altars include Taiwei Altar, Ziwei Altar and Tianshi Altar. The Ziwei Altar is in the center of the three walls. According to ancient Chinese astronomy, based on long-term observations of celestial bodies in space, it is believed that the Ziwei star cluster resides in the middle of the sky and its position remains unchanged forever, so it has become a constellation representing the Emperor of Heaven. 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".