Forbidden City

The Gate of Div ine Might, the northern gate.The lower tablet reads "The Palace Museum"

()

Location within ChinaEstablished 1912Location 4 Jingshan Front St,

Dongcheng, Beijing, ChinaCoordinates 39.915987N 116.397925EType Art museum, Imperial Palace,

Historic siteVisitors

26 million+(2014)[citation needed]Ranked 1st nationallyRanked 1st globally

Curator Shan Jixiang ()Website http://www.dpm.org.cn

The Palace Museum

The Forbidden City asdepicted in a Ming dy nastypainting

The East Glorious Gate underrenov ation as part of the 16-y earrestoration process

The Forbidden City v iewed f romJingshan Hill.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Forbidden City w as the Chinese imperial palace f rom the Ming dynasty tothe end of the Qing dynastythe years 1420 to 1912. It is located in the center ofw hat is now know n as Beijing, (formerly Peking) China, and now houses thePalace Museum . It served as the home of emperors and their households asw ell as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government for almost 500years.Constructed f rom 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers72 ha (180 acres).[1][not in citation given] The palace complex exemplif ies traditionalChinese palatial architecture,[2] and has inf luenced cultural and architecturaldevelopments in East Asia and elsew here. The Forbidden City w as declared aWorld Heritage Site in 1987,[2] and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection ofpreserved ancient w ooden structures in the w orld.Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum,w hose extensive collection of artw ork and artefacts w ere built upon the imperialcollections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collectionis now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descendfrom the same institution, but w ere split af ter the Chinese Civil War. With over 14million annual visitors, the Palace Museum is the most visited Museum in thew orld.[3]

Description [ edit ]The Forbidden City is a rectangle, w ith 961 metres(3,153 f t) f rom north to south and 753 metres(2,470 f t) f rom east to w est.[citation needed] It consistsof 980 surviving buildings w ith 8,886 bays ofrooms;[31][32] how ever this f igure may not includevarious antechambers.[31] Another common f igurepoints to 9,999 rooms including antechambers;[33]although this number is f requently cited, it is likelyan oral tradition, and it is not supported by surveyevidence.[34] The Forbidden City w as designed tobe the centre of the ancient, w alled city of Beijing.It is enclosed in a larger, w alled area called theImperial City. The Imperial City is, in turn, enclosed by the

Inner City; to its south lies the Outer City.The Forbidden City remains important in the civicscheme of Beijing. The central northsouth axisremains the central axis of Beijing. This axisextends to the south through Tiananmen gate toTiananmen Square, the ceremonial centre of thePeople's Republic of China, and on toYongdingmen. To the north, it extends throughJingshan Hill to the Bell and Drum Tow ers.[35]

This axis is not exactly aligned northsouth, but is tilted by slightly more than tw o

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Plan of the Forbidden City. Labels in red are used to ref erto locations throughout the article.- - Approximate div iding line between Inner (north) and Outer(south) Courts.A. Meridian GateB. Gate of Div ine MightC. West Glorious GateD. East Glorious GateE. Corner towersF. Gate of SupremeHarmonyG. Hall of Supreme Harmony

H. Hall of Military EminenceJ. Hall of Literary GloryK. Southern Three PlacesL. Palace of Heav enly PurityM. Imperial gardenN. Hall of Mental Cultiv ationO. Palace of TranquilLongev ity

The Meridian Gate, f ront entranceto the Forbidden City, with twoprotruding wings

The northwest corner tower

The Gate of Supreme Harmony

The Northwest Corner Tower of theForbidden City with Double Rainbow

degrees. Researchers now believe that the axis w as designed inthe Yuan dynasty to be aligned w ith Xanadu, the other capital oftheir empire.[36]

Walls and gates [ edit ]The Forbidden City issurrounded by a 7.9 metres(26 f t) high city w all[13] anda 6 metres (20 f t) deep by52 metres (171 f t) w idemoat. The w alls are 8.62metres (28.3 f t) w ide at thebase, tapering to 6.66metres (21.9 f t) at thetop.[37] These w alls servedas both defensive w alls andretaining w alls for thepalace. They w ereconstructed w ith a rammedearth core, and surfacedw ith three layers ofspecially baked bricks onboth sides, w ith theinterstices f illed w ithmortar.[38]At the four corners of thew all sit tow ers (E) w ithintricate roofs boasting 72

ridges, reproducing the Pavilion of Prince Teng and the YellowCrane Pavilion as they appeared in Song dynasty paintings.[38]These tow ers are the most visible parts of the palace to commoners outside the w alls, and much folklore is attached to them.According to one legend, artisans could not put a corner tow er back together af ter it w as dismantled for renovations in theearly Qing dynasty, and it w as only rebuilt af ter the intervention of carpenter-immortal Lu Ban.[13]The w all is pierced by a gate on each side. At the southern end is the main MeridianGate (A).[39] To the north is the Gate of Divine Might (B), w hich faces Jingshan Park.The east and w est gates are called the "East Glorious Gate" (D) and "West GloriousGate" (C). All gates in the Forbidden City are decorated w ith a nine-by-nine array ofgolden door nails, except for the East Glorious Gate, w hich has only eight row s.[40]The Meridian Gate has tw o protruding w ings forming three sides of a square (Wumen,or Meridian Gate, Square) before it.[41] The gate has f ive gatew ays. The centralgatew ay is part of the Imperial Way, a stone f lagged path that forms the central axis ofthe Forbidden City and the ancient city of Beijing itself , and leads all the w ay f rom theGate of China in the south to Jingshan in the north. Only the Emperor may w alk or rideon the Imperial Way, except for the Empress on the occasion of her w edding, and successful students af ter the ImperialExamination.[40]

Outer Court or the Southern Section [ edit ]Traditionally, the Forbidden City is divided into tw o parts. The Outer Court () or Front Court () includes the southernsections, and w as used for ceremonial purposes. The Inner Court () or Back Palace () includes the northern sections,

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The Hall of Supreme Harmony

The name plate on the Hall ofSupreme Harmony

The throne in the Hall ofPreserv ing Harmony

The Hall of Central Harmony(f oreground) and the Hall ofPreserv ing Harmony

and w as the residence of the Emperor and his family, and w as used for day-to-dayaffairs of state. (The approximate dividing line show n as red dash in the plan above.)Generally, the Forbidden City has three vertical axes. The most important buildings aresituated on the central northsouth axis.[40]Entering f rom the Meridian Gate, one encounters a large square, pierced by themeandering Inner Golden Water River, w hich is crossed by f ive bridges. Beyond thesquare stands the Gate of Supreme Harmony (F). Behind that is the Hall of SupremeHarmony Square.[42] A three-tiered w hite marble terrace rises f rom this square. Threehalls stand on top of this terrace, the focus of the palace complex. From the south,these are the Hall of Supreme Harmony (), the Hall of Central Harmony (),and the Hall of Preserving Harmony ().[43]The Hall of Supreme Harmony (G) is the largest, and rises some 30 metres (98 f t)above the level of the surrounding square. It is the ceremonial centre of imperial pow er,and the largest surviving w ooden structure in China. It is nine bays w ide and f ive baysdeep, the numbers 9 and 5 being symbolically connected to the majesty of theEmperor.[44] Set into the ceiling at the centre of the hall is an intricate caisson decoratedw ith a coiled dragon, f rom the mouth of w hich issues a chandelier-like set of metalballs, called the "Xuanyuan Mirror".[45] In the Ming dynasty, the Emperor held court hereto discuss affairs of state. During the Qing dynasty, as Emperors held court far morefrequently, a less ceremonious location w as used instead, and the Hall of SupremeHarmony w as only used for ceremonial purposes, such as coronations, investitures,and imperial w eddings.[46]The Hall of Central Harmony is a smaller, square hall, used by the Emperor to prepareand rest before and during ceremonies.[47] Behind it, the Hall of Preserving Harmony,w as used for rehearsing ceremonies, and w as also the site of the f inal stage of theImperial examination.[48] All three halls feature imperial thrones, the largest and mostelaborate one being that in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.[49]At the centre of the ramps leading up to the terraces f rom the northern and southernsides are ceremonial ramps, part of the Imperial Way, featuring elaborate and symbolicbas-relief carvings. The northern ramp, behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony, iscarved f rom a single piece of stone 16.57 metres (54.4 f t) long, 3.07 metres (10.1 f t)w ide, and 1.7 metres (5.6 f t) thick. It w eighs some 200 tonnes and is the largest suchcarving in China.[8] The southern ramp, in f ront of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, is evenlonger, but is made f rom tw o stone slabs joined together the joint w as ingeniouslyhidden using overlapping bas-relief carvings, and w as only discovered w henw eathering w idened the gap in the 20th century.[50]In the south w est and south east of the Outer Court are the halls of Military Eminence(H) and Literary Glory (J). The former w as used at various times for the Emperor toreceive ministers and hold court, and later housed the Palace's ow n printing house. Thelatter w as used for ceremonial lectures by highly regarded Confucian scholars, andlater became the off ice of the Grand Secretariat. A copy of the Siku Quanshu w asstored there. To the north-east are the Southern Three Places () (K), w hich w as the residence of the Crow n Prince.[42]

Inner Court or the Northern Section [ edit ]The Inner Court is separated f rom the Outer Court by an oblong courtyard lying orthogonal to the City's main axis. It w as thehome of the Emperor and his family. In the Qing dynasty, the Emperor lived and w orked almost exclusively in the Inner Court,w ith the Outer Court used only for ceremonial purposes.[51]At the centre of the Inner Court is another set of three halls (L). From the south, these are the Palace of Heavenly Purity (

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The Palace of Heav enly Purity

Water spouts between lev els in theInner Court prev ent f looding on thehigher lev els.

The throne in the Palace ofHeav enly Purity

The Nine Dragons Screen in f rontof the Palace of Tranquil Longev ity

), Hall of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. Smaller than the Outer Courthalls, the three halls of the Inner Court w ere the off icial residences of the Emperor andthe Empress. The Emperor, representing Yang and the Heavens, w ould occupy thePalace of Heavenly Purity. The Empress, representing Yin and the Earth, w ould occupythe Palace of Earthly Tranquility. In betw een them w as the Hall of Union, w here the Yinand Yang mixed to produce harmony.[52]The Palace of Heavenly Purity is a double-eaved building, and set on a single-levelw hite marble platform. It is connected to the Gate of Heavenly Purity to its south by araised w alkw ay. In the Ming dynasty, it w as the residence of the Emperor. How ever,

beginning f rom the Yongzheng Emperor of theQing dynasty, the Emperor lived instead at thesmaller Hall of Mental Cultivation (N) to the w est,out of respect to the memory of the KangxiEmperor.[13] The Palace of Heavenly Purity thenbecame the Emperor's audience hall.[53] Acaisson is set into the roof , featuring a coileddragon. Above the throne hangs a tablet reading"Justice and Honour" (Chinese: ; pinyin:zhngdgungmng).[54]The Palace of Earthly Tranquility () is adouble-eaved building, 9 bays w ide and 3 bays

deep. In the Ming dynasty, it w as the residence of the Empress. In the Qing dynasty, large portions of the Palace w ereconverted for Shamanist w orship by the new Manchu rulers. From the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, the Empress movedout of the Palace. How ever, tw o rooms in the Palace of Earthly Harmony w ere retained for use on the Emperor's w eddingnight.[55]Betw een these tw o palaces is the Hall of Union, w hich is square in shape w ith a pyramidal roof . Stored here are the 25Imperial Seals of the Qing dynasty, as w ell as other ceremonial items.[56]Behind these three halls lies the Imperial Garden (M). Relatively small, and compact indesign, the garden nevertheless contains several elaborate landscaping features.[57] Tothe north of the garden is the Gate of Divine Might.Directly to the w est is the Hall of Mental Cultivation (N). Originally a minor palace, thisbecame the de facto residence and off ice of the Emperor starting f rom Yongzheng. Inthe last decades of the Qing dynasty, empresses dow ager, including Cixi, held courtf rom the eastern partition of the hall. Located around the Hall of Mental Cultivation arethe off ices of the Grand Council and other key government bodies.[58]The north-eastern section of the Inner Court is taken up by the Palace of TranquilLongevity () (O), a complex built by the Qianlong Emperor in anticipation of hisretirement. It mirrors the set-up of the Forbidden City proper and features an "outercourt", an "inner court", and gardens and temples. The entrance to the Palace of Tranquil Longevity is marked by a glazed-tileNine Dragons Screen.[59] This section of the Forbidden City is being restored in a partnership betw een the Palace Museum andthe World Monuments Fund, a long-term project expected to f inish in 2017.[60]

Religion [ edit ]Religion w as an important part of life for the imperial court. In the Qing dynasty, the Palace of Earthly Harmony became a placeof Manchu Shamanist ceremony. At the same time, the native Chinese Taoist religion continued to have an important rolethroughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. There w ere tw o Taoist shrines, one in the imperial garden and another in the centralarea of the Inner Court.[61]

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Location of the Forbidden City inthe historic centre of Beijing

Imperial roof decoration of thehighest status on the roof ridge of theHall of Supreme Harmony

Another prevalent form of religion in the Qing dynasty palace w as Buddhism. A number of temples and shrines w erescattered throughout the Inner Court, including that of Tibetan Buddhism or Lamaism. Buddhist iconography also proliferated inthe interior decorations of many buildings.[62] Of these, the Pavilion of the Rain of Flow ers is one of the most important. Ithoused a large number of Buddhist statues, icons, and mandalas, placed in ritualistic arrangements.[63]

Surroundings [ edit ]The Forbidden City is surrounded on three sides by imperial gardens. To the north isJingshan Park, also know n as Prospect Hill, an artif icial hill created f rom the soilexcavated to build the moat and f rom nearby lakes.[64]To the w est lies Zhongnanhai, a former royal garden centred on tw o connected lakes,w hich now serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China andthe State Council of the People's Republic of China. To the north-w est lies Beihai Park,also centred on a lake connected to the southern tw o, and a popular royal park.To the south of the Forbidden City w ere tw o important shrines the Imperial Shrine ofFamily or the Imperial Ancestral Temple (Chinese: ; pinyin: Timio) and the ImperialShrine of State (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tishj), w here the Emperor w ould veneratethe spirits of his ancestors and the spirit of the nation, respectively. Today, these arethe Beijing Labouring People's Cultural Hall[65] and Zhongshan Park (commemorating SunYat-sen) respectively.[66]To the south, tw o nearly identical gatehouses stand along the main axis. They are the Upright Gate (Chinese: ; pinyin:Dunmn) and the more famous Tiananmen Gate, w hich is decorated w ith a portrait of Mao Zedong in the centre and tw oplacards to the lef t and right: "Long Live the People's Republic of China" and "Long live the Great Unity of the World's Peoples".The Tiananmen Gate connects the Forbidden City precinct w ith the modern, symbolic centre of the Chinese state, TiananmenSquare.While development is now tightly controlled in the vicinity of the Forbidden City, throughout the past century uncontrolled andsometimes politically motivated demolition and reconstruction has changed the character of the areas surrounding theForbidden City. Since 2000, the Beijing municipal government has w orked to evict governmental and military institutionsoccupying some historical buildings, and has established a park around the remaining parts of the Imperial City w all. In 2004,an ordinance relating to building height and planning restriction w as renew ed to establish the Imperial City area and thenorthern city area as a buffer zone for the Forbidden City.[67] In 2005, the Imperial City and Beihai (as an extension item to theSummer Palace) w ere included in the shortlist for the next World Heritage Site in Beijing.[68]

Symbolism [ edit ]The design of the Forbidden City, f rom its overall layout to the smallest detail, w asmeticulously planned to ref lect philosophical and religious principles, and above all tosymbolise the majesty of Imperial pow er. Some noted examples of symbolic designsinclude:

Yellow is the color of the Emperor. Thus almost all roofs in the Forbidden City bearyellow glazed tiles. There are only tw o exceptions. The library at the Pavilion ofLiterary Profundity () had black tiles because black w as associated w ithw ater, and thus f ire-prevention. Similarly, the Crow n Prince's residences havegreen tiles because green w as associated w ith w ood, and thus grow th.[44]The main halls of the Outer and Inner courts are all arranged in groups of three the shape of the Qian triagram,representing Heaven. The residences of the Inner Court on the other hand are arranged in groups of six the shape of theKun triagram, representing the Earth.[13]The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated w ith a line of statuettes led by a man riding a phoenix and follow ed byan imperial dragon. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building a minor building might have 3 or 5. TheHall of Supreme Harmony has 10, the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times. As a result, its 10th

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Palace Museum exhibits on displayin the corridor connecting the Hall ofLiterary Glory and the Hall of MainRespect

Two Qing dy nasty "blue porcelain"wares

A blue and white porcelain v asewith cloud and dragon designs, markedwith the word "Longev ity " (), Jiajingperiod of Ming dy nasty

Bathing Horses (section) by ZhaoMengf u (12541322)

Equestrian painting of the QianlongEmperor (r. 17351796) by GiuseppeCastiglione

statuette, called a "Hangshi", or "ranked tenth" (Chinese: ; pinyin: Hngsh),[56] is also unique in the Forbidden City.[69]The layout of buildings follow s ancient customs laid dow n in the Classic of Rites. Thus, ancestral temples are in f ront ofthe palace. Storage areas are placed in the f ront part of the palace complex, and residences in the back.[70]

Collections [ edit ]The collections of the Palace Museum are basedon the Qing imperial collection. According to theresults of a 1925 audit, some 1.17 million piecesof art w ere stored in the Forbidden City.[71] Inaddition, the imperial libraries housed a largecollection of rare books and historicaldocuments, including government documents ofthe Ming and Qing dynasties.[72]From 1933, the threat of Japanese invasionforced the evacuation of the most importantparts of the Museum's collection. Af ter the endof World War II, this collection w as returned toNanjing. How ever, w ith the Communists' victoryimminent in the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalistgovernment decided to ship the pick of thiscollection to Taiw an. Of the 13,491 boxes ofevacuated artifacts, 2,972 boxes are nowhoused in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.More than 8,000 boxes w ere returned to Beijing,but 2,221 boxes remain today in storage underthe charge of the Nanjing Museum.[22]After 1949, the Museum conducted a new auditas w ell as a thorough search of the ForbiddenCity, uncovering a number of important items. Inaddition, the government moved items f rom othermuseums around the country to replenish thePalace Museum's collection. It also purchasedand received donations f rom the public.[73]Today, there are over a million rare and valuable

w orks of art in the permanent collection of the Palace Museum,[74] including paintings,ceramics, seals, steles, sculptures, inscribed w ares, bronze w ares, enamel objects,etc. According to an inventory of the Museum's collection conducted betw een 2004and 2010, the Palace Museum holds a total of 1,807,558 artifacts and includes1,684,490 items designated as nationally protected "valuable cultural relics."[75]Ceram icsThe Palace Museum holds 340,000 pieces of ceramics and porcelain. These includeimperial collections f rom the Tang dynasty and the Song dynasty, as w ell as piecescommissioned by the Palace, and, sometimes, by the Emperor personally. The PalaceMuseum holds about 320,000 pieces of porcelain f rom the imperial collection. The restare almost all held in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Nanjing Museum.[76]PaintingThe Palace Museum holds close to 50,000 paintings. Of these, more than 400 date f rom before the Yuan dynasty

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A gilded lion in f ront of the Palaceof Tranquil Longev ity

Glazed building decoration

(12711368). This is the largest such collection in China.[77] The collection is based on the palace collection in the Ming andQing dynasties. The personal interest of Emperors such as Qianlong meant that the palace held one of the most importantcollections of paintings in Chinese history. How ever, a signif icant portion of this collection w as lost over the years. Af ter hisabdication, Puyi transferred paintings out of the palace, and many of these w ere subsequently lost or destroyed. In 1948,many of the w orks w ere moved to Taiw an. The collection has subsequently been replenished, through donations, purchases,and transfers f rom other museums.Bronzew areThe Palace Museum's bronze collection dates f rom the early Shang dynasty. Of the almost 10,000 pieces held, about 1,600 areinscribed items f rom the pre-Qin period (to 221 BC). A signif icant part of the collection is ceremonial bronzew are f rom theimperial court.[78]Tim epiecesThe Palace Museum has one of the largest collections of mechanical timepieces of the 18th and 19th centuries in the w orld,w ith more than 1,000 pieces. The collection contains both Chinese- and foreign-made pieces. Chinese pieces came from thepalace's ow n w orkshops, Guangzhou (Canton) and Suzhou (Suchow ). Foreign pieces came from countries including Britain,France, Sw itzerland, the United States and Japan. Of these, the largest portion come from Britain.[79]JadeJade has a unique place in Chinese culture.[80] The Museum's collection, mostly derived f rom the imperial collection, includessome 30,000 pieces. The pre-Yuan dynasty part of the collection includes several pieces famed throughout history, as w ell asartifacts f rom more recent archaeological discoveries. The earliest pieces date f rom the Neolithic period. Ming dynasty andQing dynasty pieces, on the other hand, include both items for palace use, as w ell as tribute items f rom around the Empire andbeyond.[81]Palace artifactsIn addition to w orks of art, a large proportion of the Museum's collection consists of the artefacts of the imperial court. Thisincludes items used by the imperial family and the palace in daily life, as w ell as various ceremonial and bureaucratic itemsimportant to government administration. This comprehensive collection preserves the daily life and ceremonial protocols of theimperial era.[82]

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