Forbidden City

During the Labour Day holidays, I went with my friend Juliet to visit the Forbidden City. I had already been there when I first came to China when I was 16, but I didn't take many photos and I couldn't remember much as it was a while ago, so I decided to pay it another visit. As was expected, we spent over an hour queuing just to get through security and buy tickets, but once we finally got into the main palace complex, it was well worth it.

The Forbidden City was built in 1420 by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. This complex served as the imperial palace of the Chinese empire for almost 500 years throughout the Ming and Qing Dynasties until the final emperor of China, Puyi, abdicated from the throne in 1912 following the Chinese revolution. 

The Forbidden City gets its name from the fact that no one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission. 

Tian'anmen.

Today, a portrait of Mao Zedong, the founding father of Communist China, adorns Tian'anmen (below), the southern entrance to the Imperial City which contains the Forbidden City. "Tian'anmen" means "Gate of Heavenly Peace". The banners on either side of Mao's portrait read  "long live the People's Republic of China" and "long live the great unity of the people of the world". 

Tian'anmen

The first thing you see after passing through the Tian'anmen is the Meridian Gate (below). This is the actual entrance to the Forbidden City. It was from here that the emperors would review their troops, issue imperial proclamations and receive prisoners of war. The central arch was reserved for the use of the emperor alone, with the exception of the empress on the day of her wedding, and the top three scholars of the triennial civil service examinations when leaving the palace.

Meridian Gate

After the Meridian Gate comes the Gate of Supreme Harmony. This gate served as the venue for the ceremonial morning court, and occasionally for banquets. The original gate burnt down in 1886 due to a lamp that was tipped over in the guard room. The present gate as it stands today was built in 1894.

There are five bridges in front of the gate spanning the Inner River of the Golden Water.

Gate of Supreme Harmony

One of the stone guardian lions outside the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

Artwork on the front beams of the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

Artwork on the ceiling of the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

Zhendu Gate on the west side of the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

The next building is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. This is the largest hall within the Forbidden City. This hall is where the Ming and Qing emperors hosted their enthronement and wedding ceremonies. During the Ming Dynasty, emperors held court here to discuss affairs of state. This hall was destroyed seven times by fires during the Qing Dynasty, and was last rebuilt in 1697.

Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony houses the Dragon Throne, the emperor's symbolic seat of power over Imperial China. Unfortunately, it was a busy day and I was only able to get close enough to see it for myself, but the crowd was pushing and shoving relentlessly, so I wasn't able to take a good photo.

The rough crowd outside the door leading to the Dragon Throne.

Eves of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Rear of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

In the next section came the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. The former was used by the emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies, and the latter was used for rehearsing ceremonies and as the site of the final stage of imperial examinations.

The Hall of Central Harmony (right) and the Hall of Preserving Harmony (left).

The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony, situated in the very centre of the palace complex, were considered to be at the centre of the earth. 

These three halls sit on a three tiered base that forms the shape of the Chinese character 土 meaning "earth". This is because in Chinese mythology, there is a palace in the realm of the North Star that is home to the Celestial Emperor, and the Forbidden City is it's earthly counterpart, home of the terrestrial emperor. 

The throne inside the Hall of Central Harmony.

The throne inside the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

The large vessel below is one of many placed throughout the Forbidden City. These were for storing water to be used in case of the outbreak of fire. Several vessels, like the one below, used to be covered in gold, however much of the gold was scraped off when the palace was looted during the occupation of Beijing in 1900 by soldiers of the Eight Nation Alliance, made up of countries such as the United Kingdom, France and the United States. 

Water vessel.

Below is a pair of guardian lions. Traditionally, one of the statues depicts a male lion with his paw resting on an embroidered ball (right), which in imperial contexts represents supremacy over the world, and the other statue depicts a female lion using its paw to restrain a lion cub (left), representing nurture. These lions are still placed in front of many modern buildings in China. 

                         

Above and below are photos from the Hall of Imperial Supremacy.

On all the roofs of the buildings and gateways throughout the palace there are little ceramic creatures that are supposed to keep away evil spirits. 

The central buildings of the palace directly connected to the emperor have eleven figures on the roof, while all other buildings must have less than eleven.

In the south-east part of the palace grounds is the dragon screen below. This screen features nine dragons, which makes it the largest dragon screen in China. Each glazed ceramic tile was made exactly the right shape specifically for this screen.

When the workers were making this screen, they broke one of the tiles that was supposed to go on the belly of the white dragon below. The tile would have to be made again from scratch, so in fear of a harsh punishment, the workers carved a new tile out of wood and painted it white. At the time, the dragon looked just like it was meant to and nobody knew the difference, but over time the paint began to come off. You can see the wooden tile on the belly towards the bottom between the two hind legs.

The Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty to rule China, originated in Manchuria, an area in north-east China. The Manchurian culture and language was quite different from that of the Han Chinese over which they ruled. There are traces of the Qing dynasty's Manchurian roots all through the Forbidden City. One example is the signs placed above the gateways which have Chinese written on the left and Manchurian on the right. 

An incense burner.

The Hall of Water, which was never completed as it was under construction when the Qing dynasty fell.