China Beijing

A day in...

Zǐjìnchéng: literally Purple Forbidden City, was the imperial palace of China since the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The Forbidden City is located in central Beijing, China.

Forbidden City

Currently, the entire palace complex is best known as Palace Museum, and covers an area of 720,000 sqm - equivalent to a square of 9 by 8 blocks - with 980 surviving buildings, and just over 8,700 rooms. The main entrance is located on the largest square in the world - Tiananmen, which

measures about 260,000 sqm.

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The Forbidden City is surrounded by a wall 7.9 m high with average depth of 7.5 m and that at south, has five drilled passages constituting the main entrance - Meridian Gate, by Tiananmen Square. The

middle opening is part of the Imperial Way, a stone path running north-south, which only the emperor could pass, with the exception of the Empress on the occasion of her marriage.

Anyone who dared to cross the gates without permission was subject to summary and painful execution.

It was part of the tradition that the doors of all halls and imperial garden were decorated with nine rows of nine nails.

The beggining of construction of the Forbidden City was in 1407, but by 1420 it was already completed. One million workers, including 100,000 artisans, worked hard in the long task.

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For more than five centuries it served as the residence of the Emperor and his domestic staff, being the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese government.

Hence, it was the seat of a government that commanded the most populous empire on earth, and it remains the largest palace in the world.

After the main entrance - Meridian Gate - to reach the interior of the Palace one needs to cross the 52 m wide and 6 m depth moat that surrounds it. Only then there is an access to the first Gate - that of

Supreme Harmony, which by its stairs has two bronze lions.

Hall of Supreme Harmony - was the symbol of imperial power and so has the tallest structure: 35.02 m high besides the decorated ceiling that, added, reaches 37,44 m. To

sustain such a structure, there are 72 pillars distributed in six rows.

Plaque in the facade with the name of the Hall of Supreme Harmony

Courtyard between Gate of Supreme Harmony and Hall of Supreme Harmony

Hall of Supreme Harmony – TaiHeDian - in this hall is the sandalwood throne that was once one of the symbols of imperial power.

The Ming throne of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is gold painted and is hundreds of years old. Although it had been the greatest symbol of power in the first half of last century, with the decaying

turbulence of state affairs, it was abandoned and remained missing for nearly 50 years.

The Forbidden City is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

Gold details adorn the dragons everywhere.

Perfectionism includes gutters beautifully decorated.

There are no external or internal angle that does not cause always admiration due to the exuberance of details and color profusion.

Imperial Garden, built in 1417

Imperial Garden’s Pagoda Dome.

Myriad Springs (WanChunTing) Pavillion in the Imperial Garden.

Every detail has a meaning ...

The number of statuettes at the edge of the roofs represents the importance of buildings. The smaller one may have three to five of them.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10 - the only building that could have that much in the imperial era.

Hall of Supreme Harmony - starting from left, an immortal riding a phoenix, followed by: a dragon, a phoenix, a lion, a heavenly steed, a seahorse, a SuAnNi, a YaYu, a XieZhi, one DouNiu

and a HangSh.

It's so much beauty that gives rise to a neologism - a dazzliness!

Imperial buildings have yellow roofs ...

... while the temples roofs and its gates are blue.

Temple of Heaven

Vault of Temple of Heaven

If the ceilings boast dazzling decoration, the floors of the main halls were paved with “golden bricks” that took months cooking, resulting in soft bricks that play with a metallic sound.

In front of the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, is the largest and best of Nine Dragons panels in China, measuring 3.5 m in height and about 30 m in length. The dragon was the symbol of

longevity, and also of the union of heaven and earth.

Painel dos nove dragões

Gilded male lion holding the ornament representing the world.

Gilded female lion – Qing Imperial Guardian Lion - protecting its cub.

Gate of Heavenly Purity

A Chinese secret to unveil?

Imperial Dragon Throne in the Hall of Preserved Harmony. This is one of the three central halls of Forbidden City, near the Hall of Heavenly Purity and of Supreme Harmony. It resembles the latter, but

in much smaller scale.

Relief on the stairs next to the throne room. The block of marble weights about 250 tons and is 16.57 m long, 3.7 m wide, and 1.7 m in depth.

Hall of Preserving Harmony

From a golden bas-relief, at the residential part of the Forbidden City.

A room inside the Forbidden City with the traditional Chinese wedding decorations.

After the Japanese offensive in 1931, the entire palace complex was devastated.

In 1933, by order of Chiang Kai Check, more than 3,000 chests were filled with carefully crafted packets, within which treasures were secretly transported through China to Taiwan, saving from the Japanese invasion Chinese relics 5,000 years old. Even after the return of many of these treasures, there are many pieces of the Forbidden City’s collection not yet exposed.

This and the following photos are of relics displayed in the Palace Museum.

An Imperial Crown

Piece to compose chinese imperial garment.

Rare jade vase.

Qing dynasty purple canopy with a magic fungi design.

Two Qing Dynasty “blue porcelain” ware.

But now, at this time, the Sun is beginning to set…

... and the lights are lit announcing that this day, at Forbidden City, has ended.

In a state of perplexity for the unforgettable day, what is left is a walk around Tiananmen Square with your chest filled with a feeling that you know you’ll never be able to fully express...

delzadfer@gmail.com

Forbidden City Map : http://www.peacham.com/china/large/forbiddenmap.gif?169,167

Images - All drawn from the Net with the respective credits

Music - All by Gabriel Yared, from the soundtrack of L’Amant de la Chine du Nord

1 - Ce jour-là sur le Mekong2 – L’Amant

Creation, research, compilation and formatting : Delza Dias Ferreira English version: Flavio Musa de Freitas Guimarães www.culturesandart.com São Paulo, XII - 2011

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