BĚIJĪNG
The Ming dynasty didn’t just make
nice vases and build great walls, they
also dreamt up the Forbidden City.
The incredible complex in Běijīng
served as the Chinese imperial palace
from 1416 to 1911. Nearly a thousand
buildings are spread across 72 hectares
(178 acres). Today the Forbidden City
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Forbidden Palace
The biggest palace on the planet is surrounded by a 52m
(170ft) wide protective moat. It was totally off-limits to
ordinary people for years, just like Willy Wonka’s fabled
chocolate factory. For five centuries the emperors and
empresses of the Ming and Qing dynasties went about their
royal rituals behind firmly closed doors. Anyone caught
trying to get in would be executed. Luckily visitors today
can take a guided tour without any fear of punishment!
Rule by Numbers
Numbers are very important in Chinese culture,
and many details in the design of the Forbidden
City were calculated precisely to accommodate
this. For example, nine is considered a strong
number and nine times nine is especially
powerful. If you count the studs on the imperial
doors in the Forbidden City you will find
that they each have 81.
Qing
dynasty
emperors were
carried around the
palace on sedan chairs –
all except the last one,
Puyi, who pedalled
around on a
bicycle.
Kowtow to the dragon
There is a colossal courtyard inside the Forbidden City that once held 100,000 people at
a time (more than the Běijīng National Stadium’s capacity), and three great halls. The 15th
century Hall of Supreme Harmony is the most important because it’s where all the big royal
coronations and parties took place. When the emperor was sat on the Dragon Throne here,
the whole court had to touch the floor nine times with their foreheads. This was known as
kowtowing
. In the Imperial gardens, there are two bronze elephants with front knees that
bend the wrong way. They show that even elephants had to kowtow
to the emperors.
Purple power
Now known by most locals as the Palace Museum or Gù
Gōng (ancient palace), the older name, Zǐ jinchéng, translates poetically as ‘Purple
Forbidden City’. The purple part (Zǐ
) refers to Z
ǐıwē
i (the North Star), where, according to Chinese astrology, the Celestial Emperor had his
palace. The Forbidden City was the equivalent home on Earth. Jìn
means ‘Forbidden’.
Wood you believe it?
The Forbidden City boasts 980 buildings. All of them are
ancient and most are made of wood – in fact, the city officially
houses the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden
structures in the world. Some are built from incredibly
precious Phoebe zhennan wood. This type
of timber was so expensive only
royalty could afford to use it.
Even today zhennan can cost
over £6,500 per cubic metre
(35.3 cubic feet). Other
materials used include
marble and golden bricks.
