The Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden City, is located in the center of Beijing. Today, people call it the Forbidden City, which means the imperial palace in the past. The Forbidden City is 750 meters wide from east to west, 960 meters long from north to south, and covers an area of 720,000 square meters, making it the largest in the world. The whole building of the Forbidden City is surrounded by two solid defense lines, and the periphery is a moat with a width of 52 meters and a depth of 6 meters. Then there is the city wall with a circumference of 3 kilometers, which is nearly 10 meter high and 8.62 meters wide at the bottom. There are four gates on the city wall, with the Wumen 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 turrets at the four corners of the wall. The turret, with 72 roofs and three eaves, is exquisite and unique, and it is a masterpiece of ancient architecture in China.
Palace hall of supreme harmony
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the Golden Throne Hall, is the first of the "three halls" in the Forbidden City. It is built on a five-meter-high white marble pedestal, surrounded by carved dragon pillars. This is the largest building in the palace group. The temple is 36 meters high and 63 meters wide, covering an area of 2,380 square meters. On the platform two meters high in the center of the main hall is the golden throne of Qi Diao Dragon. Behind the throne are elegant screens, dragon pillars painted with gold powder and exquisite dragon caissons, which are magnificent. The Ming and Qing emperors ascended the throne, celebrated birthdays, celebrated the Spring Festival and celebrated the winter solstice.
Palace museum zhonghetang
After the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe is one of the "three halls" in the Forbidden City. This temple is a single-eave square temple with a pyramid roof. 2 1 m per side, three rooms each, 20 corridors, yellow glazed tiles with four corners, pyramid-shaped roof, and gold-plated roof in the middle. The emperor went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony on business, so he took a nap here and accepted the worship of the Cabinet, the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Guard. On the day before all kinds of gifts, the emperor also read out the memorial and congratulatory message here.
Baohe Hall of the Forbidden City
Baohe Hall, located behind Zhonghe Hall, is one of the "three halls" of the Forbidden City. Every year on New Year's Eve and Lantern Festival in the Qing Dynasty, the emperor feted princes and nobles and ministers of civil and military affairs here. During the Qianlong period, the triennial court examination was moved from the Hall of Supreme Harmony to here. The bedrooms on the east and west sides of Baohe Hall are now converted into art galleries of past dynasties, displaying China's art treasures from primitive society to the Qing Dynasty for about 6,000 years.
Gugong Gan Qing Palace
Gan Qing Palace is the main hall of the palace, with a throne and a plaque on it. It was the living room of the emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties, and also the place where they handled political affairs on weekdays. After Yongzheng, they moved out. Every year on New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice, Wanshou and other festivals, family banquets are held here as usual, and the emperor also stops in this hall after his death.
Gu gong jiao tai branch
Jiaotai Hall is the place where the queens of the Ming and Qing Dynasties celebrated their birthdays after the Qing Dynasty. 25 jade seals in the temple; The west side is decorated with chimes during the Qianlong period; On the east side is a copper pot dripping water, and the iron sign that Shunzhi, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, prohibited officials from interfering in political affairs also stood in this hall.
Gugong Kunning Palace
In the Ming Dynasty, Kunning Palace was the queen's bedroom, also known as the Middle Palace. During the Shunzhi period, the Qingning Palace in Shenyang was rebuilt, and at the same time, the West Warm Pavilion was changed into a place for offering sacrifices to the gods, and Korean sacrifices, evening sacrifices, spring and autumn sacrifices and so on were often held. Dongnuange is the bridal chamber where emperors Shunzhi, Kangxi, Tongzhi and Guangxu got married.
It was founded in the 18th year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1420) and rebuilt in the 12th year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1655).
Forbidden City in Palace of Gathered Elegance
Palace of Gathered Elegance was the place where the Empresses of Ming and Qing Dynasties lived. In the second year of Xianfeng (A.D. 1852), Cixi lived here when she first entered the palace, and was named as a noble of Lan. In March of the sixth year of Xianfeng, she was promoted to Empress Dowager Cixi and gave birth to Emperor Tongzhi. Empress Dowager Cixi lived in Changchun Palace in the 10th year of Guangxu (A.D. 1884). To celebrate her 50th birthday, she moved to this palace for reconstruction, which cost 632,000 silver.
Forbidden City hall of mental cultivation
Hall of mental cultivation is an I-shaped temple with three forehalls, with a total width of 36m and three depths 12m. The yellow glazed tile rests on the top of the mountain, and the shed and the government are indirectly involved between the Ming and the West. Each front cornice column has two square columns, which look like 9 rooms.
Gugongyu garden
The Imperial Garden, formerly known as the Palace Garden, is now commonly known as the Imperial Garden, covering an area of12,000 square meters, with more than 20 buildings. The landscape architecture takes Qin 'an Hall as the center, and adopts the pattern of complementary primary and secondary, symmetrical left and right, compact layout and rich classicism. The pile of Xiushan in the northeast of the temple is made of Taihu stone and has a royal pavilion built on it. Every year after the Double Ninth Festival, the emperor would climb here.
Area: 724,250 square meters
The name of the Forbidden City is related to China's ancient philosophy and astronomy. China people believe in "harmony between man and nature" and "harmony between man and nature". Therefore, the structure of the Forbidden City is modeled after the legendary "Tiangong". In ancient astronomy, the stars were divided into three walls, surrounded by 28 nights, of which Ziwei Garden (Polaris) was located in the center of the sky, which was the center of all the stars. The purple in the Forbidden City is the purple in the purple, which means that the palace is also the "middle" of the world. "Forbidden" refers to the residence of the royal family, which has incomparable dignity and is strictly forbidden to intrude.
1406, Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty began to build the Forbidden City. According to the records of Ming history, 65,438+10,000 best craftsmen and 1 10,000 ordinary workers built a huge palace which is rare in the world, and it took 15 years to finally complete it. Since then, the Ming and Qing emperors have rebuilt and expanded many times, but the overall appearance has not changed much.
Twenty-four emperors lived in the Forbidden City. The first one was the Yongle Emperor Judy of the Ming Dynasty, and the last one was the Xuan Tong Emperor Puyi of the Qing Dynasty.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe are all built on a huge platform 8 meters wide, with a total area of about 85,000 square meters. Among them, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the highest and most splendid, with a width of 60. 1 m, a depth of 33.33 m and a height of 35.05 m.. The emperor's accession to the throne, wedding, conferring and going to war will all be held here. At that time, thousands of people shouted "Long live", and hundreds of ritual vessels were ringing with bells and drums, which was very human. The Zhonghe Hall behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the place where the emperor rests and sacrifices before attending major ceremonies, while the Baohe Hall in the northernmost part is the place where the emperor holds banquets and palace examinations.
The Forbidden City includes Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace, as well as the East Sixth Palace and West Sixth Palace on the east and west sides. This is the place where the emperor and his concubines lived, which is generally called three palaces and six courtyards. "In the north of the residential area, there is also a small and chic imperial garden, which is a place for the royal family to play. Emperors in Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty lived in Gan Qing Palace, Empress lived in Kunning Palace, and Jiaotai Hall was the queen's activity place. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, emperors and empresses moved to the West Sixth Palace and other places, the most famous of which was hall of mental cultivation. Since Yong Zhengdi, it has become the residence of emperors of all dynasties, and Empress Dowager Cixi has been here for more than 40 years.
There are 9,999 houses in the Forbidden City, and there are 9 bronze doornails on each door. This strange number phenomenon is related to China's understanding of numbers in ancient times. The ancients thought that the word "9" was the largest in numbers and the emperor was the largest in the world, so the corresponding "9" must be used. The homonym of "9" is "long", which means "everlasting", so it also means that mountains and rivers will last forever and never change color.
The Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City has collected more than 500 years' archives of the central and local organs in Ming and Qing Dynasties, with 74 volumes,100000 pieces, which is the largest and most valuable historical materials in China. In Wen Yuan Pavilion, there is a complete Siku Quanshu, which contains the most important academic works in ancient China, with 3,503 kinds and 6,304 volumes.
There are more than 0/0 pieces of collection in the Forbidden City, including the Art Museum, Arts and Crafts Museum, Painting Museum, Qing Palace Toy Museum, Bronze Museum, ceramics museum, Watch Museum, Treasure Museum, Woodblock Museum, Ming and Qing Furniture Museum, etc. There are about 1 10,000 precious collections, some of which are orphans, but only exist in the Forbidden City.
Legend has it that when Liu Bowen built the palace in Beijing, the emperor and his son, the Prince of Yan, planned to build the palace in a larger space. They always think that the place where the emperor lives should be particularly luxurious, otherwise the dignity of the son of heaven will not be reflected. On this day, the emperor was about to announce Liu Bowen. At this juncture, Liu Bowen came. As soon as Liu Bowen saw the emperor, he said, "Long live the opening ceremony. I had a dream last night. I dreamed that the Jade Emperor called my minister to the Lingxiao Hall and said to him, "You want to build a palace for the emperor." . Tell him! There are 1000 halls in the Heavenly Palace, and mortal palaces are not allowed to exceed the Heavenly Palace. You have to tell him that only by inviting thirty-six King Kong and seventy-two demons to guard the earthly imperial capital can the weather be good and the country and the people be safe. You must remember that. When the Jade Emperor said these words, he came at me with a white fragrant mist, which suddenly woke up the minister! "Hearing this, the emperor felt very strange. He wanted to think, and ordered Liu Bowen to supervise the construction of less than 1,000 palaces, but he still wanted to measure them like the Heavenly Palace, and asked King Kong and the dungeon to protect court officials. Liu Bowen got the order, and the story got around in Beijing. People are waiting to see how Liu Bowen builds palaces and invites 36 King Kong and 72 underground palaces to protect them. A few days later, Liu Bowen took care of everything. When the emperor saw how luxurious the palace was built, the number of rooms was really less than 1000, and then he saw the magnificent palace, as if it were guarded by a fairy. The more the emperor looked, the happier he became. At that time, he gave Liu a knighthood and many jewels. Foreigners heard that Liu Bowen invited the God 36 King Kong 72 Underground Palace to protect the Imperial City, and they did not dare to make an accident in dispatch troops. Later, people learned that there were 999 semi-palaces in the Forbidden City. Thirty-six King Kong, the god of heaven, is a thirty-six-mouth golden urn placed at the palace gate. The seventy-two underground palace is the seventy-two trench of the Forbidden City.
The legend of the Forbidden City turret
There is a corner building with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges in each corner of the Forbidden City, which is beautifully built. How are these four corners covered? There is such a legend in Beijing-
After the Ming Dynasty Prince Zhu Li became Emperor Yongle in Nanjing, he wanted to move to Beijing because Beijing was his old place when he was a monarch, so he sent a trusted minister to Beijing to build an official. Zhu Li told the minister that four particularly beautiful watchtowers should be built on the four corners of the Forbidden City, that is, on the outer wall of the palace. Each watchtower should have nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two backbones. And said, "You should be the minister of water heating. If the lid can't be repaired, behead it! " "After receiving the imperial edict from the emperor, the plumbing minister was very worried and didn't know how to build this watchtower with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges.
When the Minister of Industry arrived in Beijing, he called 8 1 big contractors, foremen and carpenters, told them the emperor's will, and told them that these four grotesque turrets must be built on schedule, and said, "If they can't do it, the emperor will naturally kill my head, but before I kill my head, I will cut off your heads and be careful with your heads." The foreman and carpenter are not sure about such a project, so they have to find a way together.
The period of three months is very short, and it will be one month in the blink of an eye. The foreman and carpenter haven't come up with a clue or method yet. They made many models, none of which were suitable. This is just in time for the dog days in June and July. It was stifling hot, and they were bored. It is really inappropriate for foremen and carpenters to sit or lie down. There was such a carpenter who couldn't stay any longer and went for a walk in the street.
Walking, I heard a sound of fruit from a distance, and then I heard a cry: "Buy fruit, listen, can't sleep, go and relieve boredom!" " Looking closer, I saw an old man carrying a lot of stalks, big and small, peddling along the street. One of them is a cage with a straw stick, which is as exquisite as a pavilion in the painting. There are some crickets in it. The carpenter thought: Anyway, I was bored to death. Shit, I couldn't live any longer, so I bought a beautiful cage. It looked interesting and I bought it.
The carpenter returned to the construction site with the cage. Everyone quarreled as soon as they saw it: "People are very upset. How can you buy a cage for a tramp? What's the point of noisy? " The carpenter smiled and said, "Everyone can't sleep. Look ... "He wants to say how beautiful this cage is! But before he spoke, he thought the cage was a little special. He quickly waved his hand and said, "Stop arguing and I'll count." He carefully counted the beams, columns and ridges of the Guo cage over and over again. Everyone was attracted by this number and looked at it quietly and straight, but there was no sound at all.
After counting the cages, the carpenter jumped up and patted his thigh and said, "Isn't this the seventy-two ridges of nine beams, eighteen columns?" Everyone was very happy to hear that. One was holding a cage, and the other said, "This is really a castle with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges."
Inspired by this cage, everyone came up with the appearance of the turret of the Forbidden City, scalded paper pulp to make patterns, and finally repaired it into a corner hug that still exists today.