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Guide to the National Palace Museum in Beijing

(In front of the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City)

Ladies and gentlemen:

I am honored to accompany you today I was delighted to visit. This is the world-famous Forbidden City Museum, generally referred to as the Forbidden City. The last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Aisin Gioro Puyi, was forced to abdicate. This can be traced back to 1420, when Zhu Di, the third Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, moved his capital here. There have been 14 Ming Dynasty emperors. The 10 and 24 emperors of the Qing Dynasty ruled China in this splendid palace for five centuries. The Imperial House is naturally large-scale and majestic. Today, it is the largest and best-preserved ancient royal palace complex not only in China but also in the world. Because this palace city embodies the excellent tradition and unique style of ancient Chinese architectural art, it plays a very important role in the history of architecture and is a classic of architectural art. In 1987, it was rated as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. .

The Forbidden City is also called the Forbidden City. Its origin is formed by the blend of astronomical theory and folklore. Ancient Chinese astronomers divided all the stars in the sky into three zones, twenty-eight constellations, and thirty-one constellations. Among them, the three walls refer to Taiweiyuan, Ziweiyuan and Tianshiyuan. Ziwei Yuan is in the center of the three walls, which is in line with the saying "Ziwei Yuan is in the middle". Therefore, the ancients believed that the ultraviolet micro wall was the seat of the Emperor of Heaven, so it was called the Purple Palace. The emperor is the son of the Emperor of Heaven and the supreme being on earth, so they also imitate the Emperor of Heaven and put the purple character on the names of their palaces to show his imperial aura of being in the center and looking around the world. There is another saying that refers to "Purple Qi coming from the east". Legend has it that when Lao Tzu came out of Hangu Pass, Yin, the commander of the pass, was delighted to see purple energy coming from the east and knew that a saint would pass through the pass. Sure enough, Lao Tzu came riding on a green ox, and he was so happy that he asked him to write the Tao Te Ching. Later generations therefore used the phrase "purple air coming from the east" to express auspiciousness. Of course, the emperor's family hopes for auspicious celestial phenomena, so it is logical to name it with the word "purple". The meaning of the word "forbidden" is more obvious, that is, the forbidden area of ??the palace, which is heavily guarded and not accessible to anyone. There is absolutely no falsehood in this statement. Before the place was officially opened after the last emperor was expelled from the palace in 1924, ordinary people could not even take a step closer. You can imagine how majestic and sacred the Forbidden City was in the past!

The Forbidden City has its own history when it was built in Beijing, and because it is a geomantic treasure, it’s a long story. Construction of the Forbidden City began in the fourth year of Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1406), and it took 14 years to be basically completed. It has a history of more than 570 years today. As you have seen, the Forbidden City is a first-class building complex with red walls and yellow tiles. Why is it like this? According to the Taoist theory of yin and yang and the five elements, the five elements include metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, among which earth occupies the central position. Because the Chinese nation has lived on the Loess Plateau for generations, they have developed a feeling of admiration and attachment for the color yellow. Since the Tang Dynasty, yellow has become a color representing the royal family, and others are not allowed to use it in clothing and architecture. Red symbolizes happiness, auspiciousness and wealth. For these reasons, red and yellow are used as the basic colors of the Forbidden City building.

The Forbidden City covers an area of ??more than 720,000 square meters, with more than 9,900 palaces and pavilions, and a construction area of ??about 150,000 square meters. It is surrounded by a city wall that is 9.9 meters high and is known as 10 meters. Outside the wall is a 52-meter wide moat, commonly known as Tongzi River. The city is about 960 meters long from north to south and 760 meters wide from east to west. Each of the four corners of the city has a turret with a unique structure, harmonious and beautiful shape. It is octagonal, known as nine beams, eighteen columns, and seventy-two ridges. There is a gate around the city. The main gate in the south is the Meridian Gate, the north gate is called Shenwu Gate, the east gate is called Donghua Gate, and the west gate is called Xihua Gate. During the construction of the Forbidden City, 230,000 famous craftsmen and 1 million civilians were recruited nationwide. The building materials used were sourced from all over the country. For example, the white marble stone comes from Fangshan County in Beijing, the five-color tiger skin stone comes from Panshan in Ji County, Hebei Province, and the granite is collected from Quyang County, Hebei Province. The square bricks on the floor of the palace were fired in Suzhou, and the bricks used for the walls were fired in Linqing, Shandong. The red color used on the palace walls was produced from Yantong Mountain in Xuanhua, Shandong (now Gaoqing County).

The wood mainly comes from Huguang, Jiangxi, Shanxi and other provinces. From this we can also see the vastness of the project at that time.

The building in front of us is called the Meridian Gate. The Meridian Gate is the main entrance to the Forbidden City, commonly known as the Five Phoenix Tower. In the Ming Dynasty, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year, lanterns were hung at the Meridian Gate to give food to all officials. By the Qing Dynasty, this kind of activity was cancelled. Every year on the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, a ceremony for promulgating the next year's calendar is held here. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, "Ban Li" was renamed "Ban Shuo" to avoid the name of Emperor Qianlong's "Hongli". In the Qing Dynasty, when the emperor held court meetings or sacrifices, as well as major festivals such as New Year's Day, Winter Solstice, Longevity, and weddings, books and ceremonial guards were displayed here. In addition, whenever the country triumphs from a military expedition, the emperor will receive a prisoner presentation ceremony at the Meridian Gate. If the emperor is on a personal expedition, he will also depart from the Meridian Gate.

The idea of ??"introducing the Meridian Gate beheading" may be perfunctory due to the drama Wutai and unofficial history novels. In fact, it was the Ming Dynasty court officials who committed crimes. Some of them used their sticks at the Meridian Gate. Of course, in serious cases, some of them might have been beaten to death on the spot.

(After entering the Meridian Gate and in front of the Jinshui Bridge)

Now that we have arrived inside the Forbidden City, before the official tour, I will first introduce the layout and tour route of the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City covers an area of ??more than 720,000 square meters. In such a large area, various architectural techniques are used to build a group of buildings of such a grand scale. Not only is there no chaos, but it gives people a sense of rigorous structure, brilliant colors and regular layout. I feel that the most important means is to highlight a very obvious central axis red in the construction. This central axis is organically integrated with the entire city of Beijing. It runs from the Bell Tower in the north to Yongding Gate in the south, with a total length of about 8 kilometers. The Royal The part inside the forbidden area accounts for about one-third. The important buildings in the palace are all located on this central axis, and other buildings are symmetrically distributed from east to west. The design and layout of the entire palace express the "dignity" of the feudal monarch and the strictness of the feudal hierarchy.

The Forbidden City is dedicated to the inner court. Now we are at the southernmost end of the outer court, with the Gate of Supreme Harmony in front. There is a pair of bronze lions in front of the door. They are majestic and fierce. They have become the guardians of the bridge in front of the door, symbolizing power and dignity. Since the emperor is the Son of Heaven, the lion in front of the door is naturally the most exquisite and the tallest. The one standing on the east side is a male lion with a young lion under its front paw, symbolizing the eternal power of the emperor for thousands of generations. The small river in front of us is called Jinshui River, which is used for decoration and waterproofing. The five bridges on the river symbolize the five virtues advocated by Confucius: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith. The entire river looks like a bow, and the central axis is the arrow. This shows that the emperor was ordered by heaven to govern the country on behalf of the heavenly emperor.

(In front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony)

The Forbidden City building is divided into two parts: the "outer court" and the "inner court". The part from the Meridian Gate to the Qianqing Gate is divided into "Outer Dynasty", with the three main halls of Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe as the center, and two groups of palaces, Wenhua and Wuying, on the east and west sides. They are symmetrical on the left and right, forming the "Outer Dynasty". "Majestic and spectacular layout. The three main halls are arranged front and back on the same huge "Gong"-shaped white marble hall base. The hall base is 8 meters high and divided into three floors. Each floor is surrounded by white marble stone railings. There are three levels of stone carvings "Road" in the three platforms. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the Golden Palace, is the tallest building in the Forbidden City and the tallest and most magnificent ancient wooden structure in the country. Inside the Qianqing Gate is the "inner court", and the architectural layout is also symmetrical. In the middle part are the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace, where the feudal emperor lived and handled daily government affairs. The six east and west palaces on both sides are the residences of the concubines, and the east and west palaces are the residences of the princes. There are also three gardens in the "Inner Palace" for royal pleasures - the Royal Garden, the Cining Garden, and the Qianlong Garden. The Inner Jinshui River winds along the west side of the "Inner Court" and flows out of the palace, bypassing the Yingwu Hall, Taihe Gate, and Wenhua Hall. There is a white jade stone bridge on the river, and along both sides of the river there are zigzag white jade carved railings, shaped like jade belts. Most of the Forbidden City buildings are topped with yellow glazed tiles, which are magnificent, majestic and beautiful in the sunshine.

In addition to highlighting the central axis, the buildings in the Forbidden City also use various techniques to make each group of buildings in the palace city unique. For example, the treatment of the temple base, the form of the temple roof, the number of kissing beasts and hanging spine beasts, the regulation of painted patterns, etc. In this way, it not only makes the main buildings appear taller and more spectacular, but also shows the grade differences of the buildings in the palace.

According to folklore, the Forbidden City has 9,999 and a half rooms. It is said that the palace in the sky has 10,000 rooms. The emperor on earth calls himself the "Emperor" and does not dare to match the number, so half a room is missing. Where is this half room? It refers to the small room at the west end of Wenyuan Pavilion. In fact, there are more than 9,000 rooms in the Forbidden City, and the so-called half of them do not exist at all. The west end room of Wenyuan Pavilion is small and can only accommodate one staircase, but it is still a whole room. Under the Wenyuan Attic is the place where my country's first "Sikuquanshu" is stored. In order to take care of the aesthetics of the layout, the west room was built to be extremely small.

(After passing the Gate of Supreme Harmony)

Ladies and gentlemen, the hall in front is called the Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the Golden Palace, and is the largest palace in the Forbidden City. With a construction area of ??2,377 square meters and a double-eaves verandah roof, it is the highest level among the palaces and the largest among the three outer palaces. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is built on a three-story overlapping "Gong"-shaped Xumizuo. It is carved from white marble and is more than 8 meters above the ground. The lower level has 21 steps, and the middle and upper levels have 9 steps each.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was first built in 1406 AD. It has been destroyed by three fires and one war. What you see now was built in the Qing Dynasty. There is a row of animals on each of the four eaves. They were originally nails used to fix tiles, but were later replaced by animals from myths and legends. It is said that they can ward off evil spirits, and the greater the number, the more important the building is. There are 9 in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. 9 is the number of the Yang pole, followed by 7, 5, 3, and 1. Common people are not allowed to have such decorations in their homes.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, 24 emperors ascended the throne here and announced their enthronement edicts. On New Year's Day, the Winter Solstice, the emperor's birthday, the appointment of a queen, the promulgation of decrees and decrees, sending generals on expeditions, the Golden Palace, and the blessing of peace, etc., the emperor would hold ceremonies here and receive congratulations from civil and military officials.

This square is Taihedian Square, covering an area of ??30,000 square meters. There is no grass or tree in the entire square, it is empty and quiet, giving people a solemn and solemn feeling. The middle is the royal road, and the bricks on the left and right are paved horizontally and vertically, up to 15 floors, to prevent anyone from digging tunnels to enter the palace. There are some large tanks around. What are they used for? There are 308 large tanks in the Forbidden City, which are used to store water and prevent inflammation. Charcoal can be burned under the tanks to heat them to prevent the water from freezing in winter. Why was such a large square built? It was to make people feel the majesty of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Standing below and looking forward: under the blue sky, the yellow tiles are shining. The layers of stone platforms are like white clouds, and the smoke is lingering. The entire Hall of Supreme Harmony is like a fairyland in the sky. During the grand ceremony, candles were lit on the enamel crane plate in the hall, sandalwood was burned in the incense pavilion and incense burner, pine and cypress branches were burned in the copper burner, turtle and crane on the terrace, incense smoke lingered on both sides of the front of the hall, and the whole place was silent. When the emperor ascended the throne, the drums and music sounded, and the civil and military ministers knelt down in the square according to Lu rank, looking up at the Pavilion Mountain in the Cloud and shouting long live, to show the emperor's supreme authority and dignity.

When Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, ascended the throne at the end of 1908, he was only 3 years old. His father, the regent Zaifeng, carried him to the throne. When the jet lag started at the ceremony, drums and music suddenly started to sound, which frightened the little emperor to the point of crying and shouting that he wanted to go home. Zaifeng was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, so he had to coax the little emperor and said: "Don't cry, don't cry, it's almost over, it's almost over!" The ministers thought this was unlucky, and it was a coincidence that the Qing Dynasty really fell after three years. , thus ending more than 2,000 years of feudal rule in our country.

(On the stone platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony)

This is a copper incense burner, which was used by the emperor to burn sandalwood during ceremonies. There are 18 blocks here, representing the 18 provinces of the Qing Dynasty. Four copper vats are placed on the left and right outside the hall, symbolizing "the golden pot is intact" and used to store water and prevent fire. There is a bronze crane and turtle on each side of the platform base, which are symbols of longevity. This instrument made of lead is called Jialiang. Jialiang was the standard measuring instrument at that time. It meant that the emperor dealt with things fairly. He would naturally know who had half a catty and who had eight taels. Opposite there is an instrument made of stone called a sundial, which is an ancient time measuring instrument. What the emperor means is: the standards of quantity and time are in his own hands.

There are 12 round red pillars on the front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, about 63 meters from east to west, about 37 meters in depth from north to south, and 35 meters in height. There are 16 gold-locked windows, and the entire hall is luxurious and rich with carved beams and painted pillars.

There is a 2-meter-high platform in the center of the hall, with a nanmu throne carved with nine golden dragons placed on it. There is a gold lacquered screen at the back, an imperial desk in the front, and symmetrical displays such as treasure elephants, horns, cranes, and incense sticks on the left and right. The elephant carries a treasure vase with grains inside, symbolizing peace and abundant harvests. Jiaoduan is a mythical beast in ancient Chinese myths and legends. It can "travel 18,000 miles in a day" and is proficient in the languages ????of all directions. Only a wise king will come with a book and protect him.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is also called the Jinluan Hall. Why is it called that? It is named after the golden bricks in the hall. The gold brick floor is as flat as a mirror, smooth and delicate, as if sprinkled with a layer of water, glowing dimly. So do gold bricks really contain gold? In fact, this is a kind of brick fired with a special method. The craftsmanship is exquisite and complicated. It was specially made for the imperial palace. It has the sound of gold and stone when knocked, so it is called "gold brick". The price of each brick is equivalent to one stone of rice. It can be seen that although gold bricks do not contain gold, they are indeed valuable.

There are 72 large main pillars in the temple to support its entire weight. Among them, 6 gold pillars carved with dragons, laminated with powder and gilded, surround the throne. There is a caisson in the center of the hall, which evolved from the ancient "patio" and "skylight" forms and is one of the characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture. It is mainly installed on "noble" buildings and has the meaning of "sacred". In the center of the caisson, there is a relief sculpture of a dragon holding a ball in its mouth (the ball is made of hollow copper and coated with mercury). This ball is called the Xuanyuan Mirror. Legend has it that it was made by Huangdi Xuanyuan in ancient times. The hanging ball is connected with the dragon in the caisson. , formed in the form of a dragon playing with beads, hung above the emperor's throne to show that all Chinese emperors were descendants of Xuanyuan and the orthodox successors of the Yellow Emperor. It makes the palace magnificent, graceful and luxurious. The mirror is facing the throne. It is said that Yuan Shikai was afraid that the big ball would fall and kill him, so he moved the throne back to its current position. There is a story about the dragon chair. When Yuan Shikai ascended the throne in 1916 (the fifth year of the Republic of China), he moved the original throne and replaced it with a large Western-style high-backed chair decorated with the imperial emblem of his own design. It is said that he lowered the seat of his chair because of his short legs. After the founding of New China, in order to find the dragon chair, a broken chair was found in a broken furniture warehouse based on a past photo. Experts identified the chair as the emperor's throne, which was later restored and exhibited.

(Take the guests to the copper vat on the east or west side of the Hall of Supreme Harmony)

The ancients called the large vat displayed in front of the palace "Menhai", Menhai It means "the sea in front of the door". The ancients believed that if there is a sea in front of the door, they will not be afraid of fire. Therefore, the large vat is also called the auspicious vat. It is both a furnishing and a fire-fighting equipment. In ancient times when science was undeveloped, there was no running water in the palace, let alone fire-fighting equipment. Therefore, the tank must be filled with water all year round to prepare for emergencies.

During the Qing Dynasty, there were 308 large vats in China. They were classified into three types according to their quality, namely gilt copper vats, burnt bronze vats and iron vats. The most precious of them was the gilt copper vat. . However, these gilt copper jars did not escape the fate of being scraped by the invaders' bayonets. Who are the invaders? It is an eight-nation coalition of Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria. In order to suppress the Chinese people's anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion, from August 13 to August 15, 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces captured Beijing and occupied the Forbidden City. The military officers burned, killed, looted, and looted the wounded, and the cultural relics looted from the palace, the Summer Palace, and other places piled up in the embassy areas of the invading countries. A large number of cultural relics are still seized by museums in London, Paris, and New York. All these, including the scratches on the vat in front of me, have become irrefutable evidence of imperialist aggression against China. During the puppet rule, the vats were pulled out of the palace gates and loaded onto the trucks of the Japanese invading army, used to make bullets, and then used to massacre our people.

(In front of the Zhonghe Hall)

The square building in front of you is the Zhonghe Hall. Before the emperor held a grand ceremony, he came here to rest and meet with some officials. When the emperor went to the four altars of heaven, earth, sun and moon to offer sacrifices, he would also read the sacrificial inscriptions in the Hall of Zhonghe the day before. In February every year, the emperor went to the Xianjia Altar to hold a plowing ceremony. The day before, he came here to view the seeds, farm tools, and blessings. What is currently on display here is the two-sided and three-knife-topped shoulder sedan from the Qianlong period, that is, the eight-carriage sedan chair

City Corners

The four corners of the Forbidden City, each corner has a nine-beam and ten-carriage The turret with eight columns and seventy-two ridges is beautifully built.

How are these four corners built? There is such a legend in Beijing -

After Zhu Li, the king of Yan in the Ming Dynasty, became the Yongle Emperor in Nanjing, he wanted to move the capital to Beijing because Beijing was his old place when he was the prince, so he sent his cronies. The minister went to Beijing to serve as an imperial official. Zhu Li told the minister: Four particularly beautiful turrets should be built on the four corners of the Forbidden City, the outer wall of the palace. Each turret should have nine beams, eighteen columns, and seventy-two ridges. He also said: "You should be the Minister of Engineering. If you don't repair it well, you will be beheaded!" After receiving the emperor's order, the Minister of Engineering was very worried, not knowing how to build these nine beams and eighteen pillars. Seventy-two ridged turrets.

After the Minister of Engineering arrived in Beijing, he called all the foremen and carpenters from eighty-one large contracting wood factories and told them the emperor's decree, which was within three months, and told them to do it. He built these four strange-looking turrets on schedule, and said: "If it fails, the emperor will naturally kill my head, but before killing my head, I will chop off your heads first, so be careful with your heads." . "The foreman and carpenters were not sure about such a project, so they had to work together to figure it out.

The three-month period is very short, and it has passed in a blink of an eye. The foreman and carpenters have not yet come up with any clues or methods. They have made many models, but none of them are suitable. At this time, it was the hottest weather in June and July. It was so hot that people couldn't breathe. In addition, they were depressed. It was really not suitable for the foreman and carpenters to sit or lie down. There was such a master carpenter who couldn't stay any longer, so he went for a walk on the street.

While walking, I heard the noise of a grasshopper in the distance, and then I heard another cry: "Buy a grasshopper, listen to the call, you can't sleep, go and relieve your boredom!" Let's go! A closer look revealed an old man carrying many large and small grasshopper cages made of straw and selling them along the street. Among them was a grasshopper cage with thin straw sticks inserted into it. It was as exquisite as a pavilion in a painting. There were several grasshoppers in it. The master carpenter thought: Anyway, it is a troublesome thing. He will not survive. Buy a good-looking cage. It looked interesting, so I bought it.

The carpenter returned to the construction site carrying the grasshopper cage. Everyone started shouting when they saw it: "People are feeling very upset. Why did you buy a cage of grasshoppers? Why are you deliberately making noise?" The carpenter said with a smile: "Everyone can't sleep, so why don't you guys relieve your boredom?" Look..." He originally wanted to say, look at how beautiful this cage is! But before he could say anything, he felt that this cage was a little special. He hurriedly waved his hands and said, "Don't make any noise now. Let me count." He carefully counted the beams, columns, and spines of the grasshopper cage over and over again. Everyone was impressed by his counting. , was also attracted to pay attention, and looked quietly with straight eyes, without making any sound.

After the carpenter finished counting the grasshopper cages, he jumped up and slapped his thigh and said, "Aren't these exactly the nine beams and eighteen pillars with seventy-two ridges?" Everyone was happy when they heard this. The carpenter took the cage and counted it. The other one also took the cage and counted it, and they all said: "It is really a pavilion with nine beams, eighteen pillars, and seventy-two ridges."

Everyone was inspired by this cage and figured out the Forbidden City. For the shape of the turret, paper mache was ironed out to make a prototype, and finally the corner arms that still exist today were built.