Forbidden city information

The Forbidden City, the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, is the most perfect palace complex in China, with many artistic treasures, and it is the largest and best preserved palace in the world. Its predecessor is the Forbidden City, which is located in the center of Beijing.

Yongle was founded in four years and basically completed in eighteen years. There have been 24 emperors for more than 560 years. Although it has been rebuilt and expanded many times in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it still retains its original layout. It covers an area of 720,000 square meters, with more than 9,000 houses and a construction area of about 6,543,800 square meters. The surrounding palace wall is about 3 kilometers long, with four corners standing, magnificent and magnificent. There is a moat with a width of 52 meters around the city wall, forming a fortified castle. The architectural layout of the Forbidden City can be divided into "outer court" and "inner court". The three halls of Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe are the center, and the Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall are the two wings, which are the main places for the emperor to hold ceremonies, convene ministers and exercise his rights. Important ceremonies of rulers of Ming and Qing dynasties were held here. The main hall, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the Golden Throne Hall, is 28 meters high and is the highest hall in the Forbidden City. When the emperor ascended the throne, cigarettes filled the air in front of the temple, the hall was ringing with golden drums, and the officials of the civil and military forces worshipped and saluted each other for a long time. The majestic atmosphere is daunting. Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall were places where ancient emperors read the memorial and imperial examinations. The Forbidden City includes Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Kunning Palace and Six Palaces of East and West. It is the place where the emperor handles daily affairs and his concubines live, play and worship. To the south of the Forbidden City is a narrow north-south corridor with Tiananmen Square and end doors, which constitutes the prelude to the building in front of the palace.

The main entrance is Wumen Gate, the north entrance is Shenwumen Gate, the east entrance is Donghuamen Gate, and the west entrance is Xihuamen Gate. The architectural atmosphere of the palace is very different from that of the outer court. The Forbidden City, resplendent and luxurious, is the essence of China's ancient architectural art. It also preserves a large number of precious cultural relics, which are important materials of history and historical art and a bright pearl of China's ancient culture. The Forbidden City has been listed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO.

Why is there a unicorn in front of the throne of Gan Qing Palace?

In front of the throne of Gan Qing Palace stood a strange-looking wooden monster with only one horn. It looked like a sheep, but it was not a sheep. What beast is this? Why did you put it here?

Animals like this must be hard to find in the world. It is a kind of god sheep in the ancient myth of China. Its name is Allah. It has a horn, green hair and four feet. It is said that it is honest, has superhuman wisdom and instinctively distinguishes right from wrong. Gan Qing Palace was the place where the Qing emperors kept secrets and made imperial edicts. Before Yongzheng, the succession to the throne generally took the form of public reserve, that is, when the emperor was in office, he publicly wrote an inscription for the prince in advance. Kangxi had many sons and twice abolished the crown prince, which led to the princes competing for the right to inherit the throne. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, in view of the lessons of the previous seal, it was changed to secret seal, that is, when the emperor was in office, he determined the heir and secretly wrote down his name, which was hidden in the seal box behind the "aboveboard" plaque in Gan Qing Palace. After the death of the emperor, the nobles opened the storage box and announced that the person designated by the "Imperial Book" would inherit the throne. The four imperial capitals of Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng were kept secret and became emperors. Choosing the heir to the throne is a very important event for the long-term stability of the Qing Dynasty. The interests of the royal family require the emperor not to start from personal likes and dislikes, but to consider the actual situation of the whole ruling group. In order to constantly sound the alarm for the emperor on this issue, a mocking idol of "sexual loyalty" was specially set up in Gan Qing Palace. Gan Qing Palace is also the emperor's bedroom and place for daily activities. Palace ceremonies and meetings with officials were held here. Every year, New Year's Day, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, winter solstice and longevity, court ceremonies and royal family banquets are held here. At that time, Emperor Guangxu was still here to receive envoys from Britain, the United States, France, Japan, Russia, Austria, Portugal and other countries, and accepted credentials from various countries. The emperor should treat people and things here fairly. Putting an argument in front of you, on the one hand, is the emperor boasting about his "fairness and honesty", on the other hand, it is also a self-warning.

Why are the palaces and bedrooms in the Forbidden City full of wishful thinking?

Walking around the Forbidden City, we can see that there are all kinds of wishes, whether it is beside the throne of the palace or on the case of the bedroom. Why is this? First of all, Ruyi is an important ornamental and decoration. Ruyi was very particular about its production in Qing Dynasty, and its materials were very expensive, including gold, jade, agate, jadeite, crystal and coral. In the production process, a variety of production techniques are adopted, such as flat carving, relief, hollowing out, single embedding, three embedding and multi-embedding. Both concave and convex lines can be finely crafted. As for the patterns carved and embedded in it, there are countless examples, including scenic figures, such as "Ma Gu's birthday", "Liu Hai hits the toad" and "Zhang Qian Piao". Strange birds and animals include "pine crane", "double lion playing with pearls" and "Taiping elephant". There are flowers, birds, insects and fish, such as evergreen, bergamot, mandarin duck and lotus flower, ichthyosaur. "Ruyi" is also a senior gift of the upper class. Every festival, the queen's birthday and the new emperor's accession to the throne, princes and ministers should offer their own blessings to the emperor, the queen and concubines, and the emperor also used these blessings to reward his lieutenants. In order to please the emperor, to win the favor and trust, and to be promoted step by step, the courtiers offered their blessings one after another; As a reward of the royal policy, the emperor can also win over the soldiers and crabs and buy loyalty. Ruyi, as a gift, can be described as magic, which makes both the sender and the receiver very happy. In addition, the name Ruyi itself is probably an important reason. The name "Ruyi" is the same as "Ruyi" which means "satisfaction" in pronunciation. It sounds good. In addition, most feudal emperors were superstitious and always wanted to symbolize good luck in the name of "Ruyi". Not only that, but also use the word "Ruyi" to play along the topic, and the carved patterns are mostly auspicious patterns. For example, some ruyi have two persimmon models embedded in their heads, because "persimmon" and "thing" are homophonic, so everything can be "all the best"; Some are carved into glossy ganoderma-like heads, because glossy ganoderma has always been regarded as an elixir, which makes you "live a long life"; Some ruyi have a big "shou" on their heads, carved with the patterns of five bats. This is because "Bat" and "Blessing" are in harmony, so they can "hold longevity in Five Blessingg", which means longevity, wealth, health, virtue and a good death. Everything is going well.

Why are there funerary wares in the Forbidden City?

In the Palace Museum, there are a pair of bronze gilded objects with a height of 45.5cm, a length of18.7cm and a width of14cm, which were made by Guangxu 1895 Palace Museum. It looks like a screen with a frame on the base. The front of the horizontal frame above the frame is engraved with the words "Guangxu Imperial System". A cup-shaped container with a diameter of 12 cm and a height of 14.7 cm is suspended in the center of the frame, and the nipple shafts on both sides of the cup-shaped container are connected with the needle shafts on the inner side of the frame, so that the container can rotate in a certain direction on the frame. If water is poured into the container, the container just hangs in a semi-submerged state; When filled with water, the container automatically turns over and all the water is poured out. After that, the container automatically tilts to one side and stops. This strange object is called "divider" (divider means inclined). This kind of fun can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty. It is said that Confucius once visited the Zhou Temple and saw a sacrificial vessel in the temple. Confucius asked, "What artifact is this?" The temple keeper replied, "This is a seat protection device." Confucius said, "I heard that this kind of thing turns over when it is full of water, and tilts when it is not full, so it can stand upright when it is half full of water." Is that so? " The temple keeper replied, "Yes." Confucius asked Luz to fetch water. Sure enough, he sighed and said, "Alas, why not turn it over when it is full?" The Qing emperor invited people to set up ritual vessels in the Forbidden City, which was based on the characteristics of "full coverage, middle meaning and deficiency" and metaphorically used the principle of "full recruitment, loss, modesty, avoidance of surplus and full support" to warn himself and facilitate his rule.

Why is the treasure seal of Jiaotai Hall 25 square?

The imperial seal symbolizes the authority of the emperor and is a voucher for giving orders. The Palace Museum displays 25 royal seals, which are called "25 treasures". These precious seals are made of gold, jade and sandalwood. There are ceratosaurus, Wolong and Panlong, with different shapes and lifelike buttons. The bottom of the big seal is 19.2 cm square, and each side of the small seal is 6.8 cm. These precious seals are exquisitely carved, precious in texture and huge in shape, which are incomparable to other ancient seals handed down from generation to generation. Among the "Twenty-five Treasures", one of the "Emperor's Treasures" is written in Manchu, while the "Treasure of the Qing Dynasty", "Treasure of the Emperor's Sacrifice to Heaven" and "Treasure of the Emperor's Descendants" are written in Chinese and Manchu. Chinese characters are seal script, Manchu is its own character, and other 2 1 characters are seal script. Fang Baoxi, except for the "treasure of the emperor" of both sides, has different seals, and the scope of application of each seal is also clearly defined, covering all aspects such as succession to the throne, appointment of ministers, diplomacy, conquest, sacrifice and reward. For example, in terms of pardon, Manchu is regarded as the "treasure of the emperor"; Regarding sacrifice, use "the treasure of the son of heaven"; Regarding the national law, use the "treasure of training"; In order to reward loyalty, use "the treasure of life and virtue"; Regarding rewards and gifts, use "the emperor really cherishes"; Cultural education, with the treasure of Qin Wen; Regarding conquest, we should use "treasures to punish crimes and protect people" ... In short, every imperial edict and imperial edict issued by the emperor should use the corresponding treasure seal according to its different contents. Judging from the existing archives of the Qing Dynasty, the most commonly used ones are the "Emperor Treasure" made of ebony and the "Royal Treasure" made of sapphire. The former is used for imperial edicts issued by the emperor, while the latter is used for imperial edicts signed by the emperor. So, why is Baoxi exactly 25 square meters? The existing "Twenty-five Treasures" in Jiaotai Hall were selected by Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. The number 25 selected by Qianlong is generally considered as "five out of twenty" in Zhouyi. The ancients took the sky as yang, the earth as yin, the odd number as yang and the even number as yin. Add 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 to Zhouyi, making the number of days 25. Using 25 to determine the number of precious seals symbolizes the infinite continuation of a dynasty. But actually the real intention of Qianlong is not here. In his later years, Gan Long wrote The Story of the Box, which pointed out: "When deciding the number of treasures, we should secretly use the story of Ji Zhou and silently pray to God that if our country is blessed, it will last for twenty-five generations" and "I will enjoy the number of twenty-five". The so-called "Ji Zhou story" refers to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty when Zhou Pingwang moved its capital to Luoyi, and the twenty-fifth generation of Wang Ye opened its port. The dynasty with the longest history and the most generations in China is the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Qianlong regarded Shunzhi as the first generation after the Qing Dynasty made Beijing its capital, and hoped that the Qing Dynasty would continue for 25 generations like the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. However, Gan Long wrote at the end of the article: "The husband is not in the world, but in the world for a year." This not only shows that he has no confidence in the realization of his wishes, but also is full of fear for the future of his dynasty. At first, the feudal emperors in China flaunted that they were "destined by destiny" and that their home country and the world could last forever. Later, the history of the people's revolution and the change of dynasty and country name broke this illusion, so the enlightened people among them realized that their rule could not last forever. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it reached its peak, and the social economy was unprecedentedly prosperous. Ganlong himself has a profound cultural accomplishment and a systematic study of history. Strong national conditions and severe history made him have to admit the irreversible trend of the demise of the dynasty.

The Forbidden City is the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, which has experienced more than 560 years of vicissitudes. Twenty-four emperors once lived here. It is not only the place where emperors held ceremonies, summoned ministers and exercised power, but also the place where emperors, queens and princes lived and played. The palace wall, which is 3 kilometers long and 10 meters high, is like a fortified castle, leaving a mystery.

Heaven and man in the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is also called the Forbidden City. What is the explanation for calling the palace the Forbidden City? The "purple" in the Forbidden City refers to the purple star wall. Astronomers in ancient China divided the stars in the sky into three constellations, such as the Three Walls and the Twenty-eighth Palace. Sanyuan refers to Taiwei Yuan, Ziwei Yuan and Tianshi Yuan. Ziweiyuan is the Central Plains, also known as Ziweiyong and Zigong. It's in the northeast of the Big Dipper. "Sitting among the Taiping emperors, cautious officials are divided into four parts." The ancients thought it was the place where the Emperor of Heaven lived. The feudal emperor claimed to be the son of the Emperor of Heaven, and the place where he handled state affairs and daily life became the center of the world. Because the imperial palace is the highest forbidden place in the hierarchical feudal society, there is a word "forbidden" in the Forbidden City to emphasize the incomparable dignity of the imperial palace. There are three stars in the south of Taiwei Courtyard, which are regarded as three doors, namely, end door, left door and right door; Correspondingly, there are end doors and noon doors in front of the Forbidden City, and left and right doors on both sides. Between the meridian gate and the Taihe gate, the Jinshui River winds through, symbolizing the Milky Way in the Heavenly Palace. "Gan" and "Kun" indicate the meaning of heaven and earth in Gan Qing Palace and Kunning Palace where the emperor and queen live. The Rijingmen and Yuehuamen on the east and west sides symbolize the glory of the sun and the moon. The sixth house of the East and the West also symbolizes the twelve stars and constellations in the sky.

What do you know about the rooms in the Forbidden City?

There are countless rooms in the Forbidden City. Some people say that the Forbidden City has 9999 rooms; Some people say that there should be 9999 and a half rooms in the Forbidden City. Then, why are there 9999 rooms and a half? Where is half a room? It turns out that this half room refers to the small room at the west end of Wenyuan Pavilion downstairs. In fact, the so-called half room in the Forbidden City does not exist at all. The room to the west of Wen Yuan Pavilion is very small, with only one staircase to go up and down, but it is still a complete room. Wen Yuan Pavilion is the collection place of the first Sikuquanshu in China. In order to get "water is above the sky, and the land is 60%", Wen Yuan Pavilion broke the convention that the houses in the Forbidden City are mostly odd, and adopted even numbers-6. But for the sake of beautiful layout, the first one in the west was built very small, like half a room. How many houses are there in the Forbidden City? According to field survey, there are more than 8600 rooms. Where is the cold palace? Visitors to the Forbidden City will always look for a cold palace to see if the emperor really lives a life of "three palaces, six hospitals and seventy-two concubines". Let's start with "three palaces and six hospitals". The Qing Palace, Jiaotai Hall and Kunning Palace in the middle of the Forbidden City are called the "Three Palaces". The Sixth Courtyard refers to six palaces on the East Road: Zhai Palace, Ren Jing Palace, Chenggan Palace, Zhongcui Palace, Jingyang Palace and Yonghe Palace. The emperor has many wives and concubines, saying that there are "72 concubines" or "3,000 ladies and gentlemen are good". According to the Book of Rites, the system of the Zhou Dynasty was "the son of heaven has six palaces, three wives, nine wives, twenty-seven wives and eighty-one royal wives". It can be seen that as early as the Zhou Dynasty in China, the son of heaven had wives, concubines and royal wives, and the number was quite amazing. Feudal emperors had "supreme" power and could choose concubines at will. There are many resentful women in the palace. In feudal society, how many young women were imprisoned in the palace and could not be free for life! As for the women elected to the palace, once they fall out of favor, they will die in the forbidden room of the palace, which is even more tragic. Where is the "cold palace" of the Forbidden City? There is no fixed place, but there have been two versions. One is Ganqing Palace and Changchun Palace; When the "cold palace" has no fixed address, the place where the princess and the prince are forbidden is commonly known as the "cold palace". Looking through the historical materials of Ming and Qing dynasties, we can see that there is no "Cold Palace" plaque in the Forbidden City, and the Cold Palace is not the official name of a palace. According to some documents, several places were regarded as "cold palaces" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Emperor was revealed, Princess Li Cheng offended the powerful eunuch Wei Zhongxian and was driven from Changchun Palace to Ganxi in the west of the Imperial Garden, where she lived for four years. There are three people who have been living in seclusion in the west, namely Ding Fei, Qi and Ke Di. This "cold palace" is in the west of the Forbidden City. Before Emperor Guangxu's concubine fell into the well by Cixi, it was said that she was kept in the north of Qijing Pavilion (now collapsed). This place is in the mountain gate to the west of today's town flying well. If this rumor from the eunuch is true, then this place is considered as a "cold palace".

Mystery of door characters

The word "door" in the plaque of the Forbidden City is written straight down to the end, without an upward tick. Why did you write this on purpose? The word "door" was written as "",which existed in Song Dynasty. It is said that after the Song Dynasty favored Lin 'an, the Jade Butterfly Temple caught fire and the temple gate was burned out. Again, I said that the word "door" in the palace plaque has a hook foot and a fire pen at the end, so it is necessary to burn all these plaques to avoid disaster. Since then, all the plaques in the palace have written the word "door" at the end, and it is straight. There is a story that he died after writing the word "door", which can better explain the reason why the word "door" was not ticked on the palace plaque: Ming Taizu was typing in Nanjing, and Zhan Xiyuan wrote imperial academy's door plaque, and the word "door" was slightly evoked at the end, so many Ming Taizu people were furious and said: I want to recruit talents, so you Zhan Xiyuan will close the door and block my way! And then ordered it to be cut. Just like a tiger with a gentleman!

Who designed the Forbidden City?

Who will be responsible for the design of such a magnificent building as the Forbidden City, if it is a huge project? Who is in charge of the construction? This is indeed a historical mystery that puzzles many old Beijingers. Because the architecture of the Forbidden City is not as clearly engraved with the words of the building construction time and designer as modern architecture. At present, most people think that the Forbidden City was designed by an outstanding craftsman named Kuaimingxiang and Kuailuban in Ming Dynasty. However, in recent years, Yu Xiansheng, a senior engineer in the ancient architecture department of the Palace Museum, has put forward different opinions. He believes that Kuai Xiang, who once participated in the construction of the Nanjing Forbidden City, is the designer of the Forbidden City. In fact, Kuai Xiang is only the construction director of the Forbidden City, and the real designer of the Forbidden City should be a little-known Cai Xin. When the Forbidden City Palace entered the climax of large-scale construction in Yongle 15, Kuaixiang came to Beijing with Judy from Nanjing and began to preside over the construction of the palace. Prior to this, Cai Xin presided over the planning, design and construction of the Forbidden City and Beijing.

Why not plant trees in the three halls?

If we open the history of the rise and fall of the Forbidden City, we can find that the rare ancient trees in the Forbidden City were originally related to a peasant uprising in the Qing Dynasty. 18 13 September 15, Lin Qing, a native of Songjiazhuang, Wanping, Beijing (now Songjiazhuang, Daxing County), led the rebels to the east and Xihuamen. The East Road Rebel was blocked, and the West Road Rebel attacked Xihuamen and killed Longzongmen. The door is closed. When the rebels saw the towering trees on both sides of the palace wall, they climbed up the trees, bravely climbed over the wall, cut off branches, and prepared to attack Longzongmen with fire ... There were no trees planted in the courtyard of the three halls. Some people said that they were afraid that the enemies hidden in the trees would threaten the safety of the emperor. At first glance, this explanation seems reasonable, but it is not the case-hall of mental cultivation in the Forbidden City and Gu Song cypress trees in the imperial home forest are tall and dense. How to explain it? Some people wrote that there were no trees planted in the three halls, mainly to set off the artistic conception. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe, also known as the three halls of the outer court, are the places where the emperor held ceremonies, which are located in the center of the whole outer court building and the whole Beijing city. In order to highlight the majestic momentum of this group of palaces, many architectural techniques have been adopted. One is that there are no trees in the yard. Starting from Tiananmen Square, the main entrance of the Imperial City, passing through Duanmen, Wumen and Taihe Gate, there are no trees in a series of courtyards (the trees before and after Duanmen were planted after the Revolution of 1911). At that time, people went to see the son of heaven and entered Tiananmen Square. After a long journey of emperors, they marched in the undulating architectural space, and they felt an invisible and growing mental pressure. Finally, they entered the Taihe Gate and saw the wide square and the majestic hall towering on the triple platform. This kind of mental stress has reached its peak. This is exactly what the supreme son of heaven demands of his subjects. If you plant trees in these courtyards with pleasant shade and flowers, it will destroy the majestic atmosphere of the imperial court. Indeed, the wide square and blue sky make the three halls more magnificent and impressive. Are there any other reasons why the three halls don't plant trees? During the tour, we might as well explore and think again to completely solve the mystery of this scenic spot.