Forbidden City
Location: Municipality of Beijing
Date of Inscription: 1987
Criteria: C (iii) (iv)
The Imperial Palace, also called Forbidden City, was the seat of the imperial power during the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Quing (1644 - 1911) dynasties. The Imperial Palace was built in 1420, and it was forbidden for the common people to enter it. Rectangular in shape and surrounded by a 10 meter high wall, it measures 960 meters from the North Gate (Shenwumen or Gate of Divine Might) to the South Gate (Wumen or Meridian Gate), and 750 meters from the East to the West wall.
The Imperial palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, known to Westerners as the Forbidden City, lies in the center of Beijing. Twenty-four emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties managed government affairs and resided here.
Construction of the Imperial Palace began in 1406, the fourth year of the reign of Zhu Di, second emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and was completed in 1420. According to legend, the emperor, the Son of Heaven, restrained himself from surpassing the Lord of Heaven and built 9,999.5 rooms for the Imperial Palace, half a room less than the Heavenly Palace of the Lord of Heaven. Reconstructions and expansions of the palace were carried out during the Ming and Qing regimes, but the wood-structured Imperial Palace has remained almost exactly as it was originally laid out and still has over 9,000 rooms, making it the world's largest and most complete group of ancient palace buildings.
Building the Imperial Palace required huge amounts of money and manpower. According to historical records, 100,000 artisans and one million laborers toiled on the construction of the palace, and the materials came from all parts of the country, including Guangdong and Yunnan Provinces, both several thousand kilometers away.
The carved stone slab behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohedian) weighs about 300 tons. It was quarried in the mountains 50 kilometers away and brought to the construction site in winter. Wells were dug along the way and water drawn from them was poured over the roads to freeze. The stone slab was then transported on flat-bottomed boats, which were pulled over the ice by more than 1,000 horses and mules. It took 28 days to complete the transport. One can thus imagine how laborious the project was. One writer wrote that the cost of building the Imperial Palace was as much as that of building a large city, and only an empire with a vast territory and large population could build this world-famous Forbidden City.
The Imperial Palace is composed of the outer palace, also known as the front court, and the inner palace, also known as the back residence. The outer palace includes three main halls: the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian), the Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghedian), and the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohedian). In the outer palace, the emperors held grand ceremonies, received officials, and managed the government.
The inner palace includes the Hall of Heavenly Purity (Qianqinggong), the Hall of Union (Jiaotaidian) and the Hall of Earthly Tranquility (Kunninggong), where the emperors lived with their families and took care of daily government affairs. The inner palace is flanked by 12 courtyards, six on each side, where imperial concubines and their attendants lived.
The Imperial Palace inherited and developed the ancient architectural tradition of Chinese palaces. Its overall layout and scale, as well as the shapes, colors, and furnishings of its buildings, demonstrated the supremacy of imperial power and the strict hierarchic rules.
The city walls enclosing Beijing at that time were also in accord with ancient architectural traditions. Between Yongdingmen Gate in the southern city wall and the emperor's residence, there were eight gates. These gates plus Yongdingmen Gate conformed to the nine-gate principle in the layout of imperial palaces, the most strictly followed principle in the construction of the ancient Chinese capital. Even today, as one enters the Forbidden City and passes through one long paved path after another, one cannot help feeling that the Imperial Palace seems to be at an unreachable distance and of an immeasurable depth.
The Forbidden City was constructed along a north-south axis, which was also the axis of Beijing at the time. Taihedian and other principal halls were built along this axis, while the less important buildings were symmetrically arranged on the east and west flanks.
Taihedian at the central part of the Imperial Palace is 35.5 meters high. It was the tallest building in Beijing and the symbol of the supremacy of the imperial power during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This is where grand ceremonies were held, such as the emperor's wedding ceremony, the empress's coronation ceremony, and major celebrations on New Year's Day, the winter solstice, and the emperor's birthday.
On such occasions, according to records, the road leading from Meridian Gate (Wumen) to Taihedian was flanked with guards of honor. Civilian and military officials knelt row upon row in the spacious courtyard. The emperor mounted the throne to the sound of gongs, chimes, and other musical instruments in the gallery, and the air was filled with the fragrance of incense, sandalwood, and pine branches burning in the bronze crane and tortoise censers and tripods on the terrace. As the music played, civilian and military officials performed the prostration ceremony and cheered, "Long live the emperor!" three times.
The Wu Xing (Five Elements) and Yin Yang schools were the core of the ancient Chinese culture. In the Imperial Palace, the front court was in the south and the back residence in the north. According to the Wu Xing school, the south is associated with fire, which symbolizes growth, belongs to the yang category and thus provides the place of government. Odd numbers also belong to yang, and therefore, all buildings in the Imperial Palace were built in groups of odd numbers.
The north is associated with water, which symbolizes storage, belongs to yin, and is thus assumed to be the place suitable for residence. According to the Wu Xing school, earth, represented as yellow, is in the center and represents the nation, so the palace roofs were often colored yellow. Fire produces earth and has the color red, so the palace columns were all painted red as the symbol of prosperity.
The Imperial Palace is famous for its architectural art. Although the whole was of such vast size, the buildings were laid out by Chinese architects in perfect order and formed into a splendid complex with all units linked by numerous wall gates and courtyards. The halls in the front court are magnificent; the buildings in the back residence, smaller than those in the front court, show the tender and gentle virtue of the yin (female); and the decorations on roofs, gates, walls, and furnishings are in fantastic designs.
The Imperial Palace is a treasure house of one million precious historical relics from the Shang Dynasty (C.1600-771B.C.) through the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The relics include painted pottery, stone works, jade objects, bronze objects, calligraphy, paintings, porcelains, enamel works, terracotta warriors and horses unearthed at the tomb of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the four treasures of the study (writing brushes, ink sticks, ink slabs, and paper), and carvings of ivory, bamboo, and wood.
Among these treasures, tens of thousands are officially listed as national treasures. Originally, the Imperial Palace housed many more relics, but during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Invaders, many relics were transported to the south for safety, including over 600,000 sent to Taiwan.
With imposing buildings and treasures of rare quality, the Imperial Palace is the symbol of the brilliant Chinese civilization.