故宫 The Imperial Palace
Located in the center of Beijing, the entire palace area, rectangular in shape and 72 hectares in size, is surrounded by walls ten meters high and a moat 52 meters wide. At each corner of the wall stands a watchtower with a double-eave roof covered with yellow glazed tiles.
No visit to Beijing can be complete without seeing this preserved Chinese classical architecture of imperial splendor, a site which is considered not only an imperial city but also an imperial museum, hence also called the Palace Museum. Another name, The Forbidden City, is so-called because it was forbidden for the commoner to enter the compound on pain of death. It was also forbidden for any building in Beijing to be constructed higher than the buildings in the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was started in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and was built anew by the Ming Dynasty Yongle Emperor in 1406, and completed in 1420. In 1644, it was sacked by the Manchu troops under Doergun, who overthrew the Ming Dynasty. The succeeding Qing Dynasty Shunzi, Kangxi and Yongzhen Emperors restored the buildings, and it was further renovated to its unique beauty by the Qianlong Emperor. The Forbidden City was the residence for 24 Ming and Qing emperors.
The main buildings, the six great halls, one following the other, are set facing south along the central north-south axis from the Meridian Gate, the south entrance, to Shenwumen, the great gate piercing in the north wall. On either side of the palace are many comparatively small buildings. Symmetrically in the northeastern section lie the six Eastern Palaces and in the northwestern section the six Western Palaces. The Palace area is divided into two parts: the Outer Court and the Inner Palace. The former consists of the first three main halls, where the emperor received his courtiers and conducted grand ceremonies, while the latter was the living quarters for the imperial residence. At the rear of the Inner Palace is the Imperial Garden where the emperor and his family sought recreation.
|
|
