Forbidden City

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Coordinates: 39°54′56″N, 116°23′27″E

Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang^a
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	China
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv
Identification	#439
Regionb	Asia-Pacific
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1987 11th Session
Extension/s	2004
a Name as officially inscribed on the WH List b As classified officially by UNESCO

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. The Forbidden City is located in the middle of Beijing, China. It now houses the Palace Museum.

The complex consists of 800 buildings with 8,886 rooms. Its extensive grounds cover 720,000 square metres. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

The Palace Museum in the Forbidden City should not be confused with the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums derive from the same institution, but they were split after the Chinese Civil War.

Contents 1 Names 2 History 2.1 Construction 2.2 Ming dynasty 2.3 Qing dynasty 2.4 After the revolution 2.5 Under the People's Republic 2.6 The Present 3 Description 3.1 Walls and gates 3.2 Outer Court 3.3 Inner Court 3.4 Religion 3.5 Surroundings 3.6 Symbolism 4 Collections 4.1 Ceramic 4.2 Paintings 4.3 Bronzeware 4.4 Timepieces 4.5 Jade 4.6 Palace artefacts 5 Influences of the Forbidden City 5.1 Architecture 5.2 Depiction in art, film and literature 5.3 As performance venue 6 Reference 6.1 Notes 6.2 General 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Names

The Forbidden City is known by many names. The name by which the site is most commonly known in English, "the Forbidden City," is a translation of the Chinese name Zijin Cheng (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjinchéng; literally "Purple Forbidden City"). Another English name of similar origin is "Forbidden Palace". In the Manchu language it is called Dabkūri dorgi hoton, which literally means the "Layered Inner City."

The name "Zijin Cheng" is a name imbued with significance on many levels. Zi, or "Purple", refers to the Pole Star, which in Ancient China was called the Ziwei Star, and in traditional Chinese astrology was the abode of the Heavenly Emperor. The surrounding celestrial region, the Ziwei Enclosure (Chinese: 紫微垣; pinyin: Zǐwēiyuán), was the realm of the Heavenly Emperor and his family. The Forbidden City, as the residence of the terrestrial Emperor, was its earthly counterpart. Jin, or "Forbidden", referred to the fact that no-one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission. Cheng means a walled city.^[1]

Today, the site is most commonly known in Chinese as Gugong (故宫), which means the "Former Palace."^[2] The museum which is based in these buildings is known as the "Palace Museum" (Chinese: 故宫博物院; pinyin: Gùgōng Bówùyùan), although the museum also has charge over some surrounding properties.

[edit] History

[edit] Construction

See also: Ming Dynasty

The site where the Forbidden City stands today was part of the imperial city during the Mongol Yuan dynasty. When the Ming Dynasty succeeded it, the first Hongwu Emperor moved the capital from Beijing in the north to Nanjing in the south, and in 1369 ordered that the Mongol palaces be razed. His son, Zhu Di, was created Prince of Yan with seat in Beijing. A princely palace was built near the site. In 1402, Zhu Di usurped the throne and became the Yongle Emperor. Soon after, he made Beijing a secondary capital of the Ming empire, and construction of the palace that would become the Forbidden City started in 1406.

Construction of the palace took 14 years and an estimated 200,000 men. For the pillars of the most important halls, Zhu Di ordered whole logs of precious Phoebe zhennan wood (Chinese: 楠木; pinyin: nánmù) to be sourced from the jungles of south-western China. Such a feat would never be repeated, and the great pillars seen today were re-built in the Qing Dynasty using multiple pieces of pinewood. For the grand terraces and large stone carvings, stone was sourced from quarries near Beijing. The scale of the palaces meant that larger pieces could not be transported by conventional means. Instead, wells were dug at regular intervals along the way, and water poured onto the road in deep winter to form a layer of ice, with the stones dragged along the ice.

The floors of major halls were paved with "golden bricks" (Chinese: 金砖; pinyin: jīnzhuān), specially baked bricks from six counties of Suzhou (near present-day Shanghai). Each batch takes months to bake, and the resulting brick is perfectly smooth, and rings with a metallic sound. Most of the interior pavings seen today are still 500-year-old originals.

The principal axis of the new palace sits to the east of the Yuan Dynasty palace, a design intended to place the Yuan palace in the western or "kill" position in fengshui. Soil excavated during construction of the moat was piled up to the north of the palace to create an artificial hill, the Jingshan hill.

[edit] Ming dynasty

Even before the palace was completed, Zhu Di moved to Beijing under the name of "touring and hunting" (巡狩), which meant that the administrative centre of the empire gradually shifted from Nanjing to Beijing. When the palace was completed in 1420, Zhu Di moved to the new palace, and Beijing officially became the primary capital of the empire. However, scarcely nine months after their construction, the three main halls including the throne room burnt down, and it would be 23 years before they were rebuilt.

From its 1420 completion to 1644, the Forbidden City served as the seat of the Ming Dynasty. In April 1644, rebel forces led by Li Zicheng captured the Forbidden City, and Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, hanged himself on Jingshan Hill. Li Zicheng then proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty. However, he soon fled before the combined armies of former Ming general Wu Sangui and Manchu forces.

[edit] Qing dynasty

See also: Qing Dynasty

By October, the Manchus had achieved supremacy in northern China, and prince regent Dorgon proclaimed the Qing Dynasty the legitimate successor to the Ming. A ceremony was held at the Forbidden City to proclaim the young Shunzhi Emperor ruler of all China. The Qing rulers largely maintained the Palace's Ming Dynasty scheme. However, one change they quickly made was to the names of the principal buildings. Whereas the Ming Dynasty names favoured the character ji (Traditional Chinese: 極; Simplified Chinese: 极), meaning "supremacy" or "extremity", the new Qing names favoured names meaning "peace" and "harmony"; for example, Huangji Dian, the "Hall of Imperial Supremacy", was changed to Taihe Dian, the "Hall of Supreme Harmony".

They also added some uniquely Manchu touches - all signs and name plates were now bilingual (Chinese and Manchu), and the main part of the Empress's official bedchamber, the Hall of Earthly Serenity, became a Shamanist shrine.

Thereafter, the Forbidden City became the centre of power of the Qing Dynasty as it prospered and later waned. In 1860, during the Second Opium War, Anglo-French forces took control of the Forbidden City and occupied it until the end of the war. In 1900, Empress Dowager Cixi fled from the Forbidden City during the Boxer Rebellion, leaving it to be occupied by forces of the treaty powers until the next year.

After being the home of 24 emperors — fourteen of the Ming Dynasty and ten of the Qing Dynasty — the Forbidden City ceased being the political centre of China in 1912 with the abdication of Puyi, the last Emperor of China. Under an agreement signed between the Qing imperial house and the new Republic of China government, Puyi was, however, allowed and, in fact, required to live within the walls of the Forbidden City. Puyi and his family retained the use of the Inner Court, while the Outer Court was handed over to the Republican authorities. A museum was established in the Outer Court in 1914.

[edit] After the revolution

Amidst the political chaos that was the Beiyang government of the Republic of China, there was growing opposition to Puyi's continued stay in the palace. In 1923, Reginald Johnston, Puyi's English teacher, told him about eunuchs smuggling treasures out of the palace to sell in antique shops. Puyi ordered an audit of the palace's collections. However, before it could begin, a fire consumed the gardens of the Palace of Establishing Prosperity (建福宫), where the bulk of the City's collection, built up by the Qianlong emperor, were stored. In his memoir^[3], Puyi thought that the fire was started by eunuchs wanting to conceal evidence of embezzlement. The gardens were never rebuilt.

Puyi stayed in the Forbidden City until 1924, when Feng Yuxiang took control of Beijing in a coup. Denouncing the previous agreement with the Qing imperial house, Feng expelled Puyi from the Palace. On October 10, 1925, the Palace Museum was established in the Forbidden City. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, the Forbidden City housed a large amount of rare treasures and curiosities. These were gradually catalogued and put on public display.

However, with the Japanese invasion of China, the safety of these national treasures were cast in doubt, and they were moved out of the Forbidden City. Starting from 1933, important artefacts from the Forbidden City were packed and evacuated. They were first shipped to Nanjing and thence to Shanghai. However, the Japanese forces soon threatened Shanghai. A decision was made by the Executive Yuan to evacuate the collections to the remote west. The artifacts were split into three lots. One took the northern route towards Shaanxi. One was shipped up the Yangtze River towards Sichuan. The final lot was transported south towards Guangxi. However, the pace of the Japanese advance meant that the artefacts had to be moved, often with just hours' notice, to escape bombing and capture. In the end, all three collections reached the relative safety of Sichuan, where they stayed until the end of the war. Meanwhile, the Japanese army had captured the Forbidden City in Beijing. However, with the artefacts evacuated, the Japanese were only able to remove a number of large bronze tubs and a few cannons (1944). Most of these were recovered after the war in Tianjing.

With the end of World War II in 1945, the artefacts were finally free to be moved back to Nanjing and Beijing. Remarkably, the efforts of Palace Museum staff ensured that not a single piece was damaged or lost. However, the artefacts soon had to move again. In 1947, with the Kuomintang-led government losing the Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the artefacts from the Forbidden City and the National Museum in Nanjing to be moved to Taiwan. As it turned out, no artefacts were shipped from Bejing. However, a significant proportion of the Forbidden City's best collections stored in Nanjing were shipped to Taiwan, and today they form the core of the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

[edit] Under the People's Republic

In 1949, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed at Tiananmen, directly in front of the Forbidden City. While the Palace Museum worked to restore the Palace and its collections, over the next two decades various proposals were raised to raze or reconstruct the Forbidden City to create a public park, a transport interchange, or "places of entertainment". [1]

These ambitious proposals never came to fruition. Nevertheless, the Forbidden City suffered some damage during this period, including the dismantling of the throne in the Hall of Middle Harmony, the removal of name tablets from several buildings and gardens, and the demolition of some minor gates and structures. [2]

The voices of destruction peaked during the mayhem of the Cultural Revolution. For example, in 1966 the Hall of Worshipping Ancestors was modified and some artefacts destroyed for an exhibition of revolutionary mud sculptures. However, further destruction was prevented when Premier Zhou Enlai intervened by sending an army battalion to guard the city.[3] These troops also prevented ransacking by the Red Guards who were swept up in the storm to demolish the "Four Olds". From 1966 to 1971, during the peak of the Cultural Revolution, all gates to the Forbidden City were sealed. As a result, it escaped the destruction that befell many other historical sites in China.

[edit] The Present

Today, the Palace Museum is responsible for the preservation and restoration of the Forbidden City. Building heights around the City are restricted, and plans were recently unveiled to restrict demolitions and reconstructions in the surrounding area. From 2005, a 16-year major restoration project will seek to repair and restore all buildings in the Forbidden City to their original state before 1912. This is the largest restoration of the Forbidden City undertaken for 200 years, and involves progressively closing off sections of the Forbidden City for assessment, repairs, and restoration. As part of the project, some derelict or destroyed sections such as the gardens of the Palace of Establishing Prosperity will be re-built.

While great effort has been made to prevent the commercialisation of the palace, a variety of commercial enterprises exist, such as souvenir shops and photography stands. These commercial enterprises often rouse controversy. A new Starbucks store [4] has sparked objections[5], while sourvenir shops that refuse to serve Chinese citizens has caused much media controversy [6].

[edit] Description

Rectangular in shape, the Forbidden City is today the world's largest surviving palace complex and covers 720,000 square metres (178 acres, or 0.28 square miles). It measure 961 metres from north to south and 753 metres from east to west. The complex is surrounded by a six-metre deep, 52-metre wide moat, and an eight-metre high wall.

The Forbidden City was designed to be at the centre of the ancient, walled city of Beijing. The Forbidden City is enclosed in a larger, walled area called the Imperial City. The Imperial City is, in turn, enclosed by the Inner City (also known as the "Manchu city". To its south is located the Outer City (also known as the "Chinese city").

Today, the Forbidden City remains important in the civic scheme of Beijing. Its central north-south axis remains the conceptual central axis of Beijing. The axis extends to the south through Tiananmen gate to Tiananmen Square, the ceremonial centre of the People's Republic of China. To the north, it extends through the Bell and Drum Towers to Yongdingmen.

[edit] Walls and gates

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9-metre high city wall and a 52-metre wide moat. The distance between the northern and southern walls is 960 meters, while the distance between the east and west walls is 750 meters. The walls are 8.62 metres wide at the base, tapering to 6.66 metres at the top, and were specifically designed to withstand attacks by cannons. These walls served as both defensive walls and retaining walls for the palace. They were constructed with a rammed earth core, and surfaced with three layers of specially baked bricks on both sides, with the interstices filled with mortar. This makes these walls more elaborately constructed than any city wall in China.

At the four corner of the wall, there are uniquely structured corner towers. Their intricate roof structure, boasting 72 ridges, reproduces the Pavilion of Prince Teng and the Yellow Crane Pavilion as they appeared in Song Dynasty paintings. Being the most visible parts of the palace to a commoner outside the walls, much folklore is attached to these towers. One legend tells that artisans could not put a corner tower back together after it was dismantled for renovations in the early Qing Dynasty, and it was only the intervention of carpenter-immortal Lu Ban that enabled the tower to be rebuilt.

The wall is pierced by a gate on each side. At the southern end is the main Meridian Gate^[4] To the north is the Gate of Divine Might, which faces Jingshan Park. The east and west gates are called the "East Glorious Gate" and "West Glorious Gate" respectively. All gates in the Forbidden City are decorated with a nine-by-nine array of golden door nails, the only exception being the East Glorious Gate, which has only eight rows. This may have been because it was designed to be the Crown Prince's entrance. Alternatively, it may be because the deceased Emperors' and Empresses' coffins left the Palace via this gate, and so a Yin (even) number was chosen.

Of the four main gates, the Meridian Gate has the most imposing design, endowed with two protruding wings which form a three-sided square (Wumen, or Meridian Gate, Square) before it. It is also called the "Five Phoenix Pavillion" because the superstructure is composed of five buildings. The squre is the site of important ceremony. Imperial proclamations and almanacs are issued from the gate house. After a successful campaign, the Emperor would receive prisoners of war here, sometimes to be followed by gruesome decapitations.^[5]The gate has five gateways. The central gateway is used only by the Emperor, and for exit by successful candidates after the Imperial Examination. It is part of the Imperial Way, a stone flagged path that forms the central axis of the Forbidden City and the ancient city of Beijing itself, and leads all the way from the Gate of China in the south to Jingshan in the north. Only the Emperor may walk or ride on the Imperial Way, except for the Emperess on the occassion of her wedding, and successful students after the Imperial Examination.

[edit] Outer Court

Traditionally, the Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The Outer Court (外朝) or Front Court (前朝) includes the southern sections, and was used for ceremonial purposes. The Inner Court (内廷) or Back Palace (后宫) includes the northern sections, and was the Emperor and family's residence, and used for day-to-day affairs of state. Generally, the Forbidden City has three vertical axes. The most important buildings are situated on the central north-sout axis.

The Outer Court, the southern part of the Forbidden City, was the ceremonial centre of the Empire. Entering from the Meridian Gate, one encounters a large square (Taihemen, or Gate of Supreme Harmony, Square) pierced by the meandering Inner Golden Water River, which is crossed by five bridges. Beyond the square is the Gate of Supreme Harmony (太和門), behind which is Taihedian, or Hall of Supreme Harmony, Square.

Rising from the large, perfectly flat square is an elaborate, three-tiered white marble terrace. Atop this terrace stand the three halls that are the focus of the palace complex. From the south, these are the Hall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿), the Hall of Central Harmony (中和殿), and the Hall of Preserving Harmony (保和殿).

The largest, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, rises some 30 metres above the level of the surrounding square. It is the ceremonial centre of imperial power, and the largest surviving wooden structure in the country, and is the only one with 10 gargoyles on its roof ridge. It is nine bays wide and five bays deep, the numbers nine and five being symbolically connected to the majesty of the Emperor. The six pillars nearest to the imperial throne are covered with gold, and the entire area is decorated with a dragon motif. The imperial throne, in particular, has five dragons coiled around the back and handrests. The screen behind it features sets of nine dragons, again reflecting the "nine-five" symbolism.

Set into the ceiling directly above the throne is an intricate caisson decorated with a coiled dragon, from the mouth of which issues a chandelier-like set of metal balls. Called the "Xuanyuan Mirror", this object harkens back to Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor, the legendary first ruler of China, and is said to be able to show the reflections of evil spirits. In the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor held court here to discuss affairs of state. During the Qing Dynasty, the hall was only used for ceremonial purposes, including coronations, investitures, and imperial weddings.

The Hall of Central Harmony behind it is a smaller, square hall, used by the emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies. The third hall, the Hall of Preserving Harmony, was used for rehearsing ceremonies, and was also the site of the final stage of the Imperial examination. Both of these halls also feature imperial thrones, though to a slightly smaller scale than that in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

At the centre of the ramps leading up to the terraces from the northern and southern sides are ceremonial ramps, part of the Imperial Way, featuring elaborate and symbolic base relief carvings. The northern ramp, behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony, is carved from a single piece of stone 16.57 metres long, 3.07 metres wide, and 1.7 metres thick. It weighs 200 tonnes and is the largest such carving in China. The southern ramp, in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, is even longer, but is made from two stone slabs joined together. The joint between the slabs is ingeniously hidden by overlapping base relief carvings, and was so well concealed that it was long thought to be a single slab of stone. The secret was only discovered after the crack became more obvious due to 600 years of erosion.

In the south west and south east of the Outer Court are the halls of Military Eminence and Literary Glory. The former was used at various times for the Emperor to receive ministers and hold court, and later housed the Palace's own printing house. The latter was used for ceremonial lectures by highly regarded Confucian scholars, and later became the office of the Grand Secretariat. A copy of the Siku Quanshu was stored there. To the north-east are the Southern Three Places (南三所), which was the residence of the Crown Prince.

[edit] Inner Court

The Inner Court is separated from the Outer Court by an oblong courtyard lying orthogonal to the City's main axis. It is the home of the Emperor and his family. In the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor lived and worked almost exclusively in the Inner Court, with the Outer Court used only for ceremonial purposes.

At the centre of the Inner Court is another set of three halls. From the south, these are the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Union, and the Hall of Earthly Tranquility. On a smaller scale compared to their Outer Court counterparts, the three halls of the Inner Court were the official residences of the Emperor and the Empress. The Emperor, representing Yang and the Heavens, would occupy the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The Empress, representing Yin and the Earth, would occupy the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. In between them was the Hall of Union, where the Yin and Yang mixed to produce harmony.

The Palace of Heavenly Purity is a double eaved building and set on a single-level white marble platform. It is connected to the Gate of Heavenly Purity to its south by a raised walkway. As the residence of the Emperor, it is nine bays wide and five bays deep. In the Ming Dynasty, it was the residence of the Emperor. The large space was divided into 9 rooms on two levels, with 27 beds. For security, on any one night the Emperor would randomly choose from any of these beds. This continued to be the case in the early Qing Dynasty. However, when the Yongzheng Emperor succeeded to the throne, he was unwilling to inhabit the palace occupied by his father for 60 years. As a result, he and subsequent emperors lived instead at the smaller Hall of Mental Cultivation to the west. The Palace of Heavenly Purity then became the Emperor's audience hall, where he held court, received ministers and emissaries, and held banquets. At the centre of the Palace, set atop an elaborate platform, is a throne and a desk, on which the Emperor wrote notes and sign documents during councils with ministers. A caisson is set into the roof, featuring a coiled dragon. Above the throne hangs a tablet reading "Justice and Honour" (Chinese: 正大光明; pinyin: zhèngdàguāngmíng). From the Yongzheng Emperor onwards, the Emperor designated his heir in secret, with one copy of the will hidden behind this tablet and another carried at all times by the Emperor.

The Palace of Earthly Harmony is a double eaved building, 9 bays wide and 3 bays deep. In the Ming Dynasty it was the residence of the Empress. In the Qing Dynasty, however, large portions of the Palace were converted for Shamanist worship by the new Manchu rulers. Thus, the front part of the hall featured shrines, icons, prayer mats, and a large kitchen where sacrificial meat was prepared. From the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, the Empress moved out of the Palace following the Emperor's move out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. However, two rooms in the Palace of Earthly Harmony were retained for use on the Emperor's wedding night. The wedding ceremony would be held in the main room, and afterwards the Emperor and Emperess would retire to one of these rooms.

Between these two palaces is the Hall of Union, which is square in shape with a pyramidal roof, Stored here are the 25 Imperial Seals of the Qing Dynasty, as well as other ceremonialitems, including the clocks that set the official time in the palace (first a water clock, later a mechanical clock, both still displayed in the hall).

Behind these three halls lies the Imperial Garden. Relatively small, and compact in design, the garden nevertheless contains several elaborate landscaping features. To the north of the garden is the Gate of Divine Might, the north gate of the palace.

Distributed to the east and west of the three main halls are a series of self-contained courtyards and minor palaces, where the Emperor's concubines and children lived. Directly to the west is the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Originally a minor palace, this became the de facto residence and office of the Emperor starting from Yongzheng. In the last decades of the Qing Dynasty, empresses dowager, including Cixi, held court from the eastern partition of the hall. Located around the Hall of Mental Cultivation are the offices of the Grand Council and other key government bodies.

The north-eastern section of the Inner Court is taken up by the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, a complex built by the Qianlong Emperor in anticipation of his retirement. It mirrors the set-up of the Forbidden City proper and features an "outer court", an "inner court", and gardens and temples. The entrance to the Palace of Tranquil Longevity is marked by a glazed-tile Nine Dragons Screen.

[edit] Religion

Religion was an important part of life for the imperial court. In the Qing Dynasty, the Palace of Earthly Harmony became a place of Manchu Shamanist ceremony. At the same time, the native Chinese Taoist religion continued to have an important role throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. There were two Taoist shrines, one in the imperial garden and another in the central area of the Inner Court.

The most prevalent form of religion in the Qing Dynasty palace, however, was Tibetan Buddhism, or Lamaism. A number of temples and shrines were scattered throughout the Inner Court. Buddhist iconography also proliferated in the interior decoration of many buildings. Of these, the Pavilion of the Rain of Flowers is the most important. It housed a large number of Buddhist statues, icons, and mandalas, placed in ritualistic arrangements.

[edit] Surroundings

The Forbidden City is surrounded on three sides by imperial gardens. To the north is Jingshan Park, also known as Coal Hill, an artificial hill created from the soil excavated to build the moat and from nearby lakes. the last Ming emperor hanged himself here as the rebel army overran his palace.

To the west lies Zhongnanhai, a former garden centred on two connected lakes, which now serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council of the People's Republic of China. To the north-west lies Beihai Park, also centred on a lake connected to the southern two, and a popular park.

To the south of the Forbidden City were two important shrines - the Imperial Shrine of Family (Chinese: 太庙; pinyin: Tàimiào) and the Imperial Shrine of State (Chinese: 太社稷; pinyin: Tàishèjì), where the Emperor would venerate the spirits of his ancestors and the spirit of the nation, respectively. Today, these are the Beijing Labouring People's Cultural Hall and Zhongshan Park (commemorating Sun Yat-sen) respectively.

Further to the south stands the Tiananmen Gate, which is decorated with a portrait of Mao Zedong in the center and two placards to the left and right: "Long Live the People's Republic of China" and "Long live the Great Unity of the World's Peoples"). The Tiananmen Gate connects the Forbidden City precinct with the modern, symbolic centre of the Chinese state - Tiananmen Square.

While development is now tightly controlled in the vicinity of the Forbidden City, throughout the past century uncontrolled and sometimes politically motivated demolition and reconstruction has changed the character of the areas surrounding the Forbidden City. Since 2000, the Beijing municipal government has worked to evict governmental and military institutions occupying some historical buildings, and has established a park around the remaining parts of the Imperial City wall. In 2004, a 1984 ordinance relating to building height and planning restriction was renewed to establish the Imperial City area and the northern city area as a buffer zone for the Forbidden City. In 2005, a proposal was released to include the Imperial City and Beihai as extension items to the Forbidden City as a World Heritage Site.

[edit] Symbolism

The design of the Forbidden City, from its overall layout to the smallest detail, was meticulously planned to reflect philosophical and religious principles, and above all to symbolise the majesty of Imperial power. Some noted examples of symbolic designs include:

• Yellow is the colour of the Emperor. Thus the roofs in the Forbidden City all bear yellow glazed tiles. The only exception is the library at the Pavilion of Literary Profundity (文渊阁), which had black tiles because black was associated with water, and thus fire-prevention.
• The main halls of the Outer and Inner courts are all arranged in groups of three - the shape of the Qian triagram, representing Heaven. The residences of the Inner Court on the other hand are arranged in groups of six - the shape of the Kun triagram, representing the Earth.
• The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated with a line of statuettes. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building - a minor building might have 3 or 5. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10, the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times. As a result, its 10th statuette (called a "Hangshi", or "ranked tenth" Chinese: 行什; pinyin: Hángshí), is also unique in pre-modern buildings.

[edit] Collections

The collections of the Palace Museum is based on the Qing imperial collection. According to the results of a 1925 audit ^[6], some 1.17 million items were stored in the Forbidden City. In addition, the imperial libraries housed one of the country's largest collections of ancient books and various documents, including government documents of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

From 1933, the threat of the Japanese invasion forced the evacuation of the most important parts of the Museum's collection. After the end of World War II, this collection was returned to Nanjing. However, with the Communists' victory imminent in the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalist government decided to ship the pick of this collection to Taiwan. Of the 13,427 boxes of evacuated artefacts, 2,972 boxes are now housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Almost ten thousand boxes were returned to Beijing, but 2,221 boxes remain today in storage under the charge of the Nanjing Museum.

After 1949, the Museum conducted a new audit as well as a thorough search of the Forbidden City, uncovering a number of important items. In addition, the government moved items from other museums around the country to replenish the Palace Museum's collection. It also purchased and received donations from the public.

[edit] Ceramic

The Palace Museum holds 340,000 pieces of ceramics and porcelain. These include imperial collections from the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, as well as pieces commissioned by the Palace, and, sometimes, by the Emperor personally. This collection is notable because it derives from the imperial collection, and thus represents the best of porcelain production in China. The Palace Museum holds about 320,000 pieces of porcelain from the imperial collection. The rest are almost all held in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Nanjing Museum.

The ceramic collection of the Palace Museum represents a comprehensive record of Chinese ceramic production over the past 8000 years, as well as one of the largest such collections in the world.

[edit] Paintings

The Palace Museum holds close to 50,000 items of paintings. Of these, more than 400 date from before the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). This is the largest collection in China and includes some of the rarest and most valuable paintings in Chinese history.

The collection is based on the palace collection in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The personal interest of Emperors such as Qianlong meant that almost all surviving paintings from the Yuan Dynasty and before were held by the palace. However, a significant portion of this collection was lost. After his abdication, Puyi transferred paintings out of the palace, and many of these were subsequently lost or destroyed. In 1948, some of the best parts of the collection were moved too Taiwan, and by 1949 the Palace Museum had less than 5000 items, none of which dated from before the Yuan Dynasty. From that time, the collection has been gradually replenished, through donations, purchases, and transfers from other museums.

[edit] Bronzeware

Bronze holds an important place in Chinese culture, and was always an important part of state ceremony. The Palace Museum's bronze collection dates from the early Shang Dynasty (founded c. 1766 BC). Of the almost 10,000 pieces held, about 1600 are inscribed items from the pre-Qin period (to 221 BC). A significant part of the collection is ceremonial bronzeware from the imperial court, including complete sets of instruments for ancient orchestras.

[edit] Timepieces

The Palace Museum has one of the largest collections of mechanical timepieces of the 18th and 19th centuries in the world, with more than 1000 pieces. The collection contains both Chinese- and foreign-made pieces. Chinese pieces came from the palace's own workships, Guangzhou (Canton) and Suzhou (Suchow). Foreign pieces came from countries including Britain, France, Switzerland, the United States and Japan. Of these, the largest portion come from Britain.

Notable pieces in the collection include a clock with an attached automaton who is able to write, with a miniature writing brush on inserted paper, an auspicious couplet in perfect Chinese calligraphy.

[edit] Jade

Jade has a unique place in Chinese culture. The Museum's collection, mostly derived from the imperial collection, includes some 30,000 pieces. The pre-Yuan Dynasty includes several pieces famed throughout history, as well as artefacts from more recent archaeological discoveries. The earliest pieces date from the Neolithic period. Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty pieces, on the other hand, include both items for palace use, as well as tribute items from around the Empire and beyond.

[edit] Palace artefacts

In addition to works of art, a large proportion of the Museum's collection consists of the artefacts of the imperial court. This includes items used by the imperial family and the palace in daily life, as well as various ceremonial and bureaucratic items important to government administration. This comprehensive collection preserves the daily life and ceremonial protocols of the imperial era.

[edit] Influences of the Forbidden City

[edit] Architecture

The Forbidden City, the culmination of the two-thousand-year development of classical Chinese and East Asian architecture, has been influential in the subsequent development of Chinese architecture, as well as providing inspiration for many modern constructions. Some specific examples of its influences include:

• Emperor Gia Long of Vietnam built a palace and fortress that was intended to be a smaller copy of the Chinese Forbidden City in the 1800s. Its ruins are in Huế. In English it is called the "Imperial City". The name of the inner palace complex in Vietnamese is translated literally as "Purple Forbidden City", which of course is the same as the Chinese name for the Forbidden City in Beijing.

• The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington was designed to incorporate elements of classical Chinese architecture and interior decoration. The dragon panel and chandelier at the centre of the auditorium is based on the design of the caisson in the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

[edit] Depiction in art, film and literature

The Forbidden City has served as the scene to many works of fiction. In recent years, it has been depicted in films and television series. Some notable examples include:

• The Last Emperor (1987), a biographical film about Puyi, was the first feature film ever authorised by the government of the People's Republic of China to film in the Forbidden City.

• Marco Polo a joint NBC and RAI TV miniseries broadcast in the early 1980s, was filmed inside the Forbidden City. This was artistic license, however, since the present Forbidden City did not exist in the Yuan Dynasty, when Marco Polo met Kublai Khan.

• Kingdom Hearts 2 used the Forbidden City as the site for a climactic battle within the "Land of the Dragons", inhabited by the character Mulan.

[edit] As performance venue

The Forbidden City has also served as a performance venue. However, its use for this purpose is strictly limited, due to the heavy impact of equipment and performace on the ancient structures. Almost all performances said to be "in the Forbidden City" are held outside the palace walls.

• Giacomo Puccini's opera, Turandot, about the story of a Chinese princess, was performed at the Imperial Shrine just outside the Forbidden City for the first time in 1998.

• In 2004, the French musician Jean Michel Jarre performed the live concert in the Forbidden City, accompanied by 260 musicians as part of the "Year of France in China" festivities.

[edit] Reference

[edit] Notes

[edit] General

• Aisin-Gioro, Puyi (1964). From Emperor to citizen : the autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi. Beijing: Foreign Language Press. ISBN 0-192-82099-0. 
• Ho; Bronson (2004). Splendors of China's Forbidden City. London: Merrell Publishers. ISBN 1-85894-258-6. 
• Huang, Ray (1981). 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02518-1. 
• Yu, Zhuoyun (1984). Palaces of the Forbidden City. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-53721-7. 

[edit] See also

• Chinese art
• Chinese Palaces
• National Palace Museum

[edit] External links

• Palace Museum official site
• National Palace Museum (Taipei) official site
• World heritage virtual tour via immersive panoramas
• Satellite photograph of the Forbidden City
• Forbidden City, A Photographic Tour