The Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden City, is a blend of astronomy and folklore. Ancient astronomers in China divided all the stars in the sky into three walls, twenty-eight nights and thirty-one days. Among them, the three walls refer to Taiwei College, Ziwei College and Tianshi College. Ziweiyuan is in the center of Sanyuan, which accords with the saying that Ziweiyuan is in the middle. Therefore, the ancients thought that the ultraviolet micro-wall was the position of the Emperor of Heaven, so it was called the Purple Palace. The emperor is the son of the Emperor of Heaven and the highest being on the earth. Therefore, they should imitate the Emperor of Heaven and crown their palaces with purple words to show their imperial spirit of being in the center and looking around the world. There is also a saying that "purple gas comes from the east." Legend has it that Lao Tzu went through the customs to Hangu Pass, and Guanling told Yin Youzi that he came from the East and knew that saints would pass by. Sure enough, I rode a green cow and asked him to write the Tao Te Ching. Therefore, later generations used "purple gas coming from the east" to express auspiciousness. Of course, the imperial residence hopes to show auspicious phenomena, so it is logical to name it after the word "purple". The meaning of the word "forbidden" is more obvious, that is, the forbidden area of the palace is heavily guarded and the people are not allowed to get close. There is not a word of empty talk. Until 1924, the last emperor was expelled from the palace, and the people could not get close to it. It is conceivable how lofty and sacred the Forbidden City was!
The Forbidden City was built in Beijing because of history and because it is a treasure trove of geomantic omen. It is a long story. The construction of the Forbidden City began in the fourth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1406), and it took 14 years to be basically completed. Today, it has a history of more than 570 years. As you can see, the Forbidden City is a group of first-class buildings with red walls and yellow tiles. Why? According to the Taoist theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, the five elements include gold, wood, water, fire and earth, among which earth occupies a central position. Because the people of China have lived on the Loess Plateau for generations, they have a feeling of admiration and attachment to yellow, so since the Tang Dynasty, yellow has become the color representing the royal family, and others are not allowed to use it in clothes and buildings. On the other hand, red symbolizes happiness, auspiciousness and wealth. For these reasons, the basic colors of the Palace Museum are red and yellow.
The Forbidden City covers an area of more than 720,000 square meters, with more than 9,900 palaces and pavilions, with a construction area of about 6,543.8+0.5 million square meters. Surrounded by a 9.9-meter-high wall called 10 meter, there is a 52-meter-wide moat outside the wall, commonly known as Tongzi River. The city is about 960 meters long from north to south and 760 meters wide from east to west. In every corner of the city, there is a strange, harmonious and beautiful turret, which is octagonal and called nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges. There are doors around the city, the main entrance to the south is the noon gate, the north gate is called Shenwumen, the east gate is called Donghuamen, and the west gate is called Xihuamen. During the construction of the Forbidden City, 230,000 famous craftsmen and 1 10,000 civilian workers were recruited. The building materials used come from all over the country. For example, white marble comes from Fangshan County, Beijing, five-color tiger skin stone comes from Panshan Mountain, Jixian County, Hebei Province, and granite comes from Quyang County, Hebei Province. The square brick on the ground in the palace was fired in Suzhou, and the brick for building the wall was fired in Linqing, Shandong. The red color used on the walls of the palace was made of Tongyan Mountain in Xuanhua (present-day gaoqing county). Wood mainly comes from Huguang, Jiangxi, Shanxi and other provinces. It can also be seen that the project was huge at that time.
The building in front of us is called the meridian gate. Wumen is the main entrance of the Forbidden City, commonly known as the Five Peaks Pagoda. In the Ming dynasty, lanterns were hung at the door at noon on the fifteenth day of the first month every year to send food to hundreds of officials. In the Qing Dynasty, this activity was cancelled. Every year, on the first day of the tenth lunar month, a ceremony will be held here to promulgate the calendar for the following year. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, in order to avoid the name of Li Hong, it was renamed "Promulgation Calendar". In the Qing Dynasty, emperors held ceremonies or big sacrifices, as well as New Year's Day, winter solstice, longevity, weddings and other major festivals, all of which were decorated with halogen books and ceremonial ceremonies. In addition, whenever the country has a triumph, the emperor accepts the ceremony of offering prisoners at the meridian gate, and if the emperor signs it himself, he will also leave from the meridian gate.
About "beheading at the meridian gate", it may be due to the perfunctory stage and unofficial history's novels. In fact, the crimes were committed by court officials of the Ming Dynasty, some of them beat staff at the noon gate, and of course some of them were killed on the spot.
(After entering the meridian gate, before Jinshui Bridge)
Now that we are in the Forbidden City, before the official tour, let me 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, combined with various building technologies, such a large-scale building complex has been built. It is not complicated, but gives people a sense of rigorous structure, gorgeous colors and regular layout. The most important means is to highlight an extremely obvious red central axis in the building. This central axis is organically integrated with the whole of Beijing, starting from the bell tower in the north and reaching Yongdingmen in the south, with a total length of about 8 kilometers, and the royal restricted area is about 8 kilometers. The important buildings in the palace are all on this central axis, and other buildings are symmetrically distributed on the east and west sides. The design and layout of the whole palace showed the "dignity" of the feudal monarch and the strictness of the feudal hierarchy.
The Forbidden City faces the Palace. Now we are at the southernmost tip of the outer court, in front of us is Taihe Gate. There are a pair of bronze lions in front of the door, which are majestic and fierce. They have become the guardians of the front bridge, symbolizing power and dignity. The emperor is the son of heaven, and the lion in front of the door is naturally the most exquisite, tallest and biggest. The lion stands in the east, and there is a young lion under its front paws, which symbolizes the eternal imperial power from generation to generation. The 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, courtesy, wisdom and faith. The whole river looks like a bow, and the central axis is an arrow, which shows that the emperor ruled the country on behalf of heaven.
(in front of Taihe Gate)
The architecture of the Forbidden City is divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner court. The part from the Wumen Gate to the Gan Qing Gate is divided into "Outer Courtyard", with the three halls of Ethereum, Zhonghe and Baohe as the center, and the two groups of palaces of Wenhua and Wuying on the east and west sides, which are symmetrical left and right, forming a magnificent "Outer Courtyard" pattern. The three halls are arranged in front of each other on the same huge I-shaped white marble foundation, which is 8 meters high and divided into three layers. Each layer is surrounded by white marble railings, and three sets have three layers of stone carvings. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the Golden Throne Hall, is the tallest building in the Forbidden City and the largest and most magnificent ancient wooden structure in China. Inside the Gan Qing Gate is the "Palace", and the architectural layout is also symmetrical. The central part is Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace, where feudal emperors lived and handled their daily affairs. On both sides, the Sixth East-West Palace is the residence of concubines, and the First East-West Palace is the residence of the Prince. There are also three royal gardens-Royal Garden, Cining Garden and Qianlong Garden. Neijinshui River winds around Wuying Hall, Taihe Gate and Wenhua Hall along the west side of the "inner courtyard" and flows out of the palace. There are white jade stone bridges on the river, and there are winding white jade carved railings on both sides of the river, which are shaped like jade belts. Most of the buildings in the Forbidden City are topped with yellow glazed tiles, which are resplendent and solemn in the sun.
The architecture of the Forbidden City not only highlights the central axis, but also uses various techniques to make each group of buildings in Miyagi unique. For example, the treatment of the temple foundation, the form of the temple roof, the number of kissing animals and hanging animals, the rules of painted patterns and so on. This not only makes the main buildings more tall and spectacular, but also shows the grade difference of the palace buildings. According to folklore, there are 9,999 rooms and a half in the Forbidden City. It is said that there are 10000 rooms in the imperial palace in the sky, and the emperor on the ground calls himself "the son of heaven", so he dare not agree, so half of them are missing. Where is this half room? It refers to the small room at the west end of Wen Yuan Pavilion. In fact, there are more than 9,000 rooms in the Forbidden City, and the so-called half room does not exist at all. The first room in the west of Wen Yuan Pavilion, though small in size, can only accommodate one staircase, is still a complete room. Downstairs of Wen Yuan Pavilion is the collection place of the first Si Ku Quan Shu in China. In order to take care of the beautiful layout, the first one in the west was built very small.
(After crossing the Taihe Gate)
Ladies and gentlemen, the hall in front is called the Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the Golden Throne, which is the largest palace in the Forbidden City. With a building area of 2,377 square meters and a double-eaved roof, it is the highest floor in the main hall and the largest of the three external halls. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is built on three overlapping I-shaped sumeru seats, carved from white marble, more than 8 meters above the ground, with 2/kloc-0 steps in the lower floor and 9 steps in the upper and middle floors.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was built in A.D. 1406. It experienced three fires and a soldier's urn was destroyed. What you see now is the architecture of the Qing Dynasty. There is a row of animals on each of the four eaves. It used to nail tiles, but later it was replaced by animals in myths and legends. It is said that it can ward off evil spirits. The more numbers, the more important the building is. There are nine halls of supreme harmony, and 9 is the positive number, followed by 7, 5, 3, 1. This kind of decoration is not allowed in ordinary families.
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 24 emperors ascended the throne here and announced their accession to the throne. New Year's Day, winter solstice, emperor's birthday, conferring the title of queen, promulgating laws and decrees, sending generals to war, spreading the golden palace, giving peace, etc. The emperor will hold a ceremony here to accept the congratulations of the officials.
This square is the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square, covering an area of 30,000 square meters. The whole square is empty and quiet, giving people a solemn feeling. In the middle of the Imperial Road, the bricks on the left and right floors are scattered with *** 15 floors in case someone digs a tunnel into the palace. There are some vats around. What are they for? There are 308 vats in the Forbidden City for storing water and diminishing inflammation. Charcoal can be burned under barrels to prevent water from freezing in winter. Why build such a big square? It makes people feel the grandeur of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Stand below and look ahead: under the blue sky, yellow tiles are shining. Layers of stone platforms, like white clouds and cigarettes, make the Hall of Supreme Harmony like a fairyland in the sky. When the ceremony was held, candles were lit on the enamel crane tray in the hall, sandalwood was burned in the incense burner in the fragrant pavilion, pine and cypress branches were burned in the copper furnace, turtle cranes were placed on the terrace, cigarettes were wrapped around the front of the hall, and the audience was silent. When the emperor ascended the throne, drums and music rang, and the ministers of civil and military affairs knelt down in the square according to the rank of Lu, looked up at the castle in the clouds and shouted long live the mountain to show the emperor's supreme authority and dignity.
Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was only three years old when he ascended the throne at the end of 1908. His father, Regent Zai Feng, helped him to the throne. At the beginning of the ceremony, the drums and music suddenly sounded, scaring the little emperor to cry and clamor to go home. Zai Feng was so anxious that he was sweating profusely that he had to coax the little emperor into saying, "Don't cry, don't cry, it's almost over, it's almost over!" Ministers thought it was unlucky, but coincidentally, three years later, the Qing Dynasty really perished, thus ending the feudal rule of China for more than two thousand years.
(On the stone platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony)
This is a bronze incense burner, which was used by the emperor to burn sandalwood during the ceremony. This belt has 18 blocks, representing 18 provinces in Qing Dynasty. There are four bronze jars outside the temple, symbolizing "Jin Ou is intact", which are used to store water and prevent fire. There is a bronze crane turtle on both sides of the platform, which is a symbol of longevity. This lead musical instrument is called Jia Liang. Jia Liang was the yardstick at that time, which showed that the emperor was fair, and no one knew it. There is also an instrument made of stone called sundial, which is an ancient timer. The emperor means that the benchmark of quantity and time is in his own hands.
There are 12 circular red columns in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which are about 63 meters long from east to west, 37 meters long from north to south and 35 meters high. There are five exits on the first three floors of the hall, 40 golden doors in front and back of the hall, and 16 golden lock windows. The whole hall is carved with beams and painted with buildings, and it is luxurious. There is a 2-meter-high platform in the center of the temple, on which there are nanmu thrones carved with nine golden dragons. There is a gold lacquer screen in the back, a royal case in the front, and symmetrical treasures, horns, cranes, incense and other exhibits. Like an Aquarius, it contains five kinds of grains, symbolizing the scene of peace and abundant grains. Foot end is a kind of god beast in ancient myths and legends of China. It can "travel 18,000 miles a day" and is familiar with the languages of the Quartet. Only a wise monarch can bring books and escort him.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is also called the Golden Hall. Why do you call it that? Named after the golden brick land in the temple. The BRICS is as smooth as a mirror, smooth and delicate, like a layer of water sprinkled with a dark light. So do the BRIC countries really contain gold? In fact, this is a kind of brick fired in a special way. The craft is exquisite and complicated, and it is specially made for the court. When it is struck, there is the sound of stones, so it is called "BRIC". Burning this kind of brick is equivalent to the price of one stone of rice. It can be seen that although the BRICS does not contain gold, it is indeed valuable.
There are 72 main pillars in the temple, which support their total weight, including 6 carved dragons and carved gold pillars, and the throne is surrounded by gold powder. There is an algae well in the center of the temple, which evolved from the form of ancient "patio" and "skylight" and is one of the characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture. Mainly set in "noble" buildings, with the meaning of "sacred". There is a relief dragon in the center of the algae well, with a ball in its mouth (the ball is hollow with a copper tire and covered with mercury). This ball is called Xuanyuan Mirror, which is said to have been made by the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan in ancient times. Hanging balls are connected with Zaojing Dragon, forming the form of Youlong's pearls, which are hung on the throne of the emperor to show that all the emperors in China are descendants of Xuanyuan and the orthodox descendants of the Yellow Emperor. It makes the palace magnificent and elegant. The mirror is facing the throne. It is said that Yuan Shikai moved the throne back to his present position for fear that the big ball would fall and kill him. There is a story about the dragon chair. 19 16 (five years of the Republic of China) When Yuan Shikai ascended the throne, he removed the original throne and replaced it with a western-style high-backed chair decorated with his own imperial emblem. It is said that his legs are short, so he lowered the chair seat. After the founding of New China, in order to find the Dragon Chair, a broken chair was found in the broken furniture library according to a photo of the past. After expert appraisal, this chair belonged to the emperor's throne and was later restored and exhibited.
(Take the guests to the bronze cylinder on the east or west side of the Hall of Supreme Harmony)
The ancients called the cylinder in front of the palace "the sea at the door", which means "the sea in front of the door". The ancients thought that there was a sea in front of the door and they were not afraid of making a fire. So value-added tax is also called auspicious value-added tax. Not only furnishings, but also fire fighting equipment. In ancient times when science was not popular, there was no running water in the palace, let alone fire fighting equipment. Therefore, for the sake of safety, the cylinder must be filled with water all the year round.
In the Qing Dynasty, there were 308 vats in * * *, which were divided into three types by mass, namely, gilded copper barrels, gilded copper barrels and iron barrels, among which gilded copper barrels were the most precious. However, these gold-plated bronze cylinders did not escape the fate of the invaders' bayonets. Who is the aggressor? It's Britain, America, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria Eight-Nation Alliance. In order to suppress the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion of China people, from August 13 to August/900 15, Eight-Nation Alliance captured Beijing and occupied the Forbidden City. In the embassy district of the aggressor countries, officers are saving lives, burning and looting, and plundering more and more things from palaces and the Summer Palace. So far, museums in London, Paris and new york have seized a large number of cultural relics. All this, including the scratches on the jar in front of us, has become irrefutable evidence of imperialist aggression against China. During the Puppet Manchuria period, the vats were pulled out of the palace gate, loaded on the trucks of the Japanese invaders, used as bullets, and then slaughtered our people in turn.
(in front of Zhonghe Hall)
The square building in front of us is the Zhonghe Hall. Before the emperor held the ceremony, he went here to rest and meet some officials. When the emperor goes to the four altars of heaven, earth, sun and moon to offer sacrifices, he should also watch the eulogy in Zhonghe Hall the day before. Every February, the emperor goes to Xianjiatan to hold a pro-farming ceremony, and he will come here the day before to read out seeds, farm tools and wishes. What is on display here now is the double-sided triangular shoulder, which is also the eight-sedan chair.
Cheng Jiao
There is a corner building with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges in each corner of the Forbidden City, which is beautifully built. How are these four corners covered? There is such a legend in Beijing-
After the Ming Dynasty Prince Zhu Li became Emperor Yongle in Nanjing, he wanted to move to Beijing because Beijing was his old place when he was a monarch, so he sent a trusted minister to Beijing to build an official. Zhu Li told the minister that four particularly beautiful watchtowers should be built on the four corners of the Forbidden City, that is, on the outer wall of the palace. Each watchtower should have nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two backbones. And said, "You should be the minister of water heating. If the lid can't be repaired, behead it! " "After receiving the imperial edict from the emperor, the plumbing minister was very worried and didn't know how to build this watchtower with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges.
When the Minister of Industry arrived in Beijing, he called 8 1 big contractors, foremen and carpenters, told them the emperor's will, and told them that these four grotesque turrets must be built on schedule, and said, "If they can't do it, the emperor will naturally kill my head, but before I kill my head, I will cut off your heads and be careful with your heads." The foreman and carpenter are not sure about such a project, so they have to find a way together.
The period of three months is very short, and it will be one month in the blink of an eye. The foreman and carpenter haven't come up with a clue or method yet. They made many models, none of which were suitable. This is just in time for the dog days in June and July. It was stifling hot, and they were bored. It is really inappropriate for foremen and carpenters to sit or lie down. There was such a carpenter who couldn't stay any longer and went for a walk in the street.
Walking, I heard a sound of fruit from a distance, and then I heard a cry: "Buy fruit, listen, can't sleep, go and relieve boredom!" " Looking closer, I saw an old man carrying a lot of stalks, big and small, peddling along the street. One of them is a cage with a straw stick, which is as exquisite as a pavilion in the painting. There are some crickets in it. The carpenter thought: Anyway, I was bored to death. Shit, I couldn't live any longer, so I bought a beautiful cage. It looked interesting and I bought it.
The carpenter returned to the construction site with the cage. Everyone quarreled as soon as they saw it: "People are very upset. How can you buy a cage for a tramp? What's the point of noisy? " The carpenter smiled and said, "Everyone can't sleep. Look ... "He wants to say how beautiful this cage is! But before he spoke, he thought the cage was a little special. He quickly waved his hand and said, "Stop arguing and I'll count." He carefully counted the beams, columns and ridges of the Guo cage over and over again. Everyone was attracted by this number and looked at it quietly and straight, but there was no sound at all.
After counting the cages, the carpenter jumped up and patted his thigh and said, "Isn't this the seventy-two ridges of nine beams, eighteen columns?" Everyone was very happy to hear that. One was holding a cage, and the other said, "It's really a castle with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges."
Inspired by this cage, everyone came up with the appearance of the turret of the Forbidden City, scalded paper pulp to make patterns, and finally repaired it into a corner hug that still exists today.