The Forbidden City in Beijing is the royal palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. It was formerly known as the Forbidden City. It is located at the center of the central axis of Beijing. The Forbidden City is centered on the three main halls, covering an area of ??about 720,000 square meters and a construction area of ??about 150,000 square meters. Square meters, there are more than 70 large and small palaces. It is said that the Forbidden City has 9999.5 rooms per room. In fact, according to an on-site measurement by experts in 1973, the Forbidden City has 8707 rooms.
The construction of the Forbidden City began in the fourth year of Yongle reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. It was modeled on the Forbidden City in Nanjing. It was completed in the 18th year of Yongle reign and became the palace for twenty-four emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Forbidden City in Beijing was officially established and opened on National Day in the 14th year of the Republic of China. The Forbidden City in Beijing is 961 meters long from north to south and 753 meters wide from east to west. It is surrounded by 10-meter-high city walls and a 52-meter-wide moat outside the city. The Forbidden City has four gates. Meridian Gate, with Shenwu Gate to the north, Donghua Gate to the east, and Xihua Gate to the west.
Each of the four corners of the city wall has a graceful turret. There is a folk saying of nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges, describing the complexity of its structure. The buildings in the Forbidden City are divided into outer court and inner court. There are two parts. The center of the outer dynasty is the Taihe Hall, the Zhonghe Hall, and the Baohe Hall, collectively referred to as the three main halls. They are the places where the country holds major ceremonies. The left and right wings of the three main halls are supplemented by two groups of buildings: the Wenhua Hall and the Wuying Hall. The inner court has two buildings. In the center are the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, and Kunning Palace, collectively known as the Back Three Palaces. They are the main palace where the emperor and queen live.
Overall layout
The Forbidden City is located in the center of Beijing. The layout is based on the principles of Zuozu, Youshe, Facing and Houshi as recorded in the Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji. The buildings are long in the north and south of Beijing. On the eight-kilometer central axis, the north and south are straight and symmetrical. Today, the Working People's Cultural Palace in front of the left side of the Forbidden City was the Taimiao Temple where emperors worshiped their ancestors in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Zhongshan Park in the front right was the Sheji Altar where emperors worshiped the earth god and the grain god. There is a place where courtiers work, and behind it there is a market where people conduct transactions.
To the north of the Forbidden City in Beijing is the Long Live Mountain, and to the south is the Jinshui River. This is exactly in line with the ancients' principle of building a palace with negative yin and yang, and infusing qi for harmony. Long Live Mountain is a city specially built to create the feng shui of the imperial city. The artificial mountain was completed in the early Ming Dynasty. It is located at the former site of Yanchun Pavilion, the palace of the Yuan Dynasty. It was built by excavating the moat and depositing silt from the South Lake. The construction of this mountain satisfies the principle that the imperial city must bear the yin on the one hand, and on the other hand It also suppressed the feng shui of the previous dynasty, so Wansui Mountain is also known as the Zhenshan.
Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia - Forbidden City