Forbidden City
Since ancient times, it has been said in the capital that there are 9,999 and a half rooms in the Forbidden City. Many people can’t help but wonder: What are the rooms in the Forbidden City? Why is the number nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine and a half? What's the point? It turns out that there is a touching legend in it.
According to legend, when the Forbidden City was first built, Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty, also known as the Yongle Emperor, planned to set the total number of palaces at 10,000. However, after he issued the imperial edict, On the fifth night, I suddenly had a dream. He dreamed that he was summoned to the Lingxiao Hall of the Heavenly Palace by the Jade Emperor, and saw that the Jade Emperor was full of anger. Later, when I asked, I found out that the number of palaces in the Forbidden City that I wanted to build exceeded the number of 10,000 palaces in the Heavenly Palace. So Zhu Di hurriedly said: "Please calm down the Jade Emperor. I have offended many of you. How can I have more palaces in this world than yours in heaven!"
When the Jade Emperor heard what he said, his face changed. Then he smiled and said: "That's right, I will give you a 'Sky Stone' to control the palace and courtyard, and then you can ask seventy-two evil spirits and a hundred beasts to protect this mortal imperial city of yours. Only then can the weather be smooth and the country be peaceful and the people be safe." Zhu Di quickly thanked him. When he raised his head and looked at the Jade Emperor again, he had disappeared. When he woke up, he realized that it was a dream.
Zhu Di
So Emperor Yongle hurriedly passed the decree and summoned Liu Bowen into the palace. Liu Bowen was shocked when he heard this: "The Jade Emperor is not something to be offended, since his heavenly palace is Ten thousand rooms, then let’s build nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine and a half. In this way, we can maintain the Jade Emperor’s face without losing the royal style.”
In less than four years. , the Forbidden City was built, with carved beams and painted buildings, resplendent and resplendent. The Meridian Gate was tall and majestic, especially the Fengtian Hall, which was spacious and majestic. Compared with the Jade Emperor's Lingxiao Hall, it was not much different.
The Meridian Gate
On the imperial road behind the Huagai Hall, there is a huge rectangular stone sculpture. This is the 'heavenly stone' given by the Jade Emperor in Zhu Di's dream to control the palace courtyard. It is called "Yunlong Step Stone", with nine giant dragons leaping among the flowing clouds. It is the largest stone sculpture in the palace, weighing tens of thousands of kilograms!
Yunlong Stone Steps
And the seventy-two evil spirits are distributed in the seventy-two trenches under each palace to prevent the little devils underground from causing trouble and damaging the palace. Feng shui!
Look at the glazed ornaments on the vertical ridge of the palace. They are dragons, phoenixes, lions, celestial horses, xiá fish, bullfighting, xiè zhì, and suān ní. There are those that fly in the sky, those that run on the ground, and those that swim in the water. Some pray for rain and some ward off evil spirits. Needless to say, that’s the beast to invite.
The beasts on the ridge of the palace
Actually, the number of halls in the Forbidden City is not really nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine and a half.
It turns out that when Liu Bowen went to various places to purchase wood and stone, he saw that the lives of the people were getting harder and harder, but the emperor was carrying out large-scale construction projects, so he deliberately changed the designed drawings, so that less construction would be done. There are several hundred rooms, but more than 8,000 have been actually built.
In fact, the number "there are 9,999 and a half houses in the Forbidden City" is just a legend. At present, the total number of rooms in the Forbidden City including halls, palaces, halls, buildings, studios, pavilions, and pavilions is 8,704, and the legendary half room is to the west of the Wenyuan Pavilion attic where the "Sikuquanshu" was stored in the Qing Dynasty.
Wenyuan Pavilion