Functions & Effects: This was a fire protection facility in the Forbidden City at the time. A long time ago, people came up with a way to put a large tank in front of the door in order to save the fire in time. As long as the water is always filled, when the fire occurs, the water can be used to put out fire. At that time, people called the big vats “the sea in front of doors.” It is not difficult to understand literally. It is believed that there will be no more fires when there is a sea in front of the door. Therefore, the big vats is also called “Auspicious vat” and “Vat of peace” for keeping palaces away from dangerous fire. At the same time, the big vat is also a small five-elements circulation: Gold generate water and water against fire! The most luxurious bronze vat gilded with real gold in the Forbidden City is placed in front of hall of supreme harmony, which symbolizes the imperial power. It is said 3 kg of gold was used for gilding each of the vat at that time. How does it work? In the Qing Dynasty, the copper […]
Cité interdite
The hall of preserving harmony was used differently in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Before the grand ceremony were held in Ming Dynasty, the emperor used to change his clothes here and when the emperor and the crown prince were registered,They were congratulated in this hall. Every year on the New Year’s Eve and the fifteen day of the first month, the emperor gave a banquet to the priests, the princes and the ministers of the first and second grades. The scene was spectacular.The banquet to host the Emperor’s father in law, High ranking official’s relatives, and the examination of each subject were held in the Hall of preserving harmony. At the end of each year, the officials administration ministry fill in the roster of high ranking officials from the Manchurian, Mongolian and the Han army. From 1646 to 1656, Emperor Shunzhi lived in this hall, and it was called the “Bai Yu Palace”at that time. The emperor’s grand wedding ceremony was also held here. When emperor Kangxi took the throne for eight years (1669) , He was also lived in this Hall,and change it’s name to “Qingning Palace.” In the fifty-fourth year of emperor Qianlong’s reign (1789), the […]
Hall of complete harmony, The word complete harmony which indicate “neutralization” means that everything needs to be impartial and just right to make the relationship between the parties to be harmonious. The intention is to promote the “moderation of the mean.” The hall of complete harmony is 19 meters high and has a square shape. On the base of the three halls of supreme harmony, complete harmony and preserving harmony, there is a drain outlet with a dragon’s head shape. When it rains, the drain head sprays water together to form a landscape of “Thousand Dragons Spurts Water”. After the Revolution of 1911, Emperor Qing was still in the harem. Yuan Shikai intends to restore the monarchy and announce himself as the emperor, He change the interior and exterior decoration of the three main palaces and make them as his offices. The Manchurian inscription on the plaque in which the name of the temple was written was removed and the Chinese characters moved to the middle. Two gold four-legged unicorns were placed on the both sides of the throne.Those are mythical animal and no such kind of animal real existed.The Chinese legend shows it can walk 18,000 miles in a […]
The Hall of the supreme harmony, commonly known as the “Golden Temple”, is located at the prominent position of the north-south axis of the Forbidden city. It has a height of 35. 05 meters and an area of 2,377 square meters. It has a total of 55 rooms and 72 pillars. It is the tallest building in the Forbidden City. It is the largest of the three halls and the tallest building in the Forbidden City. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is also the largest existing wooden structure in China. It is a typical classical building. The interior and exterior structure of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the crystallization of the ancient wisdom of the Chinese nation. Here, in addition to the singular sculpt, the unique design layout and the fascinating treasures, It’s firmness is also amazing. Since the completion of the Hall, it has suffered many major earthquakes. She still stands proudly like a strong giant and stay unaffected. There is a wide platform in front of the Hall of supreme, commonly known as the moon terrace. On the platform, there are copper sculptures of sundial, grain measure, turtles ,cranes, and dragons. The sundial is an ancient timer, and […]
The roof form of Chinese architecture is rich and colorful. In the Forbidden City building, there are more than 10 different types of roofs. Take the three halls as an example, the roofs are different. The roof of the Forbidden City is full of glazed tiles. The main hall is mainly yellow. Green is used in the construction of the Emperor’s residential area. Other blue, purple, green and malachite green, sapphire blue and other colorful glass, used in gardens or glazed walls. Black roof used in the library as it is indicate “water” in the five elements theory and can again fire for the preservation of library. Hall of supreme harmony-where the emperor’s succession ceremony held (yellow roof) Hall of literary profundity-Library (Black color roof) Hall of Sound Growth of the Successor–The prince’s residence（Green color roof）
1, Why build the Forbidden city in Beijing? Story dates back to the First emperor in Ming dynasty, Zhuyuanzhang, He is originally from a very poor peasant family, When he was 14 years old, all of his parents passed away, So he have to took a tonsure and became a Buddhist monk, at that time, it is Yuan dynasty, the rulers were all from Mongolia, They levy very heave tax on the people in Middle kingdom and treat people badly, In 1355, when Zhuyuanzhang was 25 years old, China suffering from a national wide famine due to natural disaster, In order to survive, people began to uprising, Zhu joined red turban peasant uprising army and later on he was elected as chief leader. in 1368, He took his army to conquer the city of Beijing and announce himself as the first emperor of Ming dynasty, as his hometown is faraway from Beijing, He decided to build his palaces in Nanjing instead of Beijing. As his oldest son died early, Zhuyuanzhang’s throne was succeeded by his first grand son, Zhuyunwen, He was only 20 years old at that time and short of experience in commanding army, He was trying to weaken the […]
French 
English 
Spanish 
German 
Korean 
Italian 
Japanese