Forbidden City – Beijing, China
The Forbidden City is situated in the exact center of the
ancient city of Beijing. It is no
longer used for government or administrative purposes, and it is now designated
as the Palace Museum. It was built as
the Imperial Palace during the powerful Ming Dynasty though the rulers of the Qing
dynasties would later use it for the same purpose. The Forbidden City is a key cultural and tourist attraction in
Beijing, and is the world’s largest collection of ancient wooden structures
with 800 buildings and 9,000 rooms sprawling over a 720,000 square meter
complex.
History
The Imperial Palace began construction in 1406 and was
finished 14 years later with the help of some 200,000 workers. It housed the fourteen Emperors of the Ming
Dynasty until a peasant revolt in 1644 overthrew their reign. The new Qing Dynasty settled in for ten more
Emperors leading up to the abdication of the last Emperor in 1912.
Throughout the centuries, many rare artifacts and spoils
were displayed prominently in the Palace.
With the outbreak of World War II and the Cultural Revolution some 20
years later, many of the Forbidden City’s valuable artifacts were moved around
the country until they were finally placed into the National Palace Museum in
Taipei for safekeeping.
Description
The Forbidden City is an immense complex covering about 74
hectares in area. On the outskirts lies
a massive moat that is six meters in depth and a wall that is ten meters
high.
In the complex are five major halls, seventeen different
palaces, and several hundred other small buildings. Some counts have placed the number of rooms between 9,000 and
9,999.5, though the latter number is more of a mythical reflection on the ideal
Forbidden City that was believed to have 10,000 rooms in heaven.
On each face of the rectangular complex is a large
gate. Their imposing doors were meant
to withstand the fiercest attacks of its time, and the walls could reportedly
withstand heavy cannon fire.
At each corner of the complex is a unique tower with great
views of the city and the Forbidden City complex. The complex itself is divided into two sections. The southern section is the lesser court, or
Outer Court, and has some five halls including the massive Hall of Supreme
Harmony. One key feature in addition to
the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Both are key tourist landmarks.
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