| Forbidden
City |
The Palace Museum has served as
the royal residence during the Ming and Qing dynasties. , It was
here that a total of 24 monarchs ascended the throne and wielded
power for some 500 years.
A world-famous historical site, the Palace Museum is on the World
Heritage List of UNESCO and is an embodiment of oriental civilization.
The Palace Museum was made a center of rule during the Ming Dynasty
by Zhun Di, The fourth son of the founding emperor Zhuyuanzhang.
The whole complex straddles on an 8-kilometers-long central axis
that stretches from Yongding (Forever Stable) Gate in the south
to Gulou (Drum Tower) in the north. Prominence was given to the
royal power by putting the “three main front halls” and “three
back halls ”on the axis while arrange other subsidiary structure
around them .The construction of the Palace Museum involved manpower
and resources across China. For example, the bricks laid in the
halls ，known as “gold brick, ” underwent complex, two –dozen processes.
As the final touch， the fired bricks were dipped in Chinese wood
oil. Involving complicated processes and high cost, these brick
are called “golden bricks.” The Palace Museum serves as a living
embodiment of good tradition and styles unique to China` s ancient
architecture. It reflects to the full the ingenuity and creativity
of the Chinese working people. A carefully preserved and complete
group of royal residences, the Palace Museum is a prominent historical
and tourist site.
The Palace Museum is rectangular in shape, 960 meters long from
north to south and 750 meters wide from east to west, covering
a space of 720,000 square meters of which 150,000 is building area
. It has 9000-strong rooms in it . According to legend there are
9999.5 room-units in all .The whole compound is enclosed by a 10-meter-hign
wall and is accessed through four entrances, namely, the meridian
Gate in the south ,the Gate of Military Prowess in the north, Donghua(Eastern
Flowery ) Gate in the north, Donghua ( Eastern Flowery) Gate in
the east and Xihua(Western Flowery ) Gate in the west. On each
corner there is a turret consisted of 9 roof beams, 18 pillars
and 72 ridge . Encircling the compound there is a 3,800-meter-long
and 52 meter-wide moat, making the Palace Museum a self-defensive
city-within-a city. It was built along a meridian line,from the
Dragon's throne,an axis can be drawn directly south through the
many gates, right through to Qianmen and on. From his northern
seat, the emperor could symbolically survey his entire kingdom.
Besides its massive scale and historical significance,the Forbidden
City strikes the imagination by its design.Its clear lines, perfect
proportions,and dramatic color scheme of vermilion walls, white
marble terraces and staircases and brilliant yellow-tiled roofs-create
one of the world's most beautiful architectural complexes. |
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