The Forbidden City of China

It was February 2010 that I traveled China and one of the historical sites I visited was the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 720,000 m2. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

The site of the Forbidden City was situated on the Imperial City during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Upon the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor moved the capital from Beijing in the north to Nanjing in the south and ordered that the Yuan palaces be burnt down. When his son Zhu Di became the Yongle Emperor, he moved the capital back to Beijing and construction began in 1406 of what would become the Forbidden City. The construction lasted 15 years and required more than a million workers. The material used include whole logs of precious Phoebe zhennan wood found in the jungles of south-western China and large blocks of marble from quarries near Beijing. The Forbidden City, the culmination of the two-thousand-year development of classical Chinese and East Asian architecture, has been influential in the subsequent development of Chinese architecture, as well as providing inspiration for many modern constructions.

The design of the Forbidden City from its overall layout to the smallest detail was meticulously planned to reflect philosophical and religious principles and above all to symbolise the majesty of Imperial power. Some noted examples of symbolic designs include: Yellow is the color of the Emperor, the main halls of the Outer and Inner courts are all arranged in groups of three, the shape of the Qian triagram representing Heaven and the Inner Court on the other hand are arranged in groups of six representing the Earth.

Wow, it was a great experience.

I would like to share the complete documentary film that I found in Youtube. Thank you Youtube. hehehe :D