Also known as the Forbidden City, located in the center of Beijing, it was the imperial palace of Ming and Qing dynasties, where 24 emperors successively ascended the throne. Founded in 1406, it has been nearly 600 years. The Forbidden City is the largest and most well-preserved ancient wooden structure complex in the world, covering an area of 720,000 square meters and a construction area of about 6,543,800+0.5 million square meters. It has more than 9,000 halls, among which the Hall of Supreme Harmony (also known as the Hall of Golden Throwing) is the place where the emperor held ceremonies such as enthronement, birthday celebration and invasion of the DPRK. The Yellow Tile Red Wall, Golden Jubilee, White Jade Carved Columns and Palace Que in the Forbidden City are the essence of ancient architecture in China. There are about 6,543,800 pieces of precious cultural relics and artworks in the palace.
It is listed in the World Heritage List.
The name "Forbidden City" is related to China's ancient philosophy and astronomy. China people believe in "harmony between man and nature" and "harmony between man and nature". Therefore, the structure of the Forbidden City is modeled after the legendary "Tiangong". In ancient astronomy, the stars were divided into three walls, surrounded by 28 nights, of which Ziwei Garden (Polaris) was located in the center of the sky, which was the center of all the stars. The purple in the Forbidden City is the purple in the purple, which means that the palace is also the "middle" of the world. "Forbidden" refers to the residence of the royal family, which has incomparable dignity and is strictly forbidden to intrude.
1406, Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty began to build the Forbidden City. According to the records of Ming history, 65,438+10,000 best craftsmen and 1 10,000 ordinary workers built a huge palace which is rare in the world, and it took 15 years to finally complete it. Since then, the Ming and Qing emperors have rebuilt and expanded many times, but the overall appearance has not changed much.
Twenty-four emperors lived in the Forbidden City. The first one was the Yongle Emperor Judy of the Ming Dynasty, and the last one was the Xuan Tong Emperor Puyi of the Qing Dynasty.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe are all built on a huge platform 8 meters wide, with a total area of about 85,000 square meters. Among them, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the highest and most splendid, with a width of 60. 1 m, a depth of 33.33 m and a height of 35.05 m.. The emperor's accession to the throne, wedding, conferring and going to war will all be held here. At that time, thousands of people shouted "Long live", and hundreds of ritual vessels were ringing with bells and drums, which was very human. The Zhonghe Hall behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the place where the emperor rests and sacrifices before attending major ceremonies, while the Baohe Hall in the northernmost part is the place where the emperor holds banquets and palace examinations.
The Forbidden City includes Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Palace and Kunning Palace, as well as the East Sixth Palace and West Sixth Palace on the east and west sides. This is the place where the emperor and his concubines lived, which is generally called three palaces and six courtyards. "In the north of the residential area, there is also a small and chic imperial garden, which is a place for the royal family to play. Emperors in Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty lived in Gan Qing Palace, Empress lived in Kunning Palace, and Jiaotai Hall was the queen's activity place. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, emperors and empresses moved to the West Sixth Palace and other places, the most famous of which was hall of mental cultivation. Since Yong Zhengdi, it has become the residence of emperors of all dynasties, and Empress Dowager Cixi has been here for more than 40 years.
There are 9,999 houses in the Forbidden City, and there are 9 bronze doornails on each door. This strange number phenomenon is related to China's understanding of numbers in ancient times. The ancients thought that the word "9" was the largest in numbers and the emperor was the largest in the world, so the corresponding "9" must be used. The homonym of "9" is "long", which means "everlasting", so it also means that mountains and rivers will last forever and never change color.
The Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City has collected more than 500 years' archives of the central and local organs in Ming and Qing Dynasties, with 74 volumes,100000 pieces, which is the largest and most valuable historical materials in China. In Wen Yuan Pavilion, there is a complete Siku Quanshu, which contains the most important academic works in ancient China, with 3,503 kinds and 6,304 volumes.
There are more than 0/0 pieces of collection in the Forbidden City, including the Art Museum, Arts and Crafts Museum, Painting Museum, Qing Palace Toy Museum, Bronze Museum, ceramics museum, Watch Museum, Treasure Museum, Woodblock Museum, Ming and Qing Furniture Museum, etc. There are about 1 10,000 precious collections, some of which are orphans, but only exist in the Forbidden City.
Legend has it that when Liu Bowen built the palace in Beijing, the emperor and his son, the Prince of Yan, planned to build the palace in a larger space. They always think that the place where the emperor lives should be particularly luxurious, otherwise the dignity of the son of heaven will not be reflected. On this day, the emperor was about to announce Liu Bowen. At this juncture, Liu Bowen came. As soon as Liu Bowen saw the emperor, he said, "Long live the opening ceremony. I had a dream last night. I dreamed that the Jade Emperor called my minister to the Lingxiao Hall and said to him, "You want to build a palace for the emperor." . Tell him! There are 1000 halls in the Heavenly Palace, and mortal palaces are not allowed to exceed the Heavenly Palace. You have to tell him that only by inviting thirty-six King Kong and seventy-two demons to guard the earthly imperial capital can the weather be good and the country and the people be safe. You must remember that. When the Jade Emperor said these words, he came at me with a white fragrant mist, which suddenly woke up the minister! "Hearing this, the emperor felt very strange. He wanted to think, and ordered Liu Bowen to supervise the construction of less than 1,000 palaces, but he still wanted to measure them like the Heavenly Palace, and asked King Kong and the dungeon to protect court officials. Liu Bowen got the order, and the story got around in Beijing. People are waiting to see how Liu Bowen builds palaces and invites 36 King Kong and 72 underground palaces to protect them. A few days later, Liu Bowen took care of everything. When the emperor saw how luxurious the palace was built, the number of rooms was really less than 1000, and then he saw the magnificent palace, as if it were guarded by a fairy. The more the emperor looked, the happier he became. At that time, he gave Liu a knighthood and many jewels. Foreigners heard that Liu Bowen invited the God 36 King Kong 72 Underground Palace to protect the Imperial City, and they did not dare to make an accident in dispatch troops. Later, people learned that there were 999 semi-palaces in the Forbidden City. Thirty-six King Kong, the god of heaven, is a thirty-six-mouth golden urn placed at the palace gate. The seventy-two underground palace is the seventy-two trench of the Forbidden City.
The legend of the Forbidden City turret
There is a corner building with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges in each corner of the Forbidden City, which is beautifully built. How are these four corners covered? There is such a legend in Beijing-
After the Ming Dynasty Prince Zhu Li became Emperor Yongle in Nanjing, he wanted to move to Beijing because Beijing was his old place when he was a monarch, so he sent a trusted minister to Beijing to build an official. Zhu Li told the minister that four particularly beautiful watchtowers should be built on the four corners of the Forbidden City, that is, on the outer wall of the palace. Each watchtower should have nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two backbones. And said, "You should be the minister of water heating. If the lid can't be repaired, behead it! " "After receiving the imperial edict from the emperor, the plumbing minister was very worried and didn't know how to build this watchtower with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges.
When the Minister of Industry arrived in Beijing, he called 8 1 big contractors, foremen and carpenters, told them the emperor's will, and told them that these four grotesque turrets must be built on schedule, and said, "If they can't do it, the emperor will naturally kill my head, but before I kill my head, I will cut off your heads and be careful with your heads." The foreman and carpenter are not sure about such a project, so they have to find a way together.
The period of three months is very short, and it will be one month in the blink of an eye. The foreman and carpenter haven't come up with a clue or method yet. They made many models, none of which were suitable. This is just in time for the dog days in June and July. It was stifling hot, and they were bored. It is really inappropriate for foremen and carpenters to sit or lie down. There was such a carpenter who couldn't stay any longer and went for a walk in the street.
Walking, I heard a sound of fruit from a distance, and then I heard a cry: "Buy fruit, listen, can't sleep, go and relieve boredom!" " Looking closer, I saw an old man carrying a lot of stalks, big and small, peddling along the street. One of them is a cage with a straw stick, which is as exquisite as a pavilion in the painting. There are some crickets in it. The carpenter thought: Anyway, I was bored to death. Shit, I couldn't live any longer, so I bought a beautiful cage. It looked interesting and I bought it.
The carpenter returned to the construction site with the cage. Everyone quarreled as soon as they saw it: "People are very upset. How can you buy a cage for a tramp? What's the point of noisy? " The carpenter smiled and said, "Everyone can't sleep. Look ... "He wants to say how beautiful this cage is! But before he spoke, he thought the cage was a little special. He quickly waved his hand and said, "Stop arguing and I'll count." He carefully counted the beams, columns and ridges of the Guo cage over and over again. Everyone was attracted by this number and looked at it quietly and straight, but there was no sound.
After counting the cages, the carpenter jumped up and patted his thigh and said, "Isn't this the seventy-two ridges of nine beams, eighteen columns?" Everyone was very happy to hear that. One was holding a cage, and the other said, "This is really a castle with nine beams, eighteen columns and seventy-two ridges."
Inspired by this cage, everyone came up with the appearance of the turret of the Forbidden City, scalded paper pulp to make patterns, and finally repaired it into a corner hug that still exists today.