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What was the ancient palace like?
Palace building is a huge and magnificent building built by the emperor in order to consolidate his rule, highlight the majesty of imperial power and satisfy the enjoyment of spiritual life and material life. For thousands of years, emperors spared no effort to build palaces for themselves. These palaces are magnificent, which fully shows the high wisdom and creativity of our working people.

"Palace" appeared earlier in China, originally referring to "the home of the sage". Starting from Qin Shihuang, "Palace" became the place where the emperor and his royal family lived, and the palace was the place where the emperor handled state affairs. Palace buildings in China are getting bigger and bigger. Epang Palace in Qin Dynasty, Weiyang Palace, Zhangjian Palace and Changle Palace in Han Dynasty are all buildings like small towns. There are anterooms, bedrooms and other halls in the palace.

The biggest features of the palace architecture are huge arches, golden glazed tile roofs, colorful paintings, tall panlong Jingui, finely carved ceiling caissons, white marble abutments, railings and beams. The surrounding architectural sketches show the luxury and wealth of the palace. For example, the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City in Beijing is a luxurious ancient building in this ocean.

The Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden City, is the best preserved ancient palace building in China. The Forbidden City is the court of emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There were 14 emperors living here in the Ming Dynasty and 10 emperors living here in the Qing Dynasty. The scale, style and so on of the Forbidden City. Gorgeous architecture and luxurious furnishings are rare in the palaces of the world. The Forbidden City covers an area of 720,000 square meters, with a construction area of 6.5438+0.5 million square meters and more than 9,000 houses. The Forbidden City is surrounded by a red wall about 3400 meters high, and there is a moat outside the city. From the whole architectural layout, the Forbidden City can be divided into two parts: the former is called the "outer court" and the main buildings are the "three halls", namely the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe. On both sides of the three halls are Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall. "Outward" is the place where the emperor held important ceremonies and issued orders.

Behind the "outer court" is the "inner court", also called "back stop". The main buildings in this part are Gan Qing Palace, Jiaotai Hall, Kunning Palace and Huangjiayuan Forest. On the east and west sides of the palace are the East and West Officials, which are the places where the emperor handles government affairs and concubines live.

The Forbidden City is a magnificent palace ocean. This magnificent ancient palace complex fully shows the superb level of China palace architecture.

Shenyang Forbidden City is located in the old city of Shenyang. Before the Qing army shut down, it was the Qing court. Nurhachi, the founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and his son Huang Taiji once lived here. Shenyang Forbidden City covers an area of 60,000 square meters, with more than 70 buildings and more than 300 houses. Now the whole building complex is well preserved.

2) Layout and furnishings of palace buildings

1, layout of the palace

(1) strictly axisymmetric

In order to show the hierarchical concept of imperial power from heaven to imperial power, the palace building adopts the strict layout of symmetry axis. The buildings on the central axis are tall and gorgeous, and the buildings on both sides of the axis are low and quaint. This obvious contrast reflects the supremacy of imperial power; The vertical axis is far-reaching, showing the dignity and luxury of the palace.

(2) Zuo Zu You She, or Zuo Miao You She

China's etiquette thought has an important content, that is, respecting ancestors and advocating filial piety; Sacrifice to the god of land and food. There is food only when there is land. "Food is the most important thing for the people", "If you have food in your hand, you will be happy, but if you don't have food in your hand, you will be worried", "If you have food, you will be safe, and if you don't have food, you will be in chaos". It is natural that people are happy and peaceful. Zuo Zu You She embodies these thoughts. The so-called "Zuo Zu" is to set up an ancestral temple in the left front of the palace. The ancestral temple is the place where the emperor offered sacrifices to his ancestors. Because it is the ancestral hall of the son of heaven, it is called the ancestral hall. The so-called "right club" is to set up a social altar in the right front of the palace. Community is land, and millet is food. Shetan is a place where emperors offer sacrifices to land gods and food gods. In ancient times, the left was the top, so the left was in front and the right was behind.

(3) Sleep facing forward and backward

This is the layout of the palace itself. Generally speaking, there are two parts, front and back, separated by a wall. The "front hall and back room", that is, the so-called "front court", is where the emperor ruled the government and held ceremonies. The so-called "back bedroom" is the place where the emperor and queen live and live. In the center of the "former court" against the wall, there is a throne where the emperor sits in court; In the "back bedroom", there is no bedding for rest.

2. furnishings outside the palace

(1) Huabiao

In ancient times, it was placed in front of palaces, city walls, bridges and tombs as a symbol and decoration. Located in front of the mausoleum, also known as the tomb platform. Generally made of stone, the column body is generally engraved with decorative patterns such as dragons, and there are square boards and crouching animals on the top. China stands tall, which not only embodies the dignity of the royal family, but also gives people beautiful enjoyment. It stands in front of the palace or royal cemetery as a special symbol of royal architecture.

Huabiao originated from tombstones (wood). Later, people erected wooden posts on the main roads as signs to identify roads, so they called them "Hua Biao Mu" or "Heng Biao". Soon, the monarch asked people to write opinions on it, calling it "slander wood" (the word "slander" was a neutral word in ancient times, meaning to accuse negligence). With the disintegration of primitive society, slavery and feudal society were established one after another. People were no longer allowed to carve "advice" on "libel wood", but evolved into China watches engraved with dragons.

(2) Shishi

There are a pair of stone lions (or bronze lions) in front of the palace. Stone lions (or bronze lions) have the function of ward off evil spirits. Because the lion is the king of all animals, it also has the function of showing "dignity" and "majesty". According to the traditional customs of China culture, the paired stone lions are left men and right women. You can also judge the male by what the lion's paw steps on. The ball under the claw symbolizes the unity and supreme power of the universe and must be a lion. The cubs stand under their paws, symbolizing the continuation of their children and grandchildren. It must be a lioness. China also has the Northern Lion and the Southern Lion. The northern lion is majestic, while the southern lion is lively and interesting. There is also the so-called "Three Kings Lion", which is called "Three Kings Lion" because the lion is the king of all animals, and the stone carved by the lion is carved with phoenix and peony, the phoenix is the king of birds and peony is the king of flowers.

③ sundial

Sunlight shadow, using the principle of the sun's projection and the earth's rotation, shows the time through the position of the shadow produced by the pointer.

(4) Jia Liang

China ancient standard measuring instruments. The whole set of measuring instruments are: welcoming guests, fighting, rising, closing and squatting. It has the significance of unified measurement and symbolizes the unity and prosperity of the country.

(5) Auspicious jar

Some water tanks placed in front of the palace filled with clear water to prevent fires are made of copper, which was called "gate sea" in ancient times. Metaphorically, the water in the tank can put out the fire like the sea, so it is also called auspicious tank. For example, in the auspicious jar of the Forbidden City in Beijing, every winter in ancient times, the jar was covered with a cotton cover and a cylinder cover, and a charcoal fire was burned on the stone pedestal below to prevent freezing, and the fire was not removed until the weather became warmer.

(6) Lilac stove

A pot with a cover, a stove without a cover. This is an ancient ritual vessel used to burn sandalwood and pine branches during ceremonies.

(7) Copper Tortoise and Crane

Turtles and cranes are sacred animals in China culture, symbolizing longevity and celebrating the enjoyment of life. The most famous ones are the bibcock turtle and the crane.

Palace building, also known as palace building, is a huge and magnificent building built by the emperor to consolidate his rule, show the majesty of imperial power and satisfy the enjoyment of spiritual and material life. Most of these buildings are magnificent.

Since the Qin dynasty, the "palace" has become the place where the emperor and the royal family lived, and the palace has also become the place where the emperor handled state affairs. In the next few years, the scale of China Palace building has been expanding. Its typical features are huge arches, covered with golden glazed tiles, colorful paintings, finely carved ceiling caissons, white marble abutments, railings, beams and columns, and sketches of surrounding buildings. The Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City in Beijing is a typical palace building.

In order to reflect the supremacy of imperial power and the hierarchical concept with imperial power as the core, the ancient palace buildings in China adopted a strict symmetrical layout of the central axis: the buildings on the central axis are tall and gorgeous, and the buildings on both sides of the central axis are relatively low, small and simple. Because China's etiquette thought contains the contents of offering sacrifices to ancestors, advocating filial piety, attaching importance to food and offering sacrifices to land gods, China Palace usually has an ancestral temple (also called ancestral temple) in the left front for the emperor to offer sacrifices to ancestors, and a national altar in the right front for the emperor to offer sacrifices to land gods and grain gods (the country is the land and millet is the food). This mode is called "left group and right house". The ancient palace building itself is also divided into two parts, that is, "the former is the place where the emperor ruled the government and held ceremonies, and the latter is the place where the emperor and his concubines lived and lived."

China Palace is represented by the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden City, was the court of emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasties, and 24 emperors lived here successively. The Forbidden City covers an area of 720,000 square meters and has more than 9,000 houses. Surrounded by a red wall several meters high, with a circumference of more than 3,400 meters, there is a moat outside the wall. The scale, unique style, gorgeous furnishings and splendid architecture of the Forbidden City are extremely rare among palace buildings in the world.

The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The former part is the place where the emperor held important ceremonies and issued orders. The main buildings are Taihe Hall, Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall. These buildings are all built on 8-meter-high platforms made of white marble, which look like the Fairy Que in Gong Qiong from a distance. The architectural image is serious, solemn, grand and majestic, and the interior of the three halls is magnificent. The second half of the Forbidden City, the "Inner Palace", is the place where the emperor handles government affairs and concubines live. Gan Qing Palace, Kunning Palace, Royal Garden and other major buildings are full of rich flavor of life. Most buildings include gardens, study rooms, pavilions and rocks, all of which form their own courtyards.

Due to the alternation of dynasties and wars, there were not many ancient palace buildings in China. In addition to the Forbidden City in Beijing, there is also the Forbidden City in Shenyang. In addition, there are several sites of Han and Tang palaces in Xi 'an.