As one of the top 5 palaces in the world in addition to the French Versailles Palace, the British Buckingham Palace, the U.S. White House, the Russian Kremlin, Beijing Forbidden City is generally divided into the Outer Court and the Inner Court based on its distribution and function, with Qianqing Gate as dividing line, which are very different from each other in architectural atmosphere.

 

The Outer Court is where the ancient emperor exercised his power to handle domestic and foreign affairs and hold national banquets, which is mainly comprised of Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Central Harmony and Hall of Preserving Harmony, flanked with Wenhua Hall and Wenyuan Pavilion in the east and Wuying Hall and Xianruo Hall in the west.

 

The Inner Court is where the emperor and his concubines lived and entertained themselves, and it’s mainly made up of Palace of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Union and Palace of Earthly Tranquility, surrounded by the Six Palaces of the East and West and the Imperial Garden to the north.

 

As the quintessence of Han-style architecture, Beijing Forbidden City was built under the order of Ming-era emperor Zhu Di and enlarged by Qing-era emperors, whose architectural characteristics feature as follows:

 

 

1. Facing south, the Forbidden City was designed and constructed according to ancient Chinese horoscope, with 2 ornamental columns with the same length employed to orient its azimuth. The 2 columns serve as upright survey stakes, and the plot-observer drew a straight line by linking two points together, which are marked by column shadows casted by the sun when they are of the same length in the morning and afternoon respectively, and the line is considered oriented in an east-west direction.
2. Centered with Hall of Supreme Harmony, the architecture complex is arranged symmetrically, including halls, pavilions and corridors, etc.
3. Supported by timber frames, the halls and palaces are built on a stone base and roofed by yellow glazed tiles.
4. The roof ridges are decorated by large beast heads, with the hip roof boasting a round ball.
5. Various kinds of patterns are decorated on bucket arches, eaves and tablets, including dragons, phoenixes, lions, birds, the Sun, the Moon and the stars as well as lotuses.
6. The ornamental colors are rich and colorful, with roofs mainly in golden, windows in scarlet, eaves in blue and stone railings in white, which form stark contrast with one another.
7. Beijing Forbidden City was listed on the world heritage site in 1987, attracting millions of visitors from all over the world each year.                                                                                                                       Author: Yang Qingwei                                                                                                                          

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Nestled in Beijing city center and severing as home to 24 emperors during the Ming and the Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City is an ancient imperial architectural masterpiece beyond compare as well as the largest extant wood-structured architecture complex. The legend goes as that the Heavenly Emperor’s palace boasts 10,000 rooms, symbolizing perfection, and the earthly emperors daren’t outnumber him in rooms, so 9999.5 rooms were built under imperial order in the Forbidden City.

 

Modeled on Nanjing Imperial Palace and based on ancient Chinese horoscope, the 720,000-square meter Forbidden City was built under instruct of Zhu Di (Emperor Chengzu) from 1406 to 1420 in the Ming dynasty, and over 230,000 labors were dispatched for the cause.

 

Roofed by yellow glazed tiles and decorated by colorful paintings inside, the Forbidden City covers a construction area of 150,000 square meters with 8707 rooms now, whose city wall measures 961 meters long from north to south and 753 meters wide. The architecture complex is symmetrically distributed along the central axis of Beijing, which is precisely in accordance with a feudal code of architectural hierarchy designating specific features for reflecting the paramount authority and status of the emperors.

 

The outermost layer of the Forbidden City is a moat with 52 meters wide and 6 meters deep, followed by a city wall measuring 3,000 meters long and 10 meters tall. There are 4 gates on the wall, namely, Meridian Gate in the south, Gate of Godly Prowess in the north, Dong Hua Gate in the east and Xi Hua Gate in the west respectively, with a turret at each wall corner. The turret is unconventional in pattern and unique in style with 3-tier eaves and 72 roof ridges, boasting the masterpiece of ancient Chinese architecture.

 

With emperors, imperial power and imperial palace as kernel, the Forbidden City is blessed with profound historical and cultural connotation, which is the classical Chinese culture in a more specific sense, featuring authoritative, traditional and immortal, and it has been listed on the Top 5 Palaces in the world together with the French Versailles Palace, the British Buckingham Palace, the U.S. White House, the Russian Kremlin. In 1987, the Forbidden City was listed on the world heritage sites by the UNESCO, and the World Heritage Convention states that: “Seat of supreme power for over five centuries (1416-1911), the Forbidden City in Beijing, with its landscaped gardens and many buildings (whose nearly 10,000 rooms contain furniture and works of art), constitutes a priceless testimony to Chinese civilization during the Ming and Qing dynasties.”

Author: Yang Qingwei

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Once a upon time, two old men lived as good neighbors at the foot of the Great Wall, Mr. Meng and Mr. Jiang, with only a wall as division. In spring, Mr. Meng sowed a gourd seed in his courtyard, which grew very quickly and climbed over the wall to the Jiang’s through Meng’s meticulous care, bearing a big gourd weighting over 50 kilograms.

 

 

As the gourd become ripen, Mr. Jiang couldn’t wait to cut it into pieces and surprisingly found that a lovely baby girl lying inside, so he run around the village spreading the news. All the villagers came to see her, followed by a big quarrel between Mr. Meng and Mr. Jiang, both of whom claimed the baby. Mr. Meng firmly said that: “I sow the gourd seed, so I’m supposed to have a baby”, while Mr. Jiang argued that: “The gourd grows in my courtyard, so the baby is mine.” The quarrel continued for over 3 days, resulting in no resolution, so they took turns to raise the baby after reconciliation, and they named her Mengjiangnv.

 

18 years later, Mengjiangnv grew into a charming woman. One day, she found a man hiding behind the gourd trellis when picking up gourds, and the man called himself Fan Qiliang said that he did so to avoid to being captured by court soldiers to build the Great Wall. Out of pity, Mengjaingnv pleaded his father, Mr. Meng, to allow Fan Qiliang to live with them. Having been together for a long time, the two youths came to have a tender feeling for each other and got married with the consent of both Mr. Meng and Mr. Jiang.
Accident will happen, and Fan Qiliang was captured by court soldiers on his big day and dispatched to build the Great Wall. Mengjiangnv hadn’t heard from her husband for over 2 years, and she was too worried to lose her appetite and be sleepless, so she determined to seek her husband after discussion with her dads.

 

Taking dried grains and winter clothes with her, Mengjiangnv went on her way through wind and rain and managed to reach the destination, unluckily, she was told that her beloved husband had been dead for a long time owing to physical exhaustion, but she could barely find his body. The news about Fan’s death struck her like a bolt from the blue, and she could not believe it and burst into tears along the Great Wall. Wherever she walked, the Great Wall just collapsed. So heartily she cried that the fallen length of Great Wall reached over 800 kilometers, which worried the overseers of the Great Wall a lot, so they hurried to report the oddity to Emperor Qinshihuang. Emperor Qinshihuang sent his men to arrest Mengjiangnv, however, he was obsessed by her charm as soon as he saw her and bestowed on her the title of imperial concubine of the highest rank.

 

Choking down her anger, Mengjiangnv had a brainwave and knew an approach to find her husband’s body, and she pretended to be willing to agree with the Emperor on three conditions: “first of all, the corpse of Fan’s must be found; secondly, a national funeral must be held for Fan; thirdly, Emperor Qinshihuang must put on mourning apparels for Fan.” Emperor Qinshihuang thought for a while with his eyes shut and reluctantly approved her request in order to gain this beautiful woman. After Fan Qiliang deserved a decent symbolic funeral, Mengjaingnv felt so relieved that she threw herself headlong into the water, dead.

 

As time flies, the legend of Mengjiangn Weeping over the Great Wall remains, which has passed down from one generation to another, symbolizing the great sacrifice the common people had offered for the Great Wall of China.

Author: Yang Qingwei

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Great Wall of China Facts:
A magnificent and ridged wall stretching over 25,000 kilometers long strides across the vast land of China from west to east like a huge dragon, which is called the Great Wall of China, one of the 7 wonders of the world.

 

As an outstanding defense system in ancient China, the Great Wall of China embodies the fortitudinous spirit and wisdom of ancient Chinese people and the extraordinary achievement of Chinese nation in ancient engineering technology as well as China’s long history, boasting the most substantial project of its kind in the world. Initially built from the 7th century and lasting for over 2,000 years, the Great Wall is widely distributed in North and Central China, which is praised as “Spanning over 2,000 Years in Time and Stretching over 100,000 Li in Space”, and such project is very unique even in the world architecture history, so it’s listed as one of the seven wonders of the world in addition to Roman Amphitheater, Leaning Tower Pisa and Egyptian Pyramids.

 

Relevant History
A number of watchtowers were successively built by different states to defend against invasion from enemies during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring State Period and were well-linked by city walls, serving as predecessor of the Great Wall, which were enhanced and enlarged by emperors from the following dynasties.

 

According to Historical documents, over one million labors (taking up 1/20 of Qin Empire then) were dispatched to build the Great Wall under the order the Emperor Qinshihuagn (the 1st emperor in Chinese history) in the Qin dynasty, and it’s said that the huge project was purely done by hands instead of any mechanical facility, so countless labors lost their lives just for the cause. Most sections of the Great Wall of China we witness nowadays were built during the Ming dynasty, of which the well-preserved Badaling Great Wall boasts the best, and it wows visitors from all over the world for its large scale and magnificent style, which is not only a rare treasure of China, but it’s a priceless cultural relics for all human Beijing, becoming the pride of Chinese nation.

 

Starting and Ending Points of Great Wall
Based on historical documentations, there are 3 dynasties, during which over 5,000-meter long Great Wall were built, in Chinese history, namely, the Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty and the Ming dynasty. The Great Wall built under the order of Emperor Qinshihuang starts from Lintao in the west and ends with Liaodong in the east, the one built in the Han dynasty stretches from Hosi Corridor in the west to Liaodong in the east, while the one built in the Ming dynasty runs from Jiayu Pass in the west to Yanlu River in the east.

Author: Yang Qingwei

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My sister and I will be flying out of Ottawa Ontario Canada on Saturday January 26 heading to Hong Kong for 17 days Ya can't wait. Will keep you up to date on our daily adventures Looking forward to all HK has to offer!!! Leave a reply