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 five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government.

I visited the forbidden city for the second time during this summer holiday, on the 23rd of June, and took photographs with my canon 1000D camera, those are some of the selection I made to represent my memory of the forbidden city.



The name

The common English name, "the Forbidden City," is a translation of the Chinese name Zijin Cheng.Zi, or "Purple", refers to the North Star, which in ancient China was called the Ziwei Star, and in traditional Chinese astrology was the abode of the Celestial Emperor. Jin, or "Forbidden", referred to the fact that no-one could enter or leave the palace without the emperor's permission. Cheng means a walled city.



Symbolism

The design of the Forbidden City, was meticulously planned to reflect philosophical and religious principles, and above all to symbolise the majesty of Imperial power.

* Yellow is the colour of the Emperor. Thus almost all roofs in the Forbidden City bear yellow glazed tiles.
* The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated with a line of statuettes lead by a man riding a phoenix and followed by an imperial dragon. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building — a minor building might have 3 or 5. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10, the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times.
* The layout of buildings follows ancient customs laid down in the Classic of Rites. Thus, ancestral temples are in front of the palace. Storage areas are placed in the front part of the palace complex, and residences in the back.





The walls

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9 metres (26 ft) high city wall[11] and a six-metre deep, 52 metres (170 ft) wide moat. The walls are 8.62 metres (28.3 ft) wide at the base, tapering to 6.66 metres (21.9 ft) at the top.[31] These walls served as both defensive walls and retaining walls for the palace. They were constructed with a rammed earth core, and surfaced with three layers of specially baked bricks on both sides, with the interstices filled with mortar.



Comments:

I spent one day exploring through the great architecture, however, this is far too limited time for one to get a understanding of such a great architecture. It's like a maze, full of wonders and imagination inside. From every single details, there's always a reveal of the deep Chinese culture, there's always meaning in it. I think, whatever the outlook maybe, it is very important for an architecture to have meaningful sybolism inside. The appearance and technique maybe really simple, but there should always be a space for people to think through.