The animals, like dragons , phoenixes, and lions, have powerful meanings in Chinese culture. The number of animals is different based on the importance of the buildings. You can see 10 animals on the Hall of Supreme Harmony , the most important structure in the Forbidden City, and seven on the Palace of Earthly Tranquility , the residence of the Empress. In Chinese culture, the lion is the king of the animals, and is regarded as a symbol of power and strength.
Stone and bronze lions are popular as symbolic guardians , and can be seen beside the gates of many Forbidden City palace compounds. The lions are always in pairs, with the female lion on the left and the male on the right. The Palace Museum holds more than a million rare and valuable works of art , a sixth of the total number of cultural relics in China. The collection includes ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, timepieces, jade pieces, ancient books, and historical documents.
The main exhibitions are:. The Forbidden City is now years old , counting from when the Forbidden City was completely constructed. The Forbidden City used to be the residence of emperors. After the last emperor of China left the palace in , it became a museum open to the public. Now it is the most popular tourist attraction in Beijing not counting the Great Wall.
Legend has it that Emperor Yongle, who built the Forbidden City originally planned 10, rooms to be built. However, the night before issuing the order, he dreamed the God of Heaven was very angry and told him that the number of rooms he had planned for the Forbidden City was the same as the number of palaces in Heaven, i. Therefore, the Forbidden City was built with half a room less than planned.
The half room is a small room on the west side of the first floor of Wenyuan Pavilion. In ancient Chinese architecture , one room refers to a square space among four pillars in a hall. By the latest count in , there are 8, rooms in the Forbidden City. The Last Emperor was the first feature film permitted to be filmed on a large scale inside the Forbidden City.
After this film, in order to protect its cultural relics, the Forbidden City no longer allows filming. The 'Cold Palace' is not a name for a particular palace in the Forbidden City.
Concubines or princes who made mistakes and lost the favor were placed in remote and discarded palaces in the Forbidden City. These palaces were called 'Cold Palaces'. The Forbidden City was where 24 emperors lived and worked.
The Forbidden City is a must-see attraction for visitors to Beijing. Visitors are limited to 80, a day. It is advisable to book well in advance. China Highlights uses cookies to give you the best possible service. If you continue browsing, you agree to the use of cookies. More details can be found in our privacy policy.
Home Travel Guide. Forbidden City. An aerial view of the Forbidden City. The building materials came from all over the country.
It took a lot of time to find and collect them. The work of collecting wood for the construction is said to have continued for 13 years. The transportation of building materials also needed time. The building materials includes the best timber, bricks and stones from all over the country need to be carried to Beijing, which took a long time.
The process of mining and transporting the stone is equally difficult. The biggest stone used for building was carried to Beijing taking 28 days by over 20, laborers and 1, mules according to the history records.
As the exemplar of ancient architectural hierarchy, construction techniques and architectural art, it influenced official buildings of the subsequent Qing dynasty over a span of years. The religious buildings, particularly a series of royal Buddhist chambers within the Palace, absorbing abundant features of ethnic cultures, are a testimony of the integration and exchange in architecture among the Manchu, Han, Mongolian and Tibetan since the 14th century.
Meanwhile, more than a million precious royal collections, articles used by the royal family and a large number of archival materials on ancient engineering techniques, including written records, drawings and models, are evidence of the court culture and law and regulations of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty in Shenyang while following the traditions of palace construction in China retains typical features of traditional folk residences of the Manchu people, and has integrated the architectural arts of Han, Manchu and Mongolian ethnic cultures.
Within the Qingning Palace the sacrificial places for the emperors testify to the customs of Shamanism practiced by the Manchu people for several hundred years. Criterion i : The Imperial Palaces represent masterpieces in the development of imperial palace architecture in China.
Criterion ii : The architecture of the Imperial Palace complexes, particularly in Shenyang, exhibits an important interchange of influences of traditional architecture and Chinese palace architecture particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Criterion iii : The Imperial Palaces bear exceptional testimony to Chinese civilisation at the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, being true reserves of landscapes, architecture, furnishings and objects of art, as well as carrying exceptional evidence of the living traditions and the customs of Shamanism practised by the Manchu people for centuries.
Criterion iv : The Imperial Palaces provide outstanding examples of the greatest palatial architectural ensembles in China. They illustrate the grandeur of the imperial institution from the Qing Dynasty to the earlier Ming and Yuan dynasties, as well as Manchu traditions, and present evidence on the evolution of this architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries. Since the collapse of the Qing dynasty, much attention has been paid to the conservation of the property. The designated property area includes all elements embodying the values in the creativity, influence, historic evidence, and architectural exemplar, with the historical scale, architectural types, and other components, as well as the techniques and artistic achievements of Chinese palace buildings after the 15th century, particularly in the 17th to 18th century, well preserved.
Various embodiments of the court culture in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the features of the lifestyles of and the exchange and integration between the Manchu and Han peoples have been well retained.
The buffer zone protects the spatial positions of the complexes in the cities and their settings. The Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang, particularly the Forbidden City, genuinely preserve the outstanding embodiment of Chinese hierarchical culture in the layout, design and decoration of the building complex.
The highest technical and artistic achievements of Chinese official architecture, conveyed by wooden structures, are preserved in an authentic way, and traditional craftsmanship is inherited. The four corners were marked by a towered fortress. As an extra security measure, this enormous wall had just 4 gates, and was surrounded by a 52 m wide moat. There was no chance of sneaking in unnoticed. The Forbidden City is the largest wooden structure of the ancient world. The main frames incorporated whole trunks of precious Phoebe zhennan wood from the jungles of southwest China.
The carpenters used interlocking mortise and tenon joints. Like many Chinese buildings of this period, the Forbidden City was mainly painted in red and yellow. Red was considered a symbol of good fortune and happiness; yellow was a symbol of supreme power, used only by the imperial family. Imperial roof decoration of the highest status on the roof ridge of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The palace is dotted with dragons, phoenixes and lions, reflecting their powerful meanings in Chinese culture. The quantity of these animals reflected the importance of a building.
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