(or Gu Gong)More about the Forbidden City
(or Gu Gong)
The following explains a few of the wonders within Gugong which I enjoyed particularly. This is not supposed to be an exhaustive description !
You have to let your imagination wander in order to go back hundreds years and imagine when the Emperor Yongle, the third Ming emperor, decided in 1406 to found this unique palace, and how not less than 9,000 women and several hundred thousands of eunuchs were living in this fabulous place... The legend says that in the Forbidden City there was 9,999 rooms (in reality only 8,886 !) as 9 is the symbol of the strength of "yang" in the traditional Chinese beliefs. Its construction has not been designed by accident but on the contrary it has been really well planned. You may have heard of Feng Shui(1) which has a whole set of rules which are still implemented by Chinese as well as foreigners nowadays. Gugong is orientated from North to South as most other Chinese monuments. In fact all buildings face the South in order to benefit from the good of the "yang" and to prevent their inhabitants from the bad of the "yin" (cold winds, invaders coming from the steppe or other evil spirits). In the Northern part, the different buildings are open, symetrical and well ordered so that political life, for which they were reserved, could be well managed. On the contrary, in the Southern part, the palaces are more crowded together and complex as they were kept only for private life. China has had a tumultuous history since the XVth century but Gugong had always gone through these times of ups and downs without major damage, including the Sino-Japanese war and the Cultural Revolution when the Forbidden City was wisely protected as a national property. Nowadays, in 1987 to be precise, you may be aware that UNESCO has included this jewel in its World Heritage list.
(1) FENG SHUI is the practice of living harmoniously with the energy of the surrounding environment which naturally leads to the art of placement, not only of buildings, but of everything within them.
How to get there ?
After crossing Tian An Men, you will enter the Imperial Palace Museum thru Wu Men (the Door of the Meridian). Then, you will cross the Golden River and see in front of you....
The Hall of Supreme Harmony
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is probably one of the most imposing and photographed monuments of the Forbidden City. This Hall was mainly used for big ceremonies during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is the biggest of all the Halls with not less than 1,360 square meters.
The Hall of Supreme
Harmony (or Taihe Dian)
How does it look like inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony ?
Inside : let's
imagine when the Emperor was sitting on his trone...
This room is mainly gold and red color. The six columns in the center of the Hall are decorated with golden dragons. Around the rostrum, you can see several pedestal tables on which perfume-pans are elegantly placed.
In addition to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, further on you may also visit other rooms with such extraordinary names as the Hall of Perfect Harmony (Zhonghe Dian), the Hall of Preserved Harmony (Baohe Dian), the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing Gong), the Palace of Earthly Peace (Kunning Gong), the Palace of Peaceful Old Age (Ningshou Gong) and Hall of Union (Jiaotai Dian).
Nevertheless, all pavilions and rooms of the Forbidden City are not open to the visit as such a huge monument needs constant maintenance and renovation. However, in spite of this, you will certainly need at least a whole day to visit the most interesting parts of the Forbidden City.
