We see here a large Stone Carving forming ramps flanked by stairs on the ascents & descents to the raised marble platform of the Hall of the Forbidden City (Palace Museum). In anceint time, the Emperor would be carried in his Sedan over the Stone Carving & was the only person allowed to pass over it. The Carvings always involved the Dragon, symbol of Celestial Power & the Emperor.

We continued exploring the Forbidden City; there’re many different types of willow trees & I like to take photos of them cos I find them real beauties!

Below is Dear admiring a Bronze Lion. Gates of the Forbidden City are usually guarded with a couple of Lions which are Symbols of Majestic Stength, Courage & Dignity. These Lions were also seen as Protectors of the Forbidden City & the people within, as they could frighten away wicked spirits & combat any evil that might try to intrude into the Imperial Palace!

The Bronze Lion behind Dear is a Male Lion, with its right Paw resting on a Ball, synifying the Pearl which symbolizes Blessings & Protection against Evil.  

And the below Bronze Lion is a Female Lioness, with its front left Paw resting on a Lion Cub, indicating a prosperously growing Family & the never-ending Secession of the Imperial Lineage.

A closer view of the Baby Lion under the Mother’s left Paw below.

Me with the Bronze Female Lioness.

View of the Female Lioness guarding the Palace Gate.

Toilet break now :

Dear approaching me……

We walked past a few doorways.

See the various Bronze Vats in these photos; these were used to hold water in case of fire in Ancient time. In Winters, fire would be lit under these Vats to stop the water from freezing - in total there’re 308 vats in the Forbidden City.

We arrived at the Courtyard of the Hall (or Palace) of Clestial Purity or Hall of Heavely Purity (”QianQing Gong” in Chinese), of the Inner Court of the Forbidden City.

There’re over 1000 gorgoyles around the raised platform for the Halls & in heavy rain, the gorgoles (except the bigger ones in the corners) will become Fountains as rain drains out through their mouths.

A closer view of the gorgoles in the shape of Dragon heads; notice the tiny holes inside the smaller Dragon mouths :

The Hall of Celestial Purity or Hall of Heavenly Purity (”QianQing Gong”) is the smaller twin of the Hall of Supreme Harmony of the Outer Court. Built in 1420, & rebuilt in 1798, the Hall of Cestial Purity is the largest structure in the Inner Court.

Sometimes this Hall was used as the Emperor’s bedroom Palace - the Ming Emperors & the 1st 2 Qing Emperors lived & attended to daily State Affairs here. Foreign Ambassadors were also received in this Palace. Banquets & Rites would be held here occasionally too; in 1722 & 1785, a “Banquet for a Thousand Seniors” was held here whereby old men past the age of 60 from the Nation presented the events & Emperor Qianlong later sent them presents.

During the Qing Dynasty, no matter where the Emperor died, his Coffin would be placed in this Palace for a few days to hold Memorial Ceremonies. The Coffin would then be moved to the Hall of Observing Military Virtue (”GuanDe Dian” in Chinese) in Jingshan, & the deceased Emperor buried in the Imperial mausoleum.

In Dec 1922, the last Emperor Puyi was also married in this Palace.

See the red Gate on Dear’s right side - that’s the Gate of Celestial Purity or Gate of Heavenly Purity (”QianQing Men” in Chinese), the main Gate of the Inner Court.

Dear & I standing infront of the Hall of Celestial Purity or Hall of Heavenly Purity (QianQing Gong).

By now you would have noticed that the Roofs of the Halls (Palaces) in the Forbidden CIty are painted in golden Yellow. Why Yellow? Well, cos Yellow is a symbol of the Royal Family & it’s a dominant color in the Forbidden City. The Roofs were constructed with Yellow glazed titles, decorations in the Palace were often in Yellow, & even the paving bricks on the floors of the Halls were made a bit Yellow by a special process.

In ancient Chinese theory of the Five Elements, each had an associated color. And Yellow represnts Earth, & the earth was considered the Centre of the universe by our Ancestors. Pictorially, Yellow was placed in the middle of the Five Elements, to indicate that the Earth is Central & Respected.

The Imperial Robes were also made in the traditional golden Yellow; Color & other architectural features of the Forbidden City clearly marked out the Emperor as the Son of Heaven.

However, there’s one exception - the Royal Library (”WenYuan Ge” in Chinese) has a Black Roof, cos it was believed Black represents Water & so could extinguish fire - appropriate in a building full of paper!

There’re small statuettes on each corner of the Roofs of the Palaces, the number of which designated the Power of the person living within the building. The number 9 was reserved only for the Emperor. Only one building has 10 statuettes at each corner (not including the Gargoyle guarding the rear, & the Phoenic in the front) - this number symbolizes Heaven & is the most Holy building.

On the Roof of the Hall of Celestial Purity (which is the smaller twin of the Hall of Supreme Harmony of the Outer Court) are starting from the front :

An Immortal riding a Phoenix, followed by a Dragon, a Phoenix, a Lion, a Heavenly Steed, a Sea Horse, a SuAnNi, a YaYu, a Xiezhi, a DouNiu, & a HangShi. This is the fixed pattern for the order of the animals. The Hall of Supreme Harmony of the Outer Court was the Throne Hall, so it has the most number of animals on the roofs (same for the Roofs of the Hall of Celestial Purity which is the smaller Twin). No other buildings in the country were allowed to have more. The less imporant the buildings in the Forbidden City are, the less number of animals on the Roofs, reduced starting from the Back.

Please pardon me for the below blur photo of the Roof animals :

It’s windy here at the Courtyard of the Hall of Celestial Purity; more snapshots of the vain me before we moved on :

Dear standing at the Gate of Celestial Purity (”QianQing Men” in Chinese), the main Gate of the Inner Court.

We just stepped out of the Courtyard of the Hall of Celestial Purity passing through the Gate of Celestial Purity (QianQing Men), & overlooking the Courtyard of 200 metres long from East to West by 30 metres from North to South. This Courtyard both separates & integrates the Outer Court & the Inner Court. During the Qing Dynasty, this was the place where Emperors, while sitting on the Throne set in the middle of the Gate, would hear reports & make decisions. The buildings on the left & right were Duty Rooms & Waiting Rooms for Ministers to be interviewed.

Dear standing infront of the Gate of Celestial Purity (QianQing Men), with the couple of Bronze Lions (Male & Female) guarding it.

Facing the Gate of Imperial Supremacy (”HuangJi Men” in Chinese) is the famous Nine Dragon Screen (”JiuLong Bi” in Chinese), the biggest in China.  

Constructed with 270 glazed titles & built in 1711 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, the Nine Dragon Screen is 6 metres high & 31 metres long.

If you look carefully at each individual Dragon, you will see that the 3rd Dragon (from the left) is a slightly different color at the bottom. Legend has is that the day before Emperor Qianlong’s inspection, one tile (located at the bottom of the 3rd Dragon) suddenly fell down & broke into many pieces. Because there was very little time left, & eveyone would be beheaded if one part was left broken, a carpenter (at a last resort) made a wooden one to look exactlty like the original. Fortunately, the Emperor did not discover the discrepency & the lives of all the craftsmen were saved.

Pretty doorways & walls behind Dear :

As we walked on, we saw high-walled alleys some of which were very long!

See the beautiful Yellow glazed tiled Roofs!!

We saw more beautiful doorways!

We chanced upon a Beijing Olympics 2008 Merchandise Shop - how wonderful!!

Dear & I immediately went inside the shop & I was very happy when I found the following Souvenir Magnets (of the 5 Olympics Mascots) on sales. I quickly bought a pack!

We’ve now walked to the Hall of Complete Harmony or Hall of Central Harmony (”ZhongHe Dian” in Chinese).

Originally built in 1420 & restored in 1627, & again in 1765, the Hall of Complete Harmony is the smallest of the 3 main Halls in the Outer Court, & is square in shape rather than the usual rectangular.

The Hall of Complete Harmony served as a Rest & Preparation Room when Emperors were going to present Ceremonies in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It was in this Hall that the Emperor would interview his Ministers. The Emperors, before departing to important Sacrifice Rites held at the Temple of Heaven etc, would rehearse their speeches here in this Hall. They would also, before their departure to the Temple of Ancestor Farmers, inspect the seeds & farming tools that they would use in the Ceremony.

The Ceremony of presenting the revision of the Imperial Generlogy (every 10 years) to the Emperor was also held here.

Dear (carrying my Beijing Olympics Souvenir Magnets) listening so seriously to our tour guide Wang Jing introducing the Hall of Complete Harmony.

 

We’re now moving on to visit the Hall of Supreme Harmony of the Outer Court.

We’ve now entered into the 2nd Courtyard (of the Outer Court) between the Hall of Supreme Harmony & the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

This Courtyard of 30000 square metres is the largest in the Forbidden City which complements the Hall of the Supreme Harmony, the largest structure in the City. Ceremonies held at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which faces South, used this Courtyard cos it can hold thousands of people.

In this Courtyard, there’re no trees cos in ancient China, the Emperors considered themselves to be the Sons of Heaven, born to reign over the Country, so they should occupy the highest position. Nothing was thus allowed to overwhelm the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the symbol of Imperial Power, & the highest building in the Forbidden City - & trees were no exception!

There’re 33 Rooms along each side of the Courtyard & they served as Warehouses for storing items such as Fur, Porcelain, Silver, Tea, Silk, Satin & Clothes. Today, they house Exhibitions, Offices & Tourist goods!

For fear that enemies might try to tunnel into the Forbidden City, the pavements were made many layers thick - 7 layers lengthwise, & 8 layers crosswise, totalling 15 layers! Aha, the ancient people were really smart!!!

Dear standing infront of the Hall of Supreme Harmony (”TaiHe Dian” in Chinese) which was still under renovation since Dear last saw it when he visited Beijing during his business trip to Penglai, Yantai a year ago.

Sitting on a 7 metres high, 3-tier marble terrace, this grand Timber framed Hall was first built in 1406, & later repaired many times. As the Heart of the Forbidden City, this Hall was used by the Emperors to receive High Officials & practise their Rule over the Nation. Grand Ceremonies to celebrate the Emperor’s ascending to the Throne, the Emperors’ Birthdays & Wedding Ceremonies, & other important occasions such as the Winter Solstice, the Chinese New Year, & dispatching Generals to War, were all held here.

The heavily glazed Hall of Supreme Harmony is 37 metres high, 64 metres in width, & 37 metres in length. There’re 72 pillars standing in 6 rows supporting the Roof, & each of the pillars supporting the Hall was made from a single piece of wood, about 18 metres high. And along the 3-tier marble terrace stairs are 19 Bronze Dings, a type of ancient Chinese Vessel, to represent the 19 provinces of the Nation then. The doors & windows of the Hall were decorated with brass panels embossed with designs of Dragons playing the clouds, & the Hall was heavily painted with Dragons with solemnity & mystery. And the floor titles of the Hall were baked 136 days before they were immersed in Tung Oil for another 49 days, & then polished; to look beautiful as well as sound nice when walked upon!

Below shows view of the Hall of Supreme Harmony from afar :

Below is the Hong Yi Pavilion on the West side of the grand Courtyard.

View of the Hong Yi Pavilion behind me :

Dear took 2 photos of me in the grand Courtyard while Wang jing chatted with our 2 tourmates (with the umbrella) in the foreground.

The following photos are of Dear about to take the umbrella from my handbag, opening the umbrella & then shading himself from the drizzling rain…….heheh! I find him so very cute & adorable my huggable baby!!

After spending some time in this grand 2nd Courtyard, we walked on to the 1st Courtyard, which is beyong the below gate.

Standing at the Gate, I took 2 more photos of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, with the Hong Yi Pavilion (on the right) in the 2nd Courtyard, as shown below :

Standing at the Gate now but facing the other side of me is the 1st Courtyard, with view of the grand Meridian Gate (”Wu Men” in Chinese).

The Meridian Gate is 35.6 metres high & surrounded by 5 Pavilions. Because each Pavilion resembles a Phoenix, this Gate is also known as WuFengLou (meaning ”Five Phoenix Tower”).

In the Pavilions are Drums that were used to announce an Emperor’s departure to the Temple of Heaven, & Bells to announce his departure to the Ancestral Temple. Both the Drums & Bells would toll to announce that the Emperor was going to receive his Ministers in the Hall of Supreme Harmony (TaiHe Dian).

And the huge courtyard covers a space of over 10,000 square metres. The grand size was both to accommodate large numbers of people in Ceremonial occasions and to create a sense of Imperial Majesty - look at the many golden Yellow glazed Roofs of the Buildings! So beautiful & elegant!

Below is the Gate of Supreme Harmony (”TaiHe Men” in Chinese) in the North of the 1st Courtyard - the main Gate of the Outer Court.

Located at the Southern end of the Forbidden City, the Gate of Supreme Harmony Courtyard is an important place where the Emperors’ Wedding Ceremonies were usually held.

The Gate is guarded by a couple of Bronze Lions (Male & Female) which aimed to show Imperial Dignity.

Above shows the Gate of Supreme Harmony (TaiHe Men) from afar.

Behind me is the Meridian Gate (”Wu Men” in Chinese), the largest & main Gate of the Forbidden City. Because Chinese Emperors believed that they were Sons of Heaven & lived in the Centre of the Universe, they believed that the Meridian line went through the Forbidden City; hence the Gate was so named.

The Meridian Gate has 5 openings with the Central opening strictly for the Emperors. Their Empresses were allowed to go through the Central opening only once, on their Wedding day.

The top 3 in the National Examinations, presided by the Emperor in the final stage, would be allowed to pass through the Central arch once on leaving after meeting the Emperor. The East opening was for the Ministers while the West opening was for the Royal Family. The other openings were for other Officials. Ordinary peopld were absolutely forbidden to enter the City, punishable by death! 

Now walking to the Meridian Gate, which is directly opposite the Hall of Supreme Harmony. 

Dear standing on one of the 5 Bridges :

Decorated with marble balustrades carved with motifs of Dragon & Phoenix, the 5 Bridges stretching over the “Inner Golden River” represent the 5 Confucian virtues of Humanity, Sense of Duty, Wisdom, Reliability & Ceremonial Propriety.

The River serves as fire hydrant in case of fire as well as serving the principles of Feng Shui & decoration. According to Feng Shui, the ideal location for a home is facing South with water infront (Inner Golden River) & a mountain or hill behind (Jingshan). The bed & sides of the Bridges are also paved with White Stones to enhance the beauty of water.

Below shows view of the Gate of Supreme Harmony directly infront of the Central wide Bridge :

What a long long walk in the Forbidden City, in total we spent a couple of hours inside it! Wew!! Tiring but we gained real exciting insights into the rich & colorful historical past of the Ancient China - a valuable interesting experience we would forever treasure!

We bid farewell to the Forbidden City & exited the City via the Meridian Gate (as shown below). I was thinking, how hard it was for the Ancient people to live their lives, having to be controlled by strict rules & punishments. Just think of the helpless poor who had to be beheaded when done something wrong in their royal tasks, or Concubine Zhen who died so pitifully at such a young age - we’re so so much luckier today, without those discriminating cruel Feudal Law.

Snapshots of Dear & I with the grand Meridian Gate behind us, taken by our tour guide Wang Jing.

Wang Jing tried twice taking us with no people walking around us & she pretty managed at this 3rd last shot :

Thank you Wang Jing :))

Below are my 2 beautiful Forbidden City (Gugong) Souvenir Magnets which I were to buy the next day at a Xinjiang Restaurant Souvenirs Store :