Lying at the center of Beijing, the Forbidden City, called Gu Gong in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now known as the Palace Museum, it is to the north of Tiananmen Square. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex and covers 74 hectares. Surrounded by a six meter deep moat and a ten meter high wall are 9,999 rooms. The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Divine Might (Shenwumen), which faces Jingshan Park. The distance between these two gates is 960 meters, while the distance between the gates in the east and west walls is 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall. These afford views over both the palace and the city outside.
The Forbidden City is the best preserved imperial palace in China and the largest ancient palatial structure in the world.
It is recognized as one of the most important five palaces in the world (the other four are the Palace of Versailles in France, Buckingham Palace in the UK, the White House in the US and the Kremlin in Russia). The splendid architecture of the Forbidden City represents the essence and culmination of traditional Chinese architectural accomplishment.
In 1961 the Forbidden City was listed as one of the important historical monuments under the special preservation by the Chinese central government and, in 1987, it was nominated as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. The Palace Museum is a real treasure house of Chinese cultural and historical relics.
The Forbidden City, situated in the very heart of Beijing, was home to 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The construction of the grand palace started in the fourth year of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty (1406), and ended in 1420. In ancient times, the emperor claimed to be the son of Heaven, and therefore Heaven s supreme power was bestowed upon him. The emperors residence on earth was built as a replica of the Purple Palace where God was thought to live in Heaven. Such a divine place was certainly forbidden to ordinary people and that is why the Forbidden City is so named.
Ancient Chinese people displayed their very considerable skills in building the Forbidden City. Take the grand red city wall for example. It has an 8.6 meters wide base reducing to 6.66 meters wide at the top. The angular shape of the wall totally frustrates attempts to climb it. The bricks were made from white lime and glutinous rice while the cement is made from glutinous rice and egg whites. These incredible materials make the wall extraordinarily strong.
Since yellow is the symbol of the royal family, it is the dominant color in the Forbidden City. Roofs are built with yellow glazed tiles; decorations in the palace are painted yellow; even the bricks on the ground are made yellow by a special process. However, there is one exception. Wenyuange, the royal library, has a black roof. The reason is that it was believed black represented water then and could extinguish fire.
Nowadays, the Forbidden City, or the Palace Museum is open to tourists from home and abroad. Splendid painted decoration on these royal architectural wonders, the grand and deluxe halls, with their surprisingly magnificent treasures will certainly satisfy 'modern civilians'.
You may start your tour by following our virtual guide.
Location:
No.4 Jingshan Qian Jie, Dongcheng district, Beijing(to the north of the Tiananmen Square)
Ticket Price:
1. High season (from Apr. 1 to Oct. 31) 60 Yuan per person (extra fee to the Clock and Watch Hall and the Treasures Hall is 10 Yuan each)
2) Low season (Nov. 1 to Mar. 31) 40 Yuan per person (The Clock and Watch Hall 10 Yuan per person, the Treasures hall 10 Yuan per person) Children below the height of 1. 2 meters are free from charge, students, women on the International Women s Day (Mar. 8), Army men on the Army Day (Aug. 1) enjoy 50 % discount.
Opening Time:
1. From Oct. 16 to Apr. 15: 8:30 am 4:30 pm, (the ticket office closes at 3: 30 pm)
2. From Apr. 16 to Oct. 15 to Apr. 15: 8:30 am 5:00 pm, (the ticket office closes at 4:00 pm)
How to get there:
1) Take the subway Line one and get off at Tian An Men Xi or Tian An Men Dong
2) Take Tourist Bus No. 1 or No. 5 and get off at Qian Men Station
3) Other Buses that passes by are 1 2 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 17 20 22 31 34 37 44 48 52 53 54 59 110 120 205 329 509 703 726 728 729 742 744 784 803 808 819 820 821 826 848 859 and 922.