The History of Forbidden City

  The Forbidden City, also called the Palace Museum, the Purple Forbidden City or Gugong Museum in Chinese, was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is located in the center of Beijing; it is the largest and most complete imperial palace and ancient building complex in China, and also one of the largest and best preserved in the World.

  The Forbidden City was built between 1406 and 1420 during the Ming Dynasty. It had been the imperial home of 24 emperors of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. From their throne in the Forbidden City, they governed the country by holding court sessions with their ministers, issuing imperial edicts and initiating military expeditions. After the republican revolution in 1911, the youngest and last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, then still a child, abdicated the next year. But he, his family and their entire entourage were allowed to stay in the palaces. They were finally expelled by republican troops in 1924.

  Until 1924 when the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty was driven from the Inner Court, fourteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty and ten emperors of the Qing Dynasty had reigned here. So it has a history so far of some 580 years. It has been the Palace Museum to the public since 1950. There are over a million rare and valuable objects in the Museum. Listed by UNESCO as a world Cultural Heritage Site in 1987, the Palace Museum is now one of the most popular tourist attractions worldwide.

The Parts of Forbidden City

  The Forbidden City occupies a total space of more than 720,000 square meters. Rectangular in shape, it is the world's largest palace complex .The surrounding palace walls are 10 meters high and have a total length of 3,400 meters, and are protected by a 52-meter-wide and 6-meter-deep moat.

  The wall has a gate on each side. Opposite the Tiananmen Gate, to the north is the Gate of Devine 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 are 750 meters. There are unique and delicately structured towers on each of the four corners of the curtain wall.

  The Forbidden City is divided into two parts. The southern section, or the Outer Court was where the emperor exercised his supreme power over the nation. The northern section, or the Inner Court was where he lived with his royal family. The Outer Court is consisting of the hall of Supreme Harmony, the Midway Hall of Harmony and the Hall of Military Prowess. The Inner Court is consisting of the Hall of Celestial Purity, the Hall of Union and Peace and the Hall of Terrestrial Tranquility, which are flanked by the Six East Palaces and the Six West Palaces.