The Forbidden City, Spring 2006

On the way to the Forbidden City across from Tianamen Square they have a sign counting down the days until the 2008 Olympics are hosted in Beijing.	This monument in Tianamen Square is a monument to everyone who died in the Cultural Revolution.	Here is a view of the Emperor's Gate which is also known as Tianamen Gate. It leads into The Forbidden City.	A closer view of Tianamen Gate. Tianamen means "Gate of Heavenly Peace." Today a Portrait of Chairman Mao hangs over the large archway where the emperor entered.
Only the emperor could enter through the central archway. The side arches were for his wives as well as scholars and other diplomats.	These pillars were found outside the gate. The creature on top is called Hao he is the son of a dragon.	The Hao's on the outside were guardians who reminded the emperor to retun to the city if he journeyed outside. More Hao's on the inside were to remind the emperor to leave the palace from time to time to take care of the needs of his people.	Here is the Starting Gate.
Above the Starting Gate they have a person dressed as the emperor would have, in yellow robes, waving to tourists.	This is the Outer Courtyard.	The Outer Courtyard was also known as the "Beating Courtyard."	We were told a story about a young 20-year-old emperor who wanted to travel south because he heard of the beautiful women there.
When the emperor's officals protested he had 120 of them beaten here. Eleven of them died as a result.	This is the Inner Coutryard. There are no trees in the Inner Courtyard because a tree surrounded by a square shape looks like the Chinese character for "difficulty."	The entire palace was designed on the basis of Feng Shui and they were very careful to make sure that everything was in balance [which helps further explain why there are no trees in the Inner Courtyard].	This is a view facing the emperor's marble path. Only the emperor could walk there, though the emperor usually didn't walk, rather he was carried over it on a sedan chair.
A photo taken by a photographer of me and my Aunt Alice and our tour guide Carol[that's right to left]. We were on an excellent private tour and Carolwas incredibly informative! She made this a wonderful experience and I'm thankful to have had her as a friend and guide.	Guarding the gateway to the Hall of Supreme Harmony were two lions. One was male one was female. The female has a small cub under her paw the male had a round gemstone. This one is the female.	Here is the male lion opposite the female lion.	This is the marble path for the emperor which he would be carried over. The carving depicts two dragons playing with a pearl. Many other carvings were done in this style.
Another view of the marble path looking up at the top.	The main hall was being repainted (for the Olympics no doubt -- either that or I just always come at the wrong time) so unfortunately it was covered in scaffolding. This is where the emperor often addressed his officals and the marble terraces were so that the officals could kow-tow to the emperor, bowing 7 times and touching thier forehead to the ground.	Some more buildings near the main Hall.	The Forbidden City is said to have 9,999.5 rooms. They define a room as a space between four pillars. They said the god of Heaven had a palace that had 10,000 rooms. The emperor was called the Son of Heaven.
A close up of some buildings. These must have been recently painted because the colors were brilliant.	This is the bridge over the Inner Golden River. The outer Golden River was outside the main gate before you enter the Forbidden City.	Here is a closer view of the marble stairs, notice the incense burners.	One last view of the Main hall with its scaffolding.
Here is a close up of some roof guardians and a freshly painted building. The Forbidden City is mainly painted in reds, golds and blues.	Another close up of painted designs on the buildings. You can see two dragons in the center.	I believe this building was called "Middle Harmony." It was located between the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.	This is the hall of Preserving Harmony. It housed the Emperor's throne.
This is a view of the Emperor's throne room. This was the view on the right side.	The emperor's throne.	There was a beautiful yellow silk carpet on the floor before the throne. It had the two dragons playing with a pearl motif.	The throne from a different angle. You can see cloisonne incense burners.
One last photo of the throne.	In order to help ward off fire and keep everything in balance the building was surrounded by nine gold plated bowls. According to the Chinese nine is a heavenly number.	The water was not for putting out fires but for Feng Shui purposes. They felt it would protect the wood structures from fire by keeping the area surrounding them in balance.	Antoher larger marble path for the emperor. This piece of marble was dragged 17km and it took two years.
They rolled the marble on logs during the summer and slid it on ice during the winter. It is the largest piece of marble in the Forbidden City.	A detail view of the carving. Again we see two dragons playing with a pearl.	A view looking up at a roof.	Another roof detail.
This jade disk sat outside of the emperor's reading room where the emperor wrote important documents and studied the deeds of past emperors. The circle represents the unending reign of their family "the circle of power." It also reminded him that he should rule fairly and his first duty was to his country and his people. It also reminded him that inside we are like uncut jade, we don't know what we will be until we are polished and refined.	Here is the ceiling of the main room making up the emperor's reading room.	A chair in the emperor's reading room.	Lanters hanging above the chair in the emperor's reading room.
A couch in the emperor's reading room.	A side room next to the main reading room. I believe we were told that this was the favorite room of the 80-year old emperor. Documents from the past emperor's were studied by each emperor and they offered advice about how to effectively rule a country.	A building outside of the emperor's reading room. This building was probably near the emperor's bedroom. I could not get any pictures of the interiors of the emperor's bedroom or that of his concubines because the glare on the glass prevented me from taking a good picture.	Beyond his bedroom was a garden. I believe it was called the Garden of Contemplation. Here you can see a Dragon Bone Tree. It had very interesting gnarled, and curving branches.
The garden was very beautiful and was filled with unusually shaped stones.	A giant incense burner sat within the garden.	A porous rock in the garden.	Here is a manmade mountain inside the garden. One day a year the emperor and his family would climb it. No one else was allowed to disturb them while they did this. On top he could observe the whole Forbidden City.
Here is a plaque near the end of the Forbidden City explaining it. They now call it "The Palace Museum" because of all the artifacts within.	Here are some buildings on the way out of The Forbidden City.	One last view of the Forbidden City from the outside. This was taken across the moat. The moat was 52 meters wide.