Where is forbidden city

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Want to add a little wonder to your website? Help spread the wonder of families learning together. We sent you SMS, for complete subscription please reply. Follow Twitter Instagram Facebook. Where is the Forbidden City? Why is it called the Forbidden City? What is the Forbidden City used for today? Wonder What's Next? Try It Out Find a grown-up who can help you keep learning with one or more of these activities: Take a look inside the Forbidden City.

Explain for a friend or family member. Read about the criteria for this recognition. If it were up to you, what would you choose to be the next World Heritage Site? Emperors in ancient China had a great deal of power. What five rules do you think are most important for all people in your country to follow? Discuss with a friend or family member. Did you get it? Test your knowledge. What are you wondering? Wonder Words imperial palace dynasty astrology celestial earthly counterpart architecture principles Take the Wonder Word Challenge.

Join the Discussion. Ali Rose Jan 28, This is really cool, and at the same time very interesting. If I got to go see this place, I don't even know how impressed I would be. It's so dang interesting. Bria R. Feb 28, I liked the information about how the Forbidden City was forbidden but now it is not and how all of the artifacts are now in a museum so I can visit if I want.

I wonder if people who lived in the Forbidden City are still alive. Evan A. Mar 5, Macie Chappell Mar 21, Mar 22, Pretty cool, huh? So glad you learned something new about the Forbidden City!

Natalia Zapata Apr 14, Apr 15, Eli Smith Apr 22, The first structure is the Palace of Heavenly Purity , a residence of Ming and early Qing emperors, and later an audience hall for receiving foreign envoys and high officials. Immediately behind it is the Hall of Union , which contains a clepsydra — a water clock made in with five bronze vessels and a calibrated scale.

You'll also find a mechanical clock built in and a collection of imperial jade seals on display. At the northern end of the Forbidden City is the Imperial Garden , a classical Chinese garden with sq metres of fine landscaping, including rockeries, walkways, pavilions and ancient, carbuncular cypresses. At its centre is the double-eaved Hall of Imperial Peace. On the northeastern edge of the complex is what feels like a mini Forbidden City all of its own.

Today it holds the Treasure Gallery , one of the palace's most important collections of ornamental objects, which are crafted from gold, silver, jade, emeralds, pearls, and other gems and semi-precious stones. The complex is entered from the south — not far from the unmissable Gallery of Clocks.

From there you work your way north, exploring various halls and courtyards before exiting at the northern end of the Forbidden City. Note the trap doors that allowed actors to make dramatic stage entrances. A dozen smaller palace courtyards lie to the west and east of the three lesser central halls. Many of the buildings, particularly those to the west, are decked out in imperial furniture. Parts of the palace that were previously off limits are opening all the time.

Due west of the Gate of Heavenly Purity are a collection of halls and gardens where the empresses and concubines of deceased emperors resided. Known as the Palace of Compassion and Tranquillity , it was used for storage for many decades after and today houses the Sculpture Gallery , which includes Buddhist statues, terracotta warriors, exquisite stone reliefs and more, from as far back as the Warring States period.

To the south is the Garden of Compassion and Tranquillity , where empress dowagers and imperial consorts worshipped the Buddha, entertained themselves and rested. Six Eastern Palaces and Six Western Palaces opposite each other, with the Back Three Palaces as their axis of symmetry, were the residences of the imperial concubines. Each palace has its own courtyard, main hall, and side hall.

Each hall was managed by a high-ranking concubine. She lived in the main areas, while low-ranking concubines lived in the side rooms. It was where many Qing emperors were born and raised. It was a place for the emperor's family to relax and visit. The garden offers an aesthetic change — from the crimson and gray building complex to a colorful and luxuriant atmosphere. The Forbidden City is outstanding not only because of its magnitude, but also for its unique architectural design.

Here are five key features. To represent the supreme power of the emperor, given from Heaven, and the place where he lived being the center of the world, all the important gates and halls of the Forbidden City were arranged symmetrically on the north-south central axis of old Beijing. Heaven was thought to be Polaris the North Star , the only seemingly stationary star in the northern sky, and the Forbidden City's layout points its visitors straight at "Heaven".

The Forbidden City is the largest and most complete complex of ancient wooden structures in the world. The main frames of all buildings were built with high-quality wooden beams and columns, including whole trunks of precious Phoebe zhennan wood from the jungles of southwest China. Forbidden City carpenters used interlocking mortise and tenon joints to build its great palace buildings "harmoniously", without nails. Nails were considered violent and inharmonious.

The main colors of the Forbidden City are yellow and red. The walls, pillars, doors, and windows were mostly painted in red, which is a regarded as a symbol of good fortune, and happiness in Chinese culture. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, yellow was a symbol of supreme power and only used by the imperial family.

If you climb up to the top of "Scenery Hill" in Jingshan Park and overlook the Forbidden City, you will see an expanse of yellow glazed tile roofs. There is a row of mystical animal statuettes placed along the ridge line of halls that were only for official use.

The animals, like dragons , phoenixes, and lions, have powerful meanings in Chinese culture. The number of animals is different based on the importance of the buildings. You can see 10 animals on the Hall of Supreme Harmony , the most important structure in the Forbidden City, and seven on the Palace of Earthly Tranquility , the residence of the Empress.

In Chinese culture, the lion is the king of the animals, and is regarded as a symbol of power and strength. Stone and bronze lions are popular as symbolic guardians , and can be seen beside the gates of many Forbidden City palace compounds. The lions are always in pairs, with the female lion on the left and the male on the right. The Palace Museum holds more than a million rare and valuable works of art , a sixth of the total number of cultural relics in China. The collection includes ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, timepieces, jade pieces, ancient books, and historical documents.

The main exhibitions are:. The Forbidden City is now years old , counting from when the Forbidden City was completely constructed. The Forbidden City used to be the residence of emperors. After the last emperor of China left the palace in , it became a museum open to the public.

Now it is the most popular tourist attraction in Beijing not counting the Great Wall. Legend has it that Emperor Yongle, who built the Forbidden City originally planned 10, rooms to be built. However, the night before issuing the order, he dreamed the God of Heaven was very angry and told him that the number of rooms he had planned for the Forbidden City was the same as the number of palaces in Heaven, i.

Therefore, the Forbidden City was built with half a room less than planned. The half room is a small room on the west side of the first floor of Wenyuan Pavilion.

In ancient Chinese architecture , one room refers to a square space among four pillars in a hall. By the latest count in , there are 8, rooms in the Forbidden City. The Last Emperor was the first feature film permitted to be filmed on a large scale inside the Forbidden City. After this film, in order to protect its cultural relics, the Forbidden City no longer allows filming.

The 'Cold Palace' is not a name for a particular palace in the Forbidden City. Concubines or princes who made mistakes and lost the favor were placed in remote and discarded palaces in the Forbidden City. These palaces were called 'Cold Palaces'. The Forbidden City was where 24 emperors lived and worked. The Forbidden City is a must-see attraction for visitors to Beijing.