Forbidden City

Forbidden - not allowed ; prohibited; not permitted by order or law. With such a negative connotation one would think a place would either be hazardous, scary, a top secret, just to name a few, but in the case of Beijing's the Forbidden City, it is the world's largest surviving palace complex. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is a rectangle located in the middle of Beijing, designed to be the center of the ancient walled  city of Beijing.

Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City#Outer_Court

Let's do the number game :

1,000,000 ++ - required number of workers needed to build the Forbidden city

720,000- total land area in square meters of the Forbidden City.

500 -  years the palace served as the home of emperors

72 - covered area of the city in hactare

15 -  years to build the palace

Crossing Tiananmen Square

Qing got us tickets to go and see three of the museums within the Forbidden City

Traditionally, the Forbidden City is divided into two parts, the Outer Court and the Inner Court. Upon entering the Meridian Gate one is greeted by a large square pierced by the meandering Inner Golden Water River.

The Meridian Gate is the Southern and largest gate of the Forbidden City

24 -  total number of emperors who lived in the Forbidden City
14-  number of Ming dynasty emperors who lived within the city

10 - total of Qing dynasty who lived in the city

The Gate of Supreme Harmony

After the Gate of Supreme Harmony, is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, A three-tiered white marble terrace rises from this square. Three halls stand on top of this terrace, from the south, these are the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

The middle ramp where there are engraved, phoenix and dragon is only for the Emperor.

The largest structure within the Forbidden City is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It is the ceremonial center of imperial power and is also considered as the largest wooden structure in China.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony

The Hall of Central Harmony is a smaller square hall used by the Emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies. The smaller Hall of Preserving was used by the Emperor to rehearse ceremonies.

The Hall of Central Harmony

The Hall of Preserving Harmony

8,707 -  total number of bays of rooms

980 - number of buildings within the Forbidden City

Separated by an oblong courtyard, is the Inner Court. This is where the Emperor and his family resided. The center of the Inner Court is another set of three halls

Inner Court of the Forbidden City

Palace of Heavenly Purity

Hall of Mental Cultivation

961 -  meters from north to south

753 -  meters from east to west

Me posing

Qing the copycat

Alleys within the Inner Court

Near the Gate of Divine Might

After walking around the Forbidden City for the whole morning Qing and I decided to go to our next destination the Summer Palace. Will post the Summer Palace next.

The Gate of Divine Might

52 -  width in meters of the moat that surrounds the Forbidden City

6 - depth in meters of the moat that surrounds the Forbidden City

7.9 - height in meters of the city wall that surrounds the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a moat.