On my last day in Beijing, I went to the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of imperial rule.
It is huge. There are 980 buildings. I spent around four hours walking and only saw about half of it. There are many different halls. There was one huge hall each for the Emperor to rehearse ceremonies, rest before ceremonies, and perform ceremonies.
The three main halls weren't open to tourists. There were open doorways to look through. However, it was difficult to get pictures because of the large numbers of tourists.
Here's a picture inside the Hall of Central Harmony, where the Emperor would stop to rest on his way to ceremonies in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Here is a picture inside the Hall of Preserving Harmony, where the Emperor prepared for ceremonies.
I was able to enter some side building in a special exhibition area. Here is a picture inside the Palace of Heavenly Purity, which was where the Emperors lived during the Ming dynasty.
There was a sundial in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony because the ability to tell time was considered the right of the Imperial Family.
There were many cool lion statues in front of buildings. Some were bronze and others were gilded with gold.
There were many of these giant vats around the Forbidden City. This was an early version of having fire extinguishers placed in many locations. They were filled with water and many had places to build a fire underneath so that the water wouldn't freeze in winter.
They used to be entirely gilded in gold. However, during the Boxer Rebellion, European troops who were looting the Forbidden City scraped much of the gold off.
One of the Emperors was a big fan of operas. So, he had this three story tall opera stage built. Through a series of trap doors and a pulley system, the performers could move between the different levels.
Members of the court would watch the operas while kneeling in the courtyard facing the stages. The Imperial Family watched the operas from a separate building the faced the stages. The Emperor had a large padded throne (I couldn't get a good picture through the protective glass). There were separate viewing areas for is mother and wife.
This wall, known as the Nine Dragons Screen, has an interesting legend behind it,
The wall is made of glazed tile. However, there is one small part that is faded more than the rest. When you look closely, you can see that it is made of wood.
The story is that the workers dropped a tile and it broke. Not wanting to anger the Emperor, they carved a duplicate out of wood and painted it to look like the rest of the stone tiles. The Emperor never knew.
Well, that's the end of my Beijing trip. It was an amazing time, but I wish I had longer. There was so much more that I wanted to see. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.
