A building is not always just a physical entity. In some rarer cases, it is a spiritual being, surviving centuries of mayhem and chaos and living to see many inhabitants come and go, eventually to be remembered and uttered even more often than those inhabitants ever will be. Such buildings usually turn out to be seats of administration, buildings from where executive power in one form or another - be it God's power, emperor's power or the power of the people - radiates from. And what better example of that than the Forbidden Palace of China, which has ruled the world's most populous - and by some accounts at times most powerful - country for more than five centuries?
Built by the Ming Dynasty, the rulers of China from 1368 through to 1644 (although some elements loyal to the Ming Dynasty survived in southern China until 1662) after the Mongol Yuan Dynasty collapsed, the Forbidden Palace was later used by the Qing Dynasty that replaced the Ming until the last emperor, Puyi, was abdicated in 1912 by the newly formed Republic of China. Puyi in fact remained in a form of house arrest in the Forbidden City until his exile following a coup in 1924.
Located in central Beijing, the still functioning capital of People's Republic of China, the Forbidden Palace was built by the Ming between 1406 and 1420 over the course of 14 years. Covering an area of seventy-two hectares, it is a vast complex with priceless examples of Chinese Imperial Architecture. Before elaborating further on that aspect, a brief history of the palace is warranted.
The original site of the Forbidden City was within the then imperial complex of the Yuan Dynasty, only to be burned down after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty by the first emperor - who indeed moved the imperial capital to Nanjing. His son reversed this decision, moving the capital back to Beijing and in the process recomissioning a palace that would later become the Forbidden City.
Built by over a million workers by some accounts, the building complex was decorated with expansive and rare raw material from around the empire to demonstrate the power of the new ruling dynasty. As such, the palace stayed the seat of government and political center of China until rebels under the leadership of Li Zicheng laid siege to, and then captured the palace. He declared himself the new emperor, although his brief rule was ended when a coalition of a former Ming general and Manchu forces of northern China forced him to flee the palace.The joint victory of Ming and Manchu resulted in the formation of a new dynasty, the Qing, who chose to downplay power and underline the importance of harmony - possibly due to the bi-racial structure of the now ruling powers. This was evident in the introduction of newer names for buildings incorporating the word harmony within the palace, as well as bilingual signage.
The Qing ruled from the Forbidden City until - as noted before - Puyi was dismissed of his imperial throne in 1912. Puyi's rise to the throne and his fall, along with his subsequent years in semi-captivity in the Forbidden Palace, his imprisonment and rehabilitation, was the subject of a movie titled The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987. This movie, which later went on to win nine Academy Awards (or Oscars), was the first movie that was shot within the confines of the Forbidden Palace by special permission of the Chinese government.
The name Forbidden Palace is not a name invented by Western powers; in fact, the Chinese name for the complex, Zijin Cheng, literally translates to purple forbidden city in English. Purple (zi) is a reference to North Star, which was assumed to be the seat of the celestial emperor; since the terrestrial emperor was the earth counterpart of the celestial emperor. Jin, or forbidden, meant that noone would enter or leave the complex without imperial permission.
The symbology surrounding the palace complex wasn't just in its name; it was evident throughout the architecture of the structure. One such feature is the usage of yellow roof tiles, which was reserved for imperial buildings only as this was the color of the emperor. The architects refrained from this in a few select buildings however, due to other symbological reasons: the library at the Pavillion of Literary Profundity had black tiles associated with water and thus fire protection, Temple of Heaven was adorned with blue tiles symbolizing the sky, and crown prince's residence had green tiles to signify wood and thus growth.
The Chinese dragon - a symbol of the Ming emperors - was used to decorate beams, doors and pillars, but not roofs. Buildings used by the imperial family were allowed to have nine column spacings, and gates used by the emperor were built with five arches, with the middle arch reserved for the emperor alone. The entire complex is said to host 9999 rooms - just short of the number of rooms in heaven. Main halls in both the inner and outer courts of the palace are grouped in threes, symbolizing heaven, whereas residences in the inner court are grouped in sixes, alluding to the Earth.
The buildings were built facing south to protect from harsh northerly winds, but the significance of east in siting of buildings relates to a worship of the Sun and its affiliation with the ruling emperor. Roofs were decorated with a series of statues with a man riding a phoenix in the lead and a dragon at the back, with the number of statues were not allowed to exceed 9 except for the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which has 10 statues.
The Forbidden City was not only a cast complex of impeccable Chinese Imperial Architecture, but also a breathtaking collection of artwork accumulated over the centuries. These were later put on display in the Palace Museum, established in 1925 after the demise of the Qing Dynasty, only to be evacuated during the Japanese invasion of China in 1933. After the war, part of the artwork forming the museum's collection was moved to the National Palace Museum in Taipei in 1948, where it formed the basis of the collection of that museum.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, the Forbidden Palace is now known as Gugong ("Former Palace") in Chinese. The museum is open to visitors from around the world, who come here to marvel at the elegance of the heritage left behind by one of the most powerful empires ever. The Forbidden Palace stands as a testament to the rise and fall of nations, and reminds us that it is the legacy, not the people, that is remembered after we are gone.
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