Forbidden treasures If walls could talk, those of ’s would tell a tale of political and dynastic intrigue spanning nearly 500

beijing sights years, writes Tom O'Malley Photography Mark Parren Taylor

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he Forbidden City. Is there a more evocatively titled tourist site anywhere on earth? It’s a name able to conjure up a closed-off world of antique ritual andT political intrigue. ‘Forbidden City’ is actually an approximation of the Chinese Zijin Cheng, a more poetic moniker that also references the colour purple and the cosmically significant North Star, the ‘celestial seat’ of the . But forbidden it most certainly was. For almost 500 years, the world’s largest palace complex doubled as the ultimate VIP club. To all but the most elite, it would have existed as a gaping void at the heart of the capital, entirely hidden from view behind 3.5km of scarlet citadel walls. Not that you’d even get that close; a further set of gated walls encircled what was known as the Imperial City, excluding mere mortals from yet more downtown real estate. You could be the emperor’s own mother and they wouldn’t let you in the front door – the central arch of the enormous Meridian Gate, so Behind lock and key beijing called because it aligned with the city’s north- traditional hardware south central axis, was a hallowed way reserved on a shuttered window; for the ‘’ alone. (right) gate– and its iconic image of From the time it was constructed (between catches 1406-1420 in the Ming ) up to the turn of the day’s early light What's in a name? Ancient Chinese astronomers believed the North Star was in the centre of heaven, and the Heavenly Emperor lived there in the Purple Palace. As a result, the palace for the emperor on earth – which, of course, nobody was allowed to enter without special permission from the emperor – came to be known, in Chinese, as the 'Purple Forbidden City'. forbidden city beijingforbidden sights city

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the 20th century and the founding of the Chinese weave a satisfactory narrative as you move republic, 24 lived, loved and levied taxes between seemingly arbitrary exhibits – here a within its 900-plus buildings, supported by their hall of silk scroll paintings; there a collection loyal (for the most part) palace eunuchs – men of antique clocks. Even with the audio guide who, to put it delicately, had paid a considerable (courtesy of 007 actor Sir Roger Moore), it’s a price in pursuit of privilege and status. struggle to take it all in and conjure up a sense The southern half, or Outer Court, was mostly of what it might have been like, especially with ceremonial, dominated by three resplendent so many other tourists about. wooden halls set in vast cobbled courtyards able to contain thousands of dignitaries and their view from above sedan chair bearers, guards and servants. To the To really get to grips with the Forbidden City, north, the Inner Court was where the emperor you should start by taking a step back – several resided, conducted affairs and maintained his steps, according to Lars Ulrik Thom, Danish harem of concubines, with servants scurrying historian, author and co-owner of tour company to and fro via the northern gate. Beijing Postcards. “The best way to understand Today, most visitors enter like emperors the Forbidden City is from up here,” says Lars through the Meridian Gate, and exit like as we gaze out across a landscape of arched servants (i.e. exhausted) from the northern rooftops stretching into the haze. We are end. Walk in a straight line between the two and standing on Coal Hill, a 40-metre high mound you’ve travelled a kilometre. Criss-cross museum in a park just north of the Forbidden City, made exhibits and peripheral courtyards and you’ll centuries before from the spoil dug from the wish the sedan chair hadn’t been consigned to palace moat. “Look around you and understand history. The sheer scale of the Forbidden City that this is the middle of the ‘Middle Kingdom’, Clockwise from opposite, top left is one reason why what should be a holiday the middle of the universe in the .” cracked surface of a gate highlight can end up a vexing day’s sightseeing A plaque under our feet marks the of supreme harmony column; if you try to fit it all in without a plan. zhongzhouxian – Beijing’s central axis that detail of a carved shutter on the palace of gathered And that’s the other problem. The ‘Palace runs from the Drum and Bell Towers in the elegance; the golden water Museum’ as it is officially called struggles to north, across the length of the Forbidden river is crossed by five bridges 86

Forbidden city towering vermilion beamscutfromtreesfloated mimicking the Chinesecharacterforking. tiles, sittingatopathree-tiered marbleplatform Harmony, avastchambercrownedingolden largest woodenbuilding,the Hall ofSupreme we makeourwayinwardsto gaze atChina’s by thecolossalportalofMeridian Gate, guards mightwellhavelaidittoruin.Dwarfed for theinterventionofZhouEnlai,hisred never onceenteredthepalace,andwereitnot Tiananmen Square.ThroughouthislifeMao beneath theportraitofMaoZedongthatfaces the ForbiddenCityfromsouth,passing ever outwards,thefarthestover220kmlong. further foursuchhighwaysringthecapital era citywallstorndowninthe’60s.Today, a road, builtonthesiteofBeijing’s mightyMing- skyscrapers thatskirtBeijing’s secondring now trafficarteries,andbeyond,thegirdleof encircling ImperialCity, itslong-vanishedgates scaled-down checkerboardwaves.There’s the itself ripplesoutwardsfromthepalacein than that,youcanactuallyseehowBeijing of theForbiddenCityislaidbare,but,more From thisvantage,thescaleandsymmetry City andoutthroughtheMeridianGate. But Larsdraws ourattentionawayfromthe Armed withthisepicoverview, weenter Court arestillinscribedwith Manchu script, of anypower. Pointedly, thegatesin Inner Court withallhispompandfinery, butstripped he waspermittedtocontinuelivingintheInner a childaftertheChineseRevolution.Actually, Qing emperor, Puyi, wasforcedtoabdicateas abruptly extinguishedin1911whenthelast away intheInnerCourt.Butthispowerwas (in scale)HallofMentalCultivationtucked mostly ranthecountryfrommoremodest appropriately thickDanishaccent. like theEuropeanUnion,”pointsoutLarsinhis power. “It’s standardweightsandmeasures, a subtleyetirrepressibleexertionofcentralised Displayed here,inthe‘middleofmiddle’,it’s to portionfivestandardunitsizesofgrain. object calledajialiang.It’s ameasure,used an innocuousplinthdisplayingabronze,boxy dragon-imbued ceiling,insteadpointingout here fromdistantjungles,andtheornate, heart of the hall of preserving harmony preserving of hall the of heart at the throne the city; forbidden the within balustrades marble courtyard; flagged stone- the across strides avisitor gate; upright the by attention to stand soldiers gate; at watch tiananmen keeps a guardsman top page, this from Clockwise During theQingDynasty, theEmperors middle kingdom” middle ofthe “this isthe

(beijingpostcards.com) conducts regular tours primer, ‘A Crash Course to the Forbidden City.’ City.’ Forbidden the to Course ‘A Crash primer, is a great way to make sense of the world’s world’s the of sense make to way agreat is A guided tour through the Forbidden City City Forbidden the through tour A guided on various themes, including the essential largest palace complex. Beijing Postcards Bespoke Beijing (bespoke-beijing.com) is a boutique tour company offering offering company tour aboutique is several tour options including including options tour several City guides ‘Forbidden City: Imperial Forbidden Forbidden Prison Tour.’ 87 forbidden city Forbidden City in numbers

45% Amount of the Forbidden City open to the public in 2011

76% Amount of the Forbidden City open to the public in 2016 (according to article from the Daily newspaper) 61 Number of years Qing Emperors Qianlong and Kangxi each reigned in the Forbidden City 720,000 Areabeijing sights of the palace complex, forbidden city in square metres 24 88Number of emperors who reigned 89 here (not including the Cixi, of course)

6 Age of the last Qing Emperor, Puyi, when he abdicated in 1911 30 Price in Yuan for a cappuccino at the Forbidden City’s only coffee shop (that, for a very brief period, was a Starbucks)

9 now a dead language, while those in the Outer meant the Forbidden City became a safe house Number of sons of the dragon Court bear only Chinese. of sorts, augmenting its own treasures with statuettes decorating the eaves In 1924 Puyi was ejected by a warlord and collections from the and temples of the Imperial throne halls forced to flee for his life. Remarkably, just a and mansions throughout the city. According 1.17 million year later, the Forbidden City was turned into a to an audit in the 1920s it supposedly contained Numbers of pieces of museum. Purposefully left in a state of disarray, over a million pieces of art. When the Japanese art in the Forbidden City, it was intended to reveal the decay and death of invaded a decade later it was decided to pack it according to a 1925 audit a dynasty. Puyi’s brief reinstatement as puppet all up and send it via train down south to keep 1987 emperor of by the Japanese during it safe. With the Japanese rampant, the treasure WWII branded him a traitor to the Chinese, was soon off again, this time thousands of Year of Bertolucci’s , which tells the story of Puyi’s life. and afterwards he was thrown in prison in the miles inland to the Nationalist stronghold of It was the first feature film ever Soviet Union, before eventually returning to Chongqing. It eventually returned to Beijing in authorised by the government to Beijing to work as a gardener until his death in the mid-1940s, but then, with the Communists be shot in the Forbidden City 1967. Puyi’s narrative is fascinating as it twists now in the ascendancy, off it went to Taiwan, and turns through the chaos and upheaval that where much still remains. reigned in China after the These days China is doing a great deal to right up to the triumph of the Communists in recover the Forbidden City’s treasure, and both 1949. And, typically, the Forbidden City was China and Taiwan are making progress in often the stage for the unfolding drama. rebuilding relations. All this goes to show that the Forbidden City is so much more than just a travelling treasure museum. It remains a highly charged political Just as Puyi, the last living symbol of the symbol, and, in more than just a literal sense, it’s Forbidden City and what it represented, was still a centre of power. It could be said whoever tossed to and fro in the turbulence of the time, owns the palace and the treasure has legitimate Clockwise from this page the palace’s vast cache of treasures suffered a claim to sovereignty. No wonder, then, that the more immaculate detail within similar fate. And both these facets of the Palace struggles to weave a neat and the walls; guards in front of meridian gate; a side alley Museum still inform how it operates today. satisfactory narrative for visitors. In truth, the close to the hall of treasures After the 1911 revolution, rampant looting story is still being written. ◆