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The Forbidden City Is the World’S Largest and Most Complete Complex of Ancient Wooden Structures

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The Forbidden City Is the World’S Largest and Most Complete Complex of Ancient Wooden Structures 16 CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Thursday, September 24, 2020 | 17 LIFE THE FORBIDDEN 1,000,000 1,050 19,000,000 3,437 CITY laborers, including over 100,000 artisans, It has 1,050 buildings with visitors last year, a maximum of Its outer walls are built the palace compound over 8,700 rooms 80,000 visitors per day 3,437 meters long TREASURES OF THE PALACE MUSEUM ROOF DECORATIONS It holds over 1.86 million rare and valuable artworks, including ceramics, paintings, Rooftops feature rows of glazed statuettes of mythical beings that calligraphy, bronze ware, timepieces, ancient books and historical documents. pray for stability and fortune. The row is always led by Qifeng Xianren (an immortal riding a phoenix), and the number of subsequent statuettes Hangshi (an anti-lightning monkey god) indicates a building’s respective Zaojing, or caisson, is a Douniu (a kind of dragon) status. The Hall of Supreme structure typically found in Xiezhi (a unicorn representing justice) Harmony (Taihe Dian) the ceilings of the Forbidden Xiayu (a rain god) has the most such City’s palaces. These panels Suanni (a creature resembling a lion) ornaments. are sunken in the center and Haima (sea beast) surrounded by beams. Tianma (celestial horse) Lion Phoenix Dragon Immortal 6 riding a phoenix Different shapes of Rooftops are plated with roofs indicate status glazed tiles. The tiles are of constructions too slippery for birds to land on. 1,500 370,000 160,000 15,000 1,134 Double-eave hipped roof Double-eave hip-and-gable roof Single-eave hipped roof Single-eave hip-gable roof Tented roof Clocks Ceramic artifacts Paintings and calligraphies Bronze ware Treasures (chongyan wudian) (chongyan xieshan) 0 3.07m SUPREME CARPENTRY HOW THE PALACES WERE BUILT ANIMAL STATUES The Forbidden City is the world’s largest and most complete complex of ancient wooden structures. The heaviest The buildings’ main frames use quality wooden beams and columns, including whole trunks of stone carving in the precious Phoebe trees from southwestern China’s jungles. zhennan Forbidden City, which 0 is on the backside of the Chinese Carpenters used interlocking mortise-and-tenon Hall of Preserving Harmony joints to “harmoniously” build the compound 16.57m (Baohe Dian), is 250 metric architecture's without nails, since nails were considered “violent”. tons, the equivalent of magnificence is 4,000 people's total showcased in a bodyweight. remarkable way when the 250 Forbidden City's tons 600 years of Purlin (heng) Lion: ward off evil history are Interlocking bracket Beam (liang) Making ironed models unfurled like a (dougong) Miniature models, called tangyang, vividly record construction details. They’re created for the colossal scroll. Tie(fang) emperors to review and also serve as references So too are the for future renovations. They’re made of paper, country's wood and straw, and finally ironed using heat vicissitudes, the Layering bricks and tiles and compression to ensure they last. civilization's Different formulas turn lime into 27 kinds of mortar, Column (zhu) highpoints and adhering bricks and tiles. the talents that About 80 million bricks people have Room (jian) were used to build the Forbidden City, weighing Erecting frameworks devoted to the 1.93 million metric tons in The entire wooden framework — comprising beloved land total, the equivalent of columns, beams and purlins — is set up to outline upon which over 30 million people’s the basic structure before the first brick is laid. collective bodyweight. The components are connected by interlocking Dragon: symbolizing they stand. Pounding foundations Builders use wooden brackets called dougong, rather than by nails. The imperial power implements to pound and size of the dougong determines the scale of the compress the soil. Sticky construction. Columns are the fundamental rice, lime and earth are components to organize layouts. mixed to consolidate the foundation, which also MONUMENTAL features layers of pebbles MOMENTS and bricks. The Gate of Devine Prowess (Shenwu Men) A typical example of early-stage construction in the 1420 Forbidden City during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). After 14 years of preparation and 67cm construction, the Forbidden City Top-quality ground blocks are called is completed, and Zhu Di, or “golden bricks” because they’re expensive Emperor Yongle of the Ming and sound like metal when struck. Creating decorative patterns 67cm Dynasty (1368-1644), declares Carving a single “golden brick” takes Layers of linen and lime are mixed through a complicated Bixi: a turtle with a dragon that he’ll move the national 29 steps and about a year. process and painted on the wood to preserve the colors. head symbolizing longevity capital from Nanjing to Beijing The red paint is made of pig blood, egg whites and tung oil. the following year. 1535 1644 1655 1695 1723 1738 1776 1859 1909 1912 1925 1933 1987 Emperor Jiajing, who’s known Rebel leader Li Zicheng briefly Qing Emperor Shunzhi After being destroyed by fire Emperor Yongzheng moves into Emperor Qianlong orders the The Palace of Tranquil Longevity The courtyards of the Palace of Construction of the Bower of "The last emperor" Aisin-gioro The Palace Museum is With war looming with Japan, The Forbidden City is listed as for his fervent reverence of takes control of the Forbidden remodels the Palace of and lightning several times, the Hall of Mental Cultivation reconstruction of the five (Ningshou Gong) is built for Eternal Spring (Changchun Spirit Pool (Lingzhao Xuan), a Puyi, who’s still a child, established in the Forbidden 13,491 cabinets of precious a UNESCO World Heritage Taoism, orders a major City, toppling the Ming court. Earthly Tranquility (Kunning the Hall of Supreme (Yangxin Dian) and uses it as his dwellings to the northwest of Emperor Qianlong for his Gong) and the Palace of steel-framed Western-style abandons the throne and City’s inner section. "The cultural relics are moved Site. A comprehensive expansion of the Hall of the However, his troops are later Gong), replicating a former Harmony (Taihe Dian) is “home office”. The hall serves as the Palace of Heavenly Purity planned resort after retirement. Beginning Auspiciousness aquarium, begins in the transfers authority to the National Museum" merges with southward and then westward renovation of its major Imperial Peace (Qin’an Dian) defeated by Manchu forces, palace for Manchu royals in reconstructed following the last eight Qing emperors’ (Qianqing Gong), violating the The exquisite interior design of (Qixiang Gong) are interlinked courtyard of the Palace of newly founded republic, but is the Palace Museum in 1948. The to prevent them from falling buildings begins in 2002. It and transforms it into a large which then found the Qing Shenyang, in today’s Liaoning Emperor Kangxi’s orders. As residence after imperative of rigid symmetry. the garden in the courtyard is to suit Prolonging Happiness (Yanxi allowed to continue to reside Forbidden City into enemy hands. In the same remains ongoing in such sites Taoist-temple complex. The Dynasty (1644-1911). Li burns province. The new palace a symbol of the lasting Yongzheng and It’s the biggest change to the considered the Emperor Gong) but is never finished. in the Forbidden City’s inner has since year, architect Liang Sicheng as the Hall of Mental emperor significantly changes many structures in the reflects the cultural stability and prosperity of a operates as a Forbidden City’s layout during zenith of Xianfeng’s Yet it retains a distinctively section until 1924. The outer been begins the first modern survey Cultivation and the "Qianlong the Forbidden City’s layout Forbidden City before his integration of Han and united nation, it retains its heart of the Qing Dynasty. imperial desire for a larger exotic appearance in today’s section of the Forbidden City protected of the Forbidden City’s Garden". through a series of massive retreat. Manchu people. appearance today. imperial craftsman- space. It’s a new Palace Museum. receives public visits in 1914. as a unified architecture. infrastructure projects. power. ship in the architectural It’s officially named “the entity. Zhu Di, founder of the Forbidden City Forbidden City. model for the National Museum”. Empress Dowager Forbidden City. A half-eaten apple left by Puyi when he was TEXTS BY WANG KAIHAO Cixi’s gown Source: Palace Museum Chalice of Eternal Stability Lacquered gauze forced to leave the Forbidden City in 1924. GRAPHICS BY MUKESH MOHANAN, LI XINLEI AND YANG LIU / CHINA DAILY.
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