Forbidden City: Home to Chinese Emperors

Do you know there is a palace which is famously called the Forbidden City? It is located in the heart of Beijing, the capital city of China. The astronomers of ancient China believed that the location had cosmic significance and therefore, they found it apt for the emperor (who was regarded as the son of Heaven) to make it a place to stay. But why is it so named? The palace had a very restricted access.  

History  
The Forbidden City was once the political and ritual centre of China. It was completed in 1420 after which it was home to Chinese emperors for 500 years. As many as 24 emperors lived there with their families and servants during the Ming (1368–1644) and the Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. Its last occupant Puyi (the last emperor of imperial China), was expelled in 1924 when it was transformed into the Palace Museum.  

What’s behind the name? 
The astronomers back then correlated the location of the palace, where the emperor stayed with Polaris (the North Star), the only seemingly stationary star in the northern sky and the centre of the heavens. According to them, the Forbidden City's layout pointed straight at heaven.  

Since the palace was considered a divine place, it was forbidden to ordinary people and that is why the Forbidden City is so named. Even birds were not allowed to land on the palace roofs to retain their cleanliness and magnificence. 

Forbidden City at a glance 
The palace is the world’s largest imperial palace today, over three times larger than the Louvre Palace in France. Can you guess how much time it took to build this magnanimous structure? 14 years. It was constructed by as many as 10 lakh workers. Built primarily in yellow and red colours, it has some of the largest and best-preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.  

What is even more unique about its construction is that the carpenters used interlocking mortise and tenon joints to build the palace buildings but not a single nail. This is because nails were considered inharmonious in ancient Chinese culture. 

In terms of layout, public and domestic space is clearly divided in the Forbidden City. The southern half, or the outer court, contains spectacular palace compounds of supra-human scale. This outer court belonged to the realm of state affairs, and only men had access to its spaces. It included the emperor’s formal reception halls, places for religious rituals and state ceremonies, and also the Meridian Gate located at the south end of the central axis that served as the main entrance. 

Upon passing the Meridian Gate, one immediately enters into a courtyard paved with white marble stones. The inner court includes the palaces in the northern part of the Forbidden City and it was the domestic space, dedicated to the imperial family.  

The Forbidden City now 
The Forbidden City is currently being used as a museum and a historical site for visitors. If you ever visit there it could serve you as a time capsule for China’s past.