The Forbidden City was constructed from 1406 to 1420, and was the imperial palace and winter residence of theEmperor of China from theMing dynasty (since theYongle Emperor) to the end of theQing dynasty, between 1420 and 1924. The Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors and their households and was the ceremonial and political center of theChinese government for over 500 years. Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of thePalace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts was built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Forbidden City was declared aWorld Heritage Site in 1987.[2]
The complex claims to consist of 9,999 rooms in total, although experts have shown in recent years that the number only amounts to 8,886,[3] covering 72 ha (720,000 m2)/178-acre.[4][5] The palace exemplifies the opulence of the residences of the Chinese emperor and the traditionalChinese palatial architecture,[2] and has influenced cultural and architectural developments inEast Asia and elsewhere.UNESCO recognizes it as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. Since 2012, the Forbidden City has seen an average of 14 million visitors annually, and received more than 19 million visitors in 2019.[6] In 2018, the Forbidden City's market value was estimated at US$70 billion, making it both the world's most valuable palace and the most valuable piece of real estate anywhere in the world.[7]
It was included in the first list ofnational priority protected sites in 1961.[8] The palace is extremely important to the Chinese public and nation, who often view it as a cultural and heavenly link to their ancestors[citation needed].
Thepalace gained its name from its enormous scale and severely restricted access to all but theEmperor, theImperial family, andEunuchs; hence the Chinese term "Forbidden City" emerged. The punishment for unauthorised entry to the palace was immediate execution. The common English name "Forbidden City" is a translation of the Chinese nameZijincheng (紫禁城;lit.'Purple Forbidden City'), which first formally appeared in 1576.[9] Another English name of similar origin is "Forbidden Palace", though "city" is much closer to the original Chinese meaning.[10]
The name "Zijincheng" has significance on many levels.Zi, or "purple", refers to theNorth Star, which in ancient China was called theZiwei Star, and in traditionalChinese astrology was the heavenly abode of theJade Emperor. The surrounding celestial region, theZiwei Enclosure (紫微垣;Zǐwēiyuán), was the realm of the Jade Emperor and his family. The Forbidden City, as the residence of the terrestrial emperor, was its earthly counterpart.Jin refers to a prohibition ortaboo.Cheng originally meant a castle, fortress, or fortification, but in modern Chinese, the character means city.
Today, the site is most commonly known in Chinese asGugong (故宮), which means the "Former Palace".[a] The museum which is based in these buildings is known as the "Palace Museum" (故宮博物院;Gùgōng Bówùyùan).
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City was also known asDanei (大内) or "Palace City" (宮城;Gōngchéng).
The Forbidden City as depicted in aMing dynasty paintingA depiction of the Forbidden City from the German magazineDie Gartenlaube (1853)Aerial view of the Forbidden City (1900 or 1901)
When theHongwu Emperor's son Zhu Di became theYongle Emperor, he moved the capital fromNanjing to Beijing, and construction began in 1406 on what would become the Forbidden City.[11]
Construction lasted 14 years and required more than a million workers.[12] Material used include whole logs of preciousPhoebe zhennan wood (楠木;nánmù) found in the jungles of south-western China, and large blocks of marble from quarries near Beijing.[13] The floors of major halls were paved with "golden bricks" (金磚;jīnzhuān), specially baked paving bricks fromSuzhou.[12]
From 1420 to 1644, the Forbidden City was the seat of theMing dynasty. In April 1644, it was captured by rebel forces led byLi Zicheng, who proclaimed himself emperor of theShun dynasty.[14] He soon fled before the combined armies of former Ming generalWu Sangui andManchu forces, setting fire to parts of the Forbidden City in the process.[15]
By October, the Manchus had achieved supremacy in northern China, and a ceremony was held at the Forbidden City to proclaim the youngShunzhi Emperor as ruler of all China under theQing dynasty.[16] The Qing rulers changed the names on some of the principal buildings to emphasise "harmony" rather than "supremacy",[17] made thenameplates bilingual (Chinese andManchu),[18] and introducedshamanist elements to the palace.[19]
In 1860, during theSecond Opium War, Anglo-French forces took control of the Forbidden City and occupied it until the end of the war.[20] In 1900Empress Dowager Cixi fled from the Forbidden City during theBoxer Rebellion, leaving it to be occupied by forces of the treaty powers until the following year.[20]
After being the home of 24 emperors — 14 of the Ming dynasty and 10 of the Qing dynasty — the Forbidden City ceased being the political centre of China in 1912 with the abdication ofPuyi, the last Emperor of China. Underan agreement with the newRepublic of China government, Puyi remained in the Inner Court, while the Outer Court was given over to public use,[21] until he was evicted after acoup in 1924.[22] The Palace Museum was then established in the Forbidden City in 1925.[23] In 1933, theJapanese invasion of China forced the evacuation of the national treasures in the Forbidden City.[24] Part of the collection returned at the end ofWorld War II,[25] but the other part was evacuated to Taiwan in 1948 under orders ofChiang Kai-shek, whoseKuomintang was losing theChinese Civil War. This relatively small but high quality collection was kept in storage until 1965, when it again became public as the core of theNational Palace Museum inTaipei.[26]
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, some damage was done to the Forbidden City as the country was swept up in revolutionary zeal.[27] During theCultural Revolution, however, further destruction was prevented when PremierZhou Enlai sent an army battalion to guard the city.[28]
The Forbidden City was declared aWorld Heritage Site in 1987 byUNESCO as the "Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties",[29] due to its significant place in the development ofChinese architecture and culture.
In the early 21st century, the Palace Museum carried out a sixteen-year restoration project to repair and restore all buildings in the Forbidden City to their pre-1911 state, with the goal that 76% of the palace would be open to the public by 2020.[30] As a result of that project, the Shoukang Palace was officially opened to the public in 2013, after initially being displayed in its original state. A sculpture museum was opened in the Cining Palace in 2015. Also opened in 2015 were the precincts around Cining Palace, the Yanyin Building and the Donghua Gate.[31]
Plan of the Forbidden City. Labels in red are used to refer to locations throughout the article.- – - Approximate dividing line between Inner (north) and Outer (south) Courts.
The Forbidden City is a rectangle, measuring 961 m (3,153 ft) from north to south and 753 m (2,470 ft) from east to west.[4][5] It consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,886 bays of rooms.[3][b] A common myth states that there are 9,999 rooms including antechambers,[32] based on oral tradition, but it is not supported by survey evidence.[33] The layout of the Forbidden City protected the imperial code of ethics as a physical installation. The courtyard was built on a massive, luxurious scale but it has the appearance of a quadrangle courtyard.[34] The Forbidden City was designed to be the centre of the ancient, walled city of Beijing. It is enclosed in a larger, walled area called theImperial City. The Imperial City is, in turn, enclosed by the Inner City; to its south lies the Outer City.
The Forbidden City remains important in the civic scheme of Beijing. The central north–south axis remains the central axis of Beijing. This axis extends to the south throughTiananmen Gate toTiananmen Square, the ceremonial centre of the People's Republic of China, and on toYongdingmen Gate. To the north, it extends throughJingshan Park to theDrum Tower and Bell Tower.[35] This axis is not exactly aligned north–south, but is tilted by slightly more than two degrees. Researchers now believe that the axis was designed during theYuan dynasty to be aligned withShangdu, the other capital of their empire.[36]
The Meridian Gate, front entrance of the Forbidden City, with two protruding wingsClose-up on the left protruding wing of the Meridian GateA corner tower in the northwest side and the moat
The Forbidden City is surrounded by a 7.9 m (26 ft) highcity wall[17] and a 6 m (20 ft) deep by 52 m (171 ft) widemoat. The walls are 8.62 m (28.3 ft) wide at the base, tapering to 6.66 m (21.9 ft) at the top.[37] These walls served as bothdefensive walls andretaining walls for the palace. They were constructed with arammed earth core, and surfaced with three layers of specially baked bricks on both sides, with the interstices filled with mortar.[38]
At the four corners of the wall sit corner towers (E) with intricate roofs boasting 72 ridges, reproducing thePavilion of Prince Teng and theYellow Crane Pavilion as they appeared inSong dynasty paintings.[38] These towers are the most visible parts of the palace to people outside the walls, and much folklore is attached to them. According to one legend, artisans could not put a corner tower back together after it was dismantled for renovations in the early Qing dynasty, and it was only rebuilt after the intervention of master carpenterLu Ban.[17]
The wall is pierced by a gate on each side. At the southern end is the mainMeridian Gate (A) (午門;Wǔmén).[c] To the north is theGate of Divine Prowess (B) (神武門;Shénwǔmén), which faces Jingshan Park. The east and west gates are the East Glorious Gate (D) (東華門;Dōnghuámén) andthe West Glorious Gate (C) (西華門;Xīhuámén). All gates in the Forbidden City are decorated with nine-by-nine arrays of golden door nails, except for the East Glorious Gate, which has only eight.[39]
The Meridian Gate has two protruding wings, which form three sides of a square before it,[40] and five gateways. The central gateway is part of the Imperial Way, a stone flagged path that forms the central axis of the Forbidden City and the ancient city of Beijing itself, leading all the way from theGate of China in the south to Jingshan Park in the north. Except for the empress on the occasion of her wedding and successful students after theImperial Examination, only the emperor could walk or ride on the Imperial Way.[39]
The Inner Golden Water River, an artificial stream that runs through the Forbidden CityHall of Supreme HarmonyThe vertical inscribed board on the Hall of Supreme HarmonyView of the Forbidden City fromJingshan ParkGate of Manifest VirtueThecaisson of theHall of UnionA close-up view of the tower to the right of theGate of Supreme HarmonyA cistern in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony
Traditionally, the Forbidden City is divided into two parts: the Outer Court (外朝;Wàicháo) or Front Court (前朝;Qiáncháo) to the south, which was used for ceremonial purposes; and the Inner Court (内廷;Nèitíng) or Back Palace (后宫;Hòugōng) to the north, which was the residence of the emperor and his family and was used for day-to-day affairs of state (the approximate dividing line shown as a red dash in the plan above). Generally, the Forbidden City has three vertical axes. The most important buildings are situated on the central north–south axis.[39]
Entering from the Meridian Gate, one encounters a large square, pierced by the meandering Inner Golden Water River, which is crossed by five bridges. Beyond the square stands theGate of Supreme Harmony (F) (太和門;Tàihémén). Behind that is a square[41] from which a three-tiered white marble terrace rises and three halls stand on top of this terrace, the focus of the palace complex. From the south, these are theHall of Supreme Harmony (太和殿;Tàihédiàn), theHall of Central Harmony (中和殿;Zhōnghédiàn), and theHall of Preserving Harmony (保和殿;Bǎohédiàn).[42]
The Hall of Supreme Harmony (G) is the largest, and rises some 30 m (98 ft) above the level of the surrounding square. It is the ceremonial centre of imperial power, and the largest surviving wooden structure in China. It is nine bays wide and five bays deep, the numbers 9 and 5 being symbolically connected to the majesty of the emperor.[43] Set into the ceiling at the centre of the hall is an intricatecaisson decorated with a coiled dragon, from the mouth of which issues a chandelier-like set of metal balls, called the "Xuanyuan Mirror".[44] In the Ming dynasty, the emperor held court here to discuss affairs of state. During the Qing dynasty, as emperors held court far more frequently, a less ceremonious location was used instead, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony was only used for ceremonial purposes, such asenthronements,investitures, and imperial weddings.[45]
The Hall of Central Harmony is a smaller, square hall, used by the emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies.[46] Behind it, the Hall of Preserving Harmony, was used for rehearsing ceremonies, and was also the site of the final stage of theImperial Examination.[47] All three halls feature imperial thrones, the largest and most elaborate one being that in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.[48]
At the centre of the stairs leading up to the terraces from the northern and southern sides are ceremonial ramps, part of the Imperial Way, featuring elaborate and symbolicbas-relief carvings. The northern ramp, behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony, is carved from a single piece of stone 16.57 m (54.4 ft) long, 3.07 m (10.1 ft) wide, and 1.7 m (5.6 ft) thick. It weighs some 200 tons and is the largest such carving in China.[12] The southern ramp, in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, is even longer, but is made from two stone slabs joined — the joint was ingeniously hidden using overlapping bas-relief carvings, and was only discovered when weathering widened the gap in the 20th century.[49] The stone slabs were likely transported from a quarry via ice sledge along an ice path lubricated by well water en route.[50]
In the southwest and southeast of the Outer Court are the halls of Military Eminence (H) andLiterary Glory (J). The former was used at various times for the emperor to receive ministers and hold court, and later housed the palace's own printing house. The latter was used for ceremonial lectures by highly regarded Confucian scholars, and later became the office of the Grand Secretariat. A copy of theComplete Library of the Four Treasuries was stored there. To the north-east are the Southern Three Places (南三所) (K), which was the residence of thecrown prince.[41]
The Inner Court is separated from the Outer Court by an oblong courtyard lyingorthogonal to the city's main axis. It was the home of the Emperor and his family. In the Qing dynasty, the Emperor lived and worked almost exclusively in the Inner Court, with the Outer Court used only for ceremonial purposes.[51]
Smaller than the Outer Court halls, the three halls of the Inner Court were the official residences of the Emperor and the Empress. The Emperor, representingYang and the Heavens, would occupy the Palace of Heavenly Purity. The Empress, representingYin and the Earth, would occupy the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. In between them was the Hall of Union, where theYin and Yang mixed to produce harmony.[52]
ThePalace of Heavenly Purity is a double-eaved building, and set on a single-level white marble platform. It is connected to theGate of Heavenly Purity to its south by a raised walkway. In the Ming dynasty, it was the residence of the Emperor. However, beginning from theYongzheng Emperor of theQing dynasty, the Emperor lived instead at the smallerHall of Mental Cultivation (N) to the west, out of respect to the memory of theKangxi Emperor.[17] The Palace of Heavenly Purity then became the Emperor's audience hall.[53] A caisson is set into the roof, featuring a coiled dragon. Above the throne hangs a tablet reading "Justice and Honour" (Chinese:明光大正;pinyin:míngguāng dà zhèng).[54]
ThePalace of Earthly Tranquility (坤寧宮) is a double-eaved building, 9 bays wide and 3 bays deep. In the Ming dynasty, it was the residence of the Empress. In the Qing dynasty, large portions of the Palace were converted for Shamanist worship by the new Manchu rulers. From the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, the Empress moved out of the Palace. However, two rooms in the Palace of Earthly Harmony were retained for use on the Emperor's wedding night.[55]
Between these two palaces is theHall of Union, which is square in shape with a pyramidal roof. Stored here are the 25 ImperialSeals of the Qing dynasty, as well as other ceremonial items.[56]
Behind these three halls lies the Imperial Garden (M). Relatively small, and compact in design, the garden nevertheless contains several elaborate landscaping features.[57] To the north of the garden is the Gate of Divine Might.
Directly to the west is theHall of Mental Cultivation (N). Originally a minor palace, this became thede facto residence and office of the Emperor starting from Yongzheng. In the last decades of the Qing dynasty, empresses dowager, including Cixi, held court from the eastern partition of the hall. Located around the Hall of Mental Cultivation are the offices of theGrand Council and other key government bodies.[58]
The north-eastern section of the Inner Court is taken up by the Palace of Tranquil Longevity (寧壽宮) (O), a complex built by theQianlong Emperor in anticipation of his retirement. It mirrors the set-up of the Forbidden City proper and features an "outer court", an "inner court", and gardens and temples. The entrance to the Palace of Tranquil Longevity is marked by a glazed-tileNine Dragons Screen.[59]
To the west and to the east of the three main halls of the inner court are the Six Western Palaces (西六宫;xīliùgōng) and the Six Eastern Palaces (东六宫;dōngliùgōng). These palaces were the residences of the imperialconsorts. Six palaces lay to the west and six to the east of the three main halls, hence the name. The architecture of the twelve palaces, connected by passageways, is more or less the same. The Western and Eastern Palaces each have a layout of three palaces on either side of an alley that runs from north to south. Every palace has its own courtyards, main halls, and side-halls. The main halls stand in the middle and the side-halls are in the east and west. The front courtyard and its main hall was used for receptions, while the back courtyard and its main hall served as living quarters.
An imperial consort with the rank of concubine and above was given a residence in the main section of a palace and was the manager of that palace, an honor in itself. Lower ranking imperial consorts (noble ladies and below) lived in the side halls of the palaces and were supervised by the higher ranking imperial consort.
The twelve palaces were the place where many of the Qing emperors were born and grew up, and they formed the daily life of the imperial family.[60][61]
During the late Qing era,Empress Dowager Cixi resided in one of the Western Palaces and became known as the "western empress", while her co-regentEmpress Dowager Ci'an lived in one of the Eastern Palaces and was thus known as the "eastern empress".
To the west of theHall of Mental Cultivation (N) in the western area of the Inner Court is Cining Palace (Palace of Compassion and Tranquility) and Shoukang Palace (Palace of Longevity and Good Health). The palaces were the residences of widowed consorts of previous emperors. In accordance with feudal manners, emperors should not live with the wives of late emperors, so they lived in this separate area of the Inner Court. The Cining palace is bigger and older than Shoukang Palace which is located to the west of Cining Palace. To the south of Cining Palace is Cining garden.[62]
Swastika andLongevity pattern. Similar designs can be found throughout the Imperial City.
Religion was an important part of life for the imperial court. In the Qing dynasty, the Palace of Earthly Harmony became a place of ManchuShamanist ceremony. At the same time, the native ChineseTaoist religion continued to have an important role throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties. There were two Taoist shrines, one in the imperial garden and another in the central area of the Inner Court.[63]
Another prevalent form of religion in the Qing dynasty palace wasBuddhism. A number of temples and shrines were scattered throughout the Inner Court, including that ofTibetan Buddhism or Lamaism. Buddhist iconography also proliferated in the interior decorations of many buildings.[64] Of these, the Pavilion of the Rain of Flowers is one of the most important. It housed a large number of Buddhist statues, icons, andmandalas, placed in ritualistic arrangements.[65]
The Forbidden City is surrounded on three sides by imperial gardens. To the north isJingshan Park, also known as Prospect Hill, an artificial hill created from the soil excavated to build the moat and from nearby lakes.[67]
To the south of the Forbidden City were two important shrines – the Imperial Shrine of Family or theImperial Ancestral Temple (Chinese:太廟;pinyin:Tàimiào) and the Imperial Shrine of State orBeijing Shejitan (Chinese:社稷壇;pinyin:Shèjìtán), where the Emperor would venerate the spirits of his ancestors and the spirit of the nation, respectively. Today, these are the Beijing Labouring People's Cultural Hall[68] andZhongshan Park (commemoratingSun Yat-sen) respectively.[69]
To the south, two nearly identical gatehouses stand along the main axis. They are theUpright Gate (Chinese:端门;pinyin:Duānmén) and the more famousTiananmen Gate, which is decorated with a portrait ofMao Zedong in the centre and two placards to the left and right: "Long Live the People's Republic of China" (Chinese:中华人民共和国万岁;pinyin:zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó wànsuì) and "Long live the Great Unity of the World's Peoples" (Chinese:世界人民大团结万岁;pinyin:shìjiè rénmín dàtuánjié wànsuì). The Tiananmen Gate connects the Forbidden City precinct with the modern, symbolic centre of the Chinese state, Tiananmen Square.
While development is now tightly controlled in the vicinity of the Forbidden City, throughout the past century uncontrolled and sometimes politically motivated demolition and reconstruction has changed the character of the areas surrounding the Forbidden City. Since 2000, the Beijing municipal government has worked to evict governmental and military institutions occupying some historical buildings, and has established a park around the remaining parts of the Imperial City wall. In 2004, an ordinance relating to building height and planning restriction was renewed to establish the Imperial City area and the northern city area as a buffer zone for the Forbidden City.[70] In 2005, the Imperial City andBeihai (as an extension item to theSummer Palace) were included in the shortlist for the nextWorld Heritage Site in Beijing.[71]
Imperial Palace color of the highest status on the roof ridge of the Hall of Supreme Harmony
The design of the Forbidden City, from its overall layout to the smallest detail, was meticulously planned to reflectphilosophical andreligious principles, and above all to symbolize the majesty of Imperial power. Some noted examples of symbolic designs include:
Yellow is the color of the Emperor. Thus almost all roofs in the Forbidden City bear yellow glazed tiles. There are only two exceptions. The library at the Pavilion of Literary Profundity (文渊阁) had black tiles because black was associated withwater, and thus fire-prevention. Similarly, the Crown Prince's residences have green tiles because green was associated withwood, and thus growth.[43]
The main halls of the Outer and Inner courts are all arranged in groups of three – the shape of the Qiantrigram ☰, representing Heaven. The residences of the Inner Court on the other hand are arranged in clusters of six – the shape of the Kun trigram ☷, representing the Earth.[17]
The sloping ridges of building roofs are decorated with aline of statuettes led by a man riding aphoenix and followed by animperial dragon. The number of statuettes represents the status of the building – a minor building might have three or five. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has ten, the only building in the country to be permitted this in Imperial times. As a result, its tenth statuette, called a "Hangshi", or "ranked tenth" (Chinese:行十;pinyin:Hángshí),[56] is also unique in the Forbidden City.[72]
The layout of buildings follows ancient customs laid down in theClassic of Rites. Thus,ancestral temples[73] are in front of the palace. Storage areas are placed in the front part of the palace complex, and residences in the back.[74]
The collections of the Palace Museum are based on the Qing imperial collection, including paintings, ceramics, seals, steles, sculptures, inscribed wares, bronze wares and enamel objects. According to the latest audit, it has 1,862,690 pieces of art. In addition, the imperial libraries housed a large collection of rare books and historical documents, including government documents of theMing andQing dynasties, which has since been transferred to theFirst Historical Archives.[75]
From 1933, the threat of Japanese invasion forced the evacuation of the most important parts of the Museum's collection. After the end of World War II, this collection was returned to Nanjing. However, with theCommunists' victory imminent in the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalist government decided to ship the pick of this collection to Taiwan. Of the 13,491 boxes of evacuated artefacts, 2,972 boxes are now housed in theNational Palace Museum in Taipei. More than 8,000 boxes were returned to Beijing, but 2,221 boxes remain today in storage under the charge of theNanjing Museum.[26]
The Palace Museum holds 340,000 pieces ofceramics andporcelain. These include imperial collections from theTang dynasty and theSong dynasty. It has close to 50,000 paintings, within which more than 400 date from before theYuan dynasty (1271–1368), which is the largest in China.[76] Itsbronze collection dates from the earlyShang dynasty. Of the almost 10,000 pieces held, about 1,600 are inscribed items from the pre-Qin period (to 221 BC). A significant part of the collection is ceremonial bronzeware from the imperial court.[77] The Palace Museum has one of the largest collections of mechanical timepieces of the 18th and 19th centuries in the world, with more than 1,000 pieces. The collection contains both Chinese- and foreign-made pieces. Chinese pieces came from the palace's own workshops. Foreign pieces came from countries includingBritain, France, Switzerland, the United States, and Japan. Of these, the largest portion come from Britain.[78]Jade has a unique place inChinese culture.[79] The Museum's collection includes some 30,000 pieces. The pre-Yuan dynasty part of the collection includes several pieces famed throughout history. The earliest pieces date from theNeolithic period.[80] In addition to works of art, a large proportion of the Museum's collection consists of the artifacts of the imperial court. This includes items used by the imperial family and the palace in daily life. This comprehensive collection preserves the daily life and ceremonial protocols of the imperial era.[81]
The Forbidden City has been influential in the subsequent development ofChinese architecture, as well as in providing inspiration for many artistic works.
Depiction in art, film, literature and popular culture
The Forbidden City has served as the scene to many works of fiction. In recent years, it has been depicted in films and television series. Some notable examples include:
The Forbidden City (1918), a fiction film about a Chinese emperor and an American.
The Last Emperor (1987), abiographical film aboutPuyi, was the first feature film ever authorised by the government of the People's Republic of China to be filmed in the Forbidden City.
The 2003 real-time strategy gameRise of Nations depicts the Forbidden City as one of the great wonders of the world; in terms of game mechanics, it functions identically to a major city and provides additional resources to the player.
The Forbidden City is a buildable Wonder in many different titles of theCivilization series of video games.
A large replica of the Forbidden City is included within theHengdian World Studios inDongyang,Zhejiang Province - a section of which many Chinese period-films and television shows were filmed. When filmography was restricted within the actual Forbidden City-proper inBeijing after gaining UNESCO World Heritage Status in 1987, the Hengdian World Studio-replica remained one of the only alternatives to legally do so, as it would raise concern that filmography work within the palace-proper in Beijing would risk damage to the historical site itself.[82]
^As larger buildings in traditional Chinese architecture are easily and regularly sub-divided into different configurations, the number of rooms in the Forbidden City is traditionally counted in terms of "bays" of rooms, with each bay being the space defined by four structural pillars.
^Technically, Tiananmen Gate is not part of the Forbidden City; it is a gate of theImperial City.
^"How much the world's most valuable palaces are worth".MSN.com.Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved10 December 2020.Forbidden City, China – $69.66 billion+ (£54bn+). The crown jewel of Beijing, the Forbidden City was the residence of the Chinese emperors and the locus of government from 1420 to 1912. Now a museum, the complex was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
^p. 3734,Wu, Han (1980).朝鲜李朝实录中的中国史料 (Chinese historical material in the Annals of the Joseon Yi dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. CN / D829.312.
^Guo, Muoruo (20 March 1944). "甲申三百年祭 (Commemorating 300th anniversary of the Jia-Sheng Year)".New China Daily (in Chinese).
^北京确立城市发展脉络 重塑7.8公里中轴线 [Beijing to establish civic development network; Recreating 7.8 km (4.8 mi) central axis] (in Chinese). People Net. 30 May 2006. Archived fromthe original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved5 July 2007.
^Pan, Feng (2 March 2005).探秘北京中轴线 [Exploring the mystery of Beijing's Central Axis].Science Times (in Chinese).Chinese Academy of Sciences. Archived fromthe original on 11 December 2007. Retrieved19 October 2007.
^abChina Central Television, The Palace Museum (2005).Gugong: "III. Rites under Heaven " (Documentary). China: CCTV.Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved22 July 2018.
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