The Forbidden City was my favorite part of our visit to China. It was vast, beautiful and intricately decorated. This is the main gate that overlooks Tianamen square. It still bears a very large portrait of Chairman Mao, more than thirty years after his death.
This is one of many statues scattered throughout the grounds. The Forbidden city covers 72 hectares. We visited for a few hours and only saw about one third of it. We walked the eastern section and then back through the center. Wikipedia has a good overview of the city and some excellent photos if you are interested in learning more.
The level of detail was what amazed me the most. There are hundreds of buildings in the city, and they all have beautifully painted eaves under the roof line.
This is a closer view of one section of the roof in the above picture.
It was amazing on a minute scale and on a grand scale. There were at least 4 or 5 other buildings this size. This is one of the main halls in the centre section of the city. You can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.
Scattered through the city were these large vats. They held water in case of fire. The forbidden city is built of wood and was prone to burning down.
The forbidden city was where the emperor and his family lived. Common people were not allowed inside, if you were caught inside the gates you would be put to death.
The importance of the buildings was marked by how many figurines were on the roofline. This was a very important building, since it has many figures. At the very corner is a figure of a prince riding on a quilon, a type of mythical beast. It was pronounced similar to 'chicken' and I thought the prince was riding on a chicken, which didn't sound very dignified. He is being chased by other mythical beasts and the large figure at the end is a dragon.
At one point the city was attacked and captured. The invaders took everything, and even scraped off the gold coating on the water vats.
This water vat still has its original golden colour. In the winter they would build a small fire under the water vats to keep them from freezing.
This is a detail of a dragon figure carved into a windowsill. It is probably only four inches long.
Between the stairs leading to each of the great halls was a large stone carving of dragons and phoenixes.
Even the stairs were carved. They had to build separate stairways for tourists so these would not be ruined by the millions of visitors. This is only one set of many carved stairs.
The city was divided by a large wall into a central section and an outer section. Official ceremonies, meetings and business were conducted in the central section where outsiders were invited in. The outer section contained living quarters and beautiful gardens.
The amount of upkeep must be staggering. By the time they have finished restoring a section of the city there are many others in need of repair.
Particularly when uncivilized tourists throw garbage into their heaters.
This maze was very interesting. It used to contain water, and they would float a cup along the path. Whoever the cup landed nearest to had to say a poem.
The names of the building were always interesting. The water maze was in the Pavillion for Bestowing Wine. Some of the main buildings were the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
The gardens were exquisite. They had porous rocks piled everywhere. The rocks came from far in the south of China.
The story of Concubine Zhen was also interesting. The evil empress Cixi had the emperor's favorite concubine stuffed down a well.
It was only about a foot in diameter. Concubine Zhen must have been a very small woman.
Near the northern end of the city.
Even the pathways of the garden had mosaic designs.
Even in February there were lots of visitors. I can't imagine what it would be like in the summertime. One of my favorite parts of the city was the nine dragon screen. I've put those photos in the following post.
