Forbidden Palace

Jonathan Shaller, a fellow traveler from the Red Lantern Hostel in Beijing, rendered this pavilion using Autodesk Maya. Jonathan is a professional 3D Environmental Artist with an impressive background. Notably, he’s worked on the graphics for The Chronicles of Narnia, Madagascar, and Transformers. He modeled this pavilion after visiting the Forbidden City’s Imperial Garden, where the Emperor once chose women for his harem.

Emperor's Bedroom

The Imperial bedroom was the most popular scene in the Forbidden City. Crowds of tourists pressed their lenses up to the glass and peered in to see where the Emperor slept. The symbol on the far wall is “double happiness,” literally comprised of two happiness characters strung together. Many translations of Chinese into English happen to sound like Orwell’s 1984 “Newspeak.”

Bridal Palaquin

The exhibits were well curated with labels and often explanations for each artifact. Paintings or photographs served as the backdrop, artistically illustrating the objects in action. The largest exhibit was devoted to imperial marriages. This gold palanquin carried the bride into the Forbidden City. Before the marriage, a formal proposal event took place involving three phases: stating the proposal, requesting the woman’s full name and lineage to ensure there were no blood relatives in common, and an astrological process to check compatibility.

Forbidden City Art

Many pages from the Emperor’s “wedding albums” were displayed on the museum walls. It was fascinating to recognize the architecture portrayed in the paintings from a few minutes prior to viewing them.

Forbidden City Lantern

Lanterns such as the one above were lit for the arrival of the Empress-to-be through the gates of the Forbidden City at midnight. Once the Empress stepped over a saddle to enter the bridal chamber and the Emperor formally joined her, they proceeded to the bed and … ate underdone dumplings, literally. This special food was consumed on their marriage day to provide them with good male heirs. Drinking the nuptial cup was then the climax of the marriage.

Forbidden City Pathway

Emerging from an indoor museum at the Forbidden City can best be described as walking out of the Medieval Art exhibit at the MET in NYC and unexpectedly finding yourself strolling through the corridors of a European castle. The more I wandered around this landmark, the more realistic it felt to my senses. The museum closed at 16:20, meaning there was an exodus of Chinese tourists moving toward the gates at 16:15, escaping the possibility of experiencing the palace after dark. At that time, crows came out to perch on the ornate eaves alongside the ceramic animals, and the palace really started to feel alive.

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City served as the Emperor’s Palace in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1644, 1644-1911). It’s the most impressive place I’ve seen in China and happens to be the world’s largest palace complex.

Crossing the Moat

To enter the Forbidden City, you must first cross a 6-meter deep moat.

Palace Blueprint

The southern half of the palace, where the Emperor ruled, is devoted to prominent buildings on the central axis, large open spaces, and a royal obsession with symmetry. The northern half, where the Emperor and his family lived, is a maze of smaller buildings that are unfortunately not open to the public.

Lion Statue A

Bronze and copper statues guard the entrances to the central axis buildings, which have very impressive architecture.

Lion Statue B

Perhaps this lion was meant to be so fierce that it was clawing one of its own kin…

Painted Wood

In addition to gold, all the primary and secondary colors are on display except for purple, which is nowhere to be found on the intricately painted wood underneath the eaves. Orange is rare and looks like white paint that was mistakenly mixed with red paint when it is used.

Fire Protection Vessels

When the palace was inhabited, these bronze vessels were filled with water in case of fire. During the winter, they were covered with quilts to keep the water warm or heated with coal.

Grain Measure Vessels

These grain measure vessels were placed outside the palace to credit the Emperor with establishing a grain measuring standard that unified the nation.

American Express Translations

Outside each central axis building, there was a sufficiently well-translated sign noting the parameters of the structure – one auspicious bay number times another auspicious bay number – and describing what function the building had for the emperor. Note the line at the bottom indicating that the sign was translated by American Express, the only piece of advertising in the whole palace.

Changing Clothes Throne, Bao He Dian

Though one structure was for meeting dignitaries and another for resting, they all looked similar on the inside: a mainly empty hall with a carpeted throne , statues, and vases. These interiors were also not open to the public. Instead, tourists swarmed at the front rail, and pushing was necessary to get a view of the throne.

Ceilings

Most of the buildings had gable roofs and beautiful panelled ceilings.

Non-Axial Buildings

The continuous structures lining the sides of the palace have been converted into museums that house artifacts from weddings and wars. Of course there was no mention of servants’ lives or the role of anyone below royalty.

Forbidden City

Pictures & videos coming soon. I’ve spent the past two days at The Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Zhongshan Park, Silk Street Market, and a family music shop.

Today, I visited the largest lamasery, where Tibetan temple architecture is framed by figures of tourists lighting incense in fire bins. I hope to get pictures up soon, though the biggest role of monks at the temple – from what I, a westerner, could tell – was getting in front of tourists’ cameras and requesting, “no photo.” I wonder if they realize that angry monks make good tourist pictures too.

I’m now sharing a room with 3 other people at a hostel near the center of the city for 50 Yuan a night ($7.32). If you have suggestions for where to go or requests for pictures, please let me know via comment or email.