China Travel Reference

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, also known as the palace Museum, was the largest and best-preserved ancient wooden palace in the world. It was the imperial palace in the Ming and Qing dynasties, first built in 1406. The construction lasted for about 14 years. About 100,000 artisans and 1 million labors involved into the project. In the Ming and Qing dynasties,

there were altogether 24 emperors ruled from there, 10 in the Ming and 14 in the Qing. The Palace of Museum takes an area of 72 hectares, has 9,999.5 rooms. The whole palace could be divided into two parts: the Out Court and the Inner Court. The Out Court served as political center, the Inner Court as living quarters in the past. The main buildings sitting on the central axes are the hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Middle Harmony and Hall of Preserving Harmony in the Out Court and the Hall of Heavenly Purity, Hall of Union and the Hall of Earthly Tranquility in the Inner Court. The general layout of the Forbidden City is totally agreed with Chinese traditional idea of Yinyang and Five Element theories. The design and decoration of the buildings in the palace stressed the concept of the zenith, such as the zenith of the rank of the buildings, the power of the emperor and the luxury enjoyed by the imperial family, there would be no equal in the world. All these make it an outstanding example of the oriental architecture and a really human treasure in the world. In 1987, it was inscribed on the World Heritage List by the UNESCO.

Temple of Heaven

Temple of Heaven is located in the south of Beijing, covering an area about 273 hectares. It was first built in 1420 and rebuilt in 1530. In the Ming and Qing dynasty the Temple of Heaven was the place where emperors used to worship both Gods and theirs ancestors. In 1918 the Temple of Heaven was changed into a park and began to open to visitors. Now the Temple of Heaven has become a public park and a favorite meeting placefor the senior citizens to do morning exercise and have fun.

The Temple of Heaven is made up of two parts: the south part symbolizing the earth and the north part symbolizing the heaven. The two parts are bridged together by a marble road, which is called the Sacred Bridge. The whole area is enclosed by a wall, and the north part of the wall is round, the south part square, symbolizing the concept holding by Chinese people in that age “ Heaven is round, earth is square”. All the main buildings were built on the central axes, namely the Circular Mount Alter, the Imperial Vault of Heaven in the south and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest in the north. Among them the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is the highlight in the park. Its design, decoration and the symbolic layout are unique and marvelous. All these make the Temple of Heaven a masterwork in the Chinese traditional architecture and a precious heritage of world. In 1998 the temple of Heaven was put on World Heritage List by the UNESCO.

　