The Forbidden City - Beijing, China

 While I was in China, I made sure to stop by the Forbidden City. As a pirate, I seek out forbidden places, you know.

You are not really a pirate, Captain.

So you say, Spike. I say be yourself! And Myself is a pirate. Without the pillaging.

Whatever, Captain. I think you were telling us about...

...Oh! Yes! The Forbidden City. Well, way back in 1406, the emperor of the Ming dynasty ordered this massive place to be built. It was ready for the imperial court in 1420. Anyway, only the emperor could go anywhere in the place. Even his family had limits to access it! There were specific gates to enter through and everything.

 

To get to the Forbidden City, you walk through Tienanmen Square. This big paved, open courtyard can hold 1 million people standing in it. A monument in the center is the "Monument to the People's Heroes" - all the people on the Communist side who died in the Revolution. This is also the place where a democracy demonstration took place in 1989. At the end of the time of the demonstrations, the army moved in and a lot of people died. Now, there are a lot of cameras all around for security.

 

That's terrible!

It is. But to get to the Gate of Heavenly Peace, you have to walk through that square. It's a "one-way" entrance now.

 

We then went through a long courtyard to reach the Meridian Gate, which has 5 entrances. The center is for the emperor, and the empress on her wedding day. The top 3 scorers on the Imperial exam could walk through that gate on examination results day. The two gates on the right were for family, which one depended on status. The left gates were for courtiers.

Other places in the palace outer court included the Halls of Supreme Harmony, Middle Harmony, and Preserving Harmony. Supreme was for coronations, weddings, and royal birthdays; Middle was for greeting audiences and to house the royal plow used for a ceremony; and Preserving Harmony is where civil service exams were conducted by the emperor.

All around I kept seeing these huge bronze containers. Turns out they were kept filled with water in case of fire!

That's probably a good thing to have available before there were fire trucks.

True. But I wouldn't have wanted to have to fill them!

By now, I was getting tired, but there was more to see with the inner court. This is the home of the emperor. His throne was in the Hall of Heavenly Purity. The Empress could celebrate her birthday in the Hall of Union and Peace. 

Then there were the Imperial Gardens and next to them the Gate of Earthly Tranquility.