The
Forbidden City was the Chinese sovereign palace from the Ming Dynasty(1420) to
the end of the Qing dynasty(1912). It located in the center of Beijing, China.
It apportioned as the home of emperors and their family as well as the
liturgical and political center of Chinese government. It was built from the
year of 1406 to 1420, and it consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 ha. It has
a great collection of artwork and artifacts that were built upon the imperial
collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
In
the year of 1369, Zhu Yuanzhang created Ming Dynasty and claimed the be the
emperor. He named Ying Tian Fu to Nanjing and Kaifeng to Beijing; he started to
build the Capital in Fengyang, Beijing. Because all the people went to build
other Palaces, Nanjing Palace was called to stop since there were not enough
people. Eight years later, Emperor Zhu gave up the projects of concentration
camps and focused on the construction of Nanjing Palace. Then in the next few
years, he let people build many temples inside of the Nanjing Palace until he
died. Then the later emperors of the Ming Dynasty continued to construct it and
made it much bigger. The palace was burned at the end of the Ming Dynasty and
was rebuilt during Qing Dynasty.
The
Forbidden City consists of many different parts. There are so many Palaces so
that you could not walk through the whole Forbidden City for a whole day. The
main palace is called Taihe Palace, and emperors often held big ritual
ceremonies inside of it. Yangxin Palace is the place where emperors lived; it
has complete facilities and comfortable space to relax. Many of the palaces are
residential places for emperors’ wives. The emperors ranked their wives, and
the bigger Palaces were for those wives who had higher ranks.
After
the Revolution of 1911 in China, the Forbidden City belonged to the state;
Puyi, the last emperor in Chinese history, was allowed to live inside of the
palace temporarily. In the year of 1942, Feng Yuxiang launched a coup in
Beijing and expelled Puyi. At the same time, he established the Aftermath
Committee of Qing Dynasty and took over the Forbidden City. On October 10th,
1925, the Palace Museum was formally established; it also opened to all the
people who want to visit. The Forbidden City has been renamed to “Gu Gong”,
which means the “Past Palace.” With the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, many
buildings in Gu Gong collapsed. In the year of 1961 after the People’s Republic
of China has established, the State Department announced that Gu Gong was the
first one of the Major Historical and Culture Site Protected at the National
Level. In the 1950s to 1960s, it has been maintained and repaired massively. In
1987, Gu Gong had been a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Now
we can see visitors from all over the world come to visit the Forbidden City
every day. It became one of the worthiest sites to visit when people comes to Beijing.
Your research gives me a preview of the history of the forbidden city, I love the part where you gave the process of Zhu yuanzhang building the Forbidden City, it will be a good resource for me to learn the historical idea of the Forbidden City. However, I also have some suggestion, after view the whole part of your post, I found that you spent to much focus on the history of the Forbidden City,but a bit ignored the appearance of the Forbidden City, you better spend more part in describing the appearance of it but not heed to the history of it. It will make the reader easier to understand the Forbidden City if they haven't seen it before.
ReplyDeleteThe forbidden city is a important building for Chinese culture. From your research, I know the history, structure and some trivial information about the forbidden city. However, I also want to know something about the significance of the forbidden city, like how it affect Chinese culture and connect it to the human beings. Then, when the reader had read your research, they will want to visit China and the Forbidden city. Good work!
ReplyDeleteThis blog article is very worth to read because of your very detailed information. I learned the history, the geographical layout and some changes of the forbidden city as the time past and centuries changed. After reading this blog, knowing the information, I am probably going to come up with new thoughts the next time I visit the forbidden city. Thank you for writing this informative article.
ReplyDeleteI went to the Forbidden City when I was 7 years old. I was totally amazed by the greatest building. As I was very small, I did't remember information. They author gives the information to us in a simple way. I like this way, it easy for me to understand. If I have chance, I probably will go to Forbidden City again and learn focus on the story behind. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI was born in Beijing. So I'm very familiar with forbidden city or Gu Gong. From your article, I learned about the history events and the main structure of Forbbiden city. I found that the higher the rank, the bigger the house people can live in. Also, I knew about that Feng YuXiang used to occupy the Great Wall. What a crazy person!
ReplyDelete