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By Pixelflake – Wikimedia

Top 10 Facts about the Forbidden City in China

The Forbidden City is in China’s capital city Beijing. This ancient city is one of the country’s well-preserved heritage.

It has been ranked among the top 5 most important palaces in the world. Millions of tourists, both local and international, tour the Forbidden City every year. 

As you can tell, it is no longer forbidden, although there are areas in the palace that is out of bounds.

This palace used to be the home to Chinese Emperors together with their families. Government officials also lived at the palace.

24 emperors lived in this palace from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty between 1368 to 1911.

Emperor Chengzi from the Ming Dynasty started the construction of this palace. It took 14 years to complete the palace.

Although there are no trees near the palace, it is surrounded by several lush and vast gardens.

There is a lot more about the Forbidden City. I have put together the top 10 facts about it, read them below.

1. The Forbidden City is Yellow in Colour

By A_Peach – Wikimedia

There are two prominent colours at the Forbidden City. The red walls, pillars, doors, and windows and the yellow roofs. The roofs have yellow glazed tiles which happened to be the official colour of Chinese Emperors.

In Chinese architectural history, yellow was considered to be holy and it was greatly influenced by traditional Chinese culture.

The Yellow River Basin made the colour significant with the origin of civilization for the Chinese people.

Emperor Liu Che from the Han Dynasty used yellow to symbolize the supreme power of an emperor. The colour was then reserved for Chinese emperors.

2. It took 14 years to finish the Temple

Hongwu Emperor’s son, Zhu Di, moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing when he became the Yongle Emperor.

Soon after, construction of the Forbidden City began in 1406. The architect commissioned was Chen Gui.

More than a million construction workers and thousands of artisans built the City in a span of 14 years.

They used the best wood, Phoebe Zhennan, which is found in south-western China to construct the palace. Marble from quarries near Beijing was used too.

Golden bricks from Suzhou were used on the floors of the Forbidden City.

3. It was home to 24 Chinese Emperors

By Dave Proffer – Wikimedia

After the completion of the Forbidden City in 1420, Zhu Di became the first from the Ming Dynasty to live in the palace.

He was the third of the Ming Dynasty and among the 14 Ming emperors that lived in the palace.

In 1644, the Manchus Dynasty took control of the palace and moved the capital from Beijing to Shenyang. This only lasted for a few months.

After the Qing Dynasty took over, they moved the capital back to Beijing as well as the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City was home to 10 Qing emperors until 1911 when the last emperor was abdicated.

The last Qing emperor and his family still lived within the Forbidden City complex until 1924. They lived in the Fasting Palace.

China became a republic and the Forbidden City was opened to the public.

4. The Forbidden City is the Largest cultural museum

Also known as the Palace Museum, the Forbidden City has some of the best collections of Chinese historical artefacts.

The collections tell of Chinese history from thousands of years ago. It is the top museum to visit in China and one of the best in the world.

There are different ancient treasures and buildings at the palace. One can see ancient porcelain, gardens, historic relics and courtyards.

The Palace Museum was established in 1925. In 1933, artefacts were moved from the Forbidden City after the Japanese invaded China.

5. Heating the Forbidden City was not a problem during winter

Philipp Hienstorfer – Wikimedia

Beijing gets really cold during winter. While constructing the Forbidden City, this was put into consideration.

There are hollow walls in the palace that were connected to pipes. The pipes were connected to ovens outside the rooms. This style was used to warm the beds too.

The ladies from the palace had pocket warmers for when they were outside. The pocket warmers were made from bronze and filled with coal.  

6. Opera Performances were popular at the Forbidden City

During the reign of the Ming And Qing Dynasty at the Forbidden City, opera performances were very popular at the palace.

The opera performances were stories about the emperors. Sometimes the performers would be in trouble for the choice of words they used.

Some strict emperors did not find some of the performances funny, this would lead to dire consequences for the performers.   

7. Not all the buildings at the Forbidden City have Chinese architecture

By Vaiz Ha – Wikimedia

The architecture of the Forbidden City is one of the major attractions in Beijing. It displays different architectural styles from China and Asia.

These styles influenced the development of Chinese architecture.

Within the complex is a building with an Arabic architectural style that is called Yude Hall.

During the reign of the Yuan Dynasty, they commissioned a Persian architect. He incorporated Persian ideas in the bathroom now known as Yude Hall.

The Hall is one of the few that was spared from demolition.

8. There are about 9,999 rooms in the Palace at the Forbidden City

Each of the 9,999 rooms is decorated with statues. The statues were installed in every room that was deemed important.

The more important a room the more statues it had. One of the most important rooms has 10 statues.

The 9,999 rooms were a symbol of the supreme status of the emperor.  

9. The Forbidden City is a true testament to Chinese architecture

Philipp Hienstorfer – Wikimedia

A walk in the forbidden city will reveal a lot of Chinese architectural designs and styles.

One of them is the use of the number 9. The number in Chinese means forever. It was also the largest number among the Chinese people.

For example, there are 9,999 rooms and 9 doornails on each gate.

10. Valuable items were moved before the War

This happened when the Sino-Japanese War started. To preserve their history and culture, the Chinese moved millions of rare treasures and cultural relics to safety.

They were moved to Shanghai and later Nanjing. The valuables were stored in three different locations until the war ended in 1945.

The treasures were stored in more than 3000 boxes. These were taken to Taiwan during the civil war that happened between 1945 and 1949. They were stored in the Taipei Palace Museum.

After the war, they were moved back to the Forbidden City and displayed at the Palace Museum.