Chapter 4 Section 3 Planning of the Forbidden City in Beijing

There are more than 1,000 houses in the Forbidden City. How to arrange these buildings, large and small, not only to make them meet the needs of the feudal emperors in work, life and entertainment, but also to show the atmosphere in the environment created by these buildings. This is the planning problem we are going to introduce. From the function of the building, it can be divided into two categories: office buildings for the emperor to exercise his ruling power and rooms for living and recreation.The former was called government housing in ancient times, and the latter was called bedroom housing.In terms of general arrangement, the Forbidden City inherited the system of the previous generation, that is, "sleeping in the front and sleeping in the back".

(1) The part of the former dynasty mainly consists of three main halls: Taihe, Zhonghe, and Baohe, the most important of which is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which is the place where major ceremonies were held in feudal countries.Every time the emperor ascends the throne, birthday, marriage, military expedition, new year, Mid-Autumn Festival and other major festivals, the emperor receives congratulations from all officials and issues orders here, so the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the center of the entire Forbidden City.How to highlight the status of this hall?First of all, in the planning of the complex, a series of preludes are arranged in front of it.Enter from Tian’anmen, the gate of the imperial city, and pass through a narrow and long space to reach the Duanmen; enter the Duanmen and pass through a relatively large square to reach the Meridian Gate, the entrance of the Forbidden City; enter the Meridian Gate and come to a flat and wide square, and the eyes suddenly open up. The entrance of the three halls, the Taihe Gate, is on the north side of the square; after passing through the Taihe Gate, you enter a wider square, and the Taihe Hall is located on a high platform in the north of the square.That is to say, from Tiananmen to the Hall of Supreme Harmony via the Meridian Gate, you need to pass through several gates and squares. These gates and squares vary in size and form. The gates of the palace are of different sizes.In short, their purpose is to set off the important position of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Secondly, in terms of building placement, the three main halls are put together on a high platform.Ancient China likes to build important buildings on high platforms to show their power and influence. This is what the so-called "high terraces and beautiful palaces" mean.Now the three main halls of Taihe, Zhonghe and Baohe are built together on a platform with three floors and a total height of 8.17 meters.In addition, there are two side halls and other houses on both sides of the square. They are smaller than the three halls, and they are all built on relatively low foundations, which highlights the magnificence of the Hall of Supreme Harmony from the overall environment. Location.

(2) There are more types of houses in the back bedroom than in the previous dynasty. There are rooms for the emperor's daily office, living rooms for the emperor, empress, crown prince, imperial concubine, empress dowager, etc., as well as buildings and services for their entertainment. room.In terms of planning, it can be clearly seen that the palaces where the emperor worked and lived, namely Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Palace, and Kunning Palace, were arranged on the central axis, and other buildings were arranged on the left and right.There are six palaces in the east and west for the imperial concubine to live in; five houses in the east and west are the residences of the crown prince; in the east, there is the Zhai Palace for worshiping ancestors; in the west, there is a Buddhist hall for worshiping Buddha and chanting sutras; Ningshou Palace and so on are used during the period.These large and small building groups are connected by passages, and they are arranged on both sides of the central axis. They are many but not chaotic, and they appear to be very orderly.