Revisit Beijing Forbidden City "20210318"

On March 18, 2021, the weather was cloudy. The four of us took the subway from Huilongguan to visit the Forbidden City.

This is my third visit to the Forbidden City. The first time was in March 1985, when I came to Beijing on business and visited the Forbidden City. At that time, tickets to the Forbidden City were: 10 cents per person

The second time was in April 2014. The peak season for admission is 60 yuan/person (April 1--October 31), and the low season is 40 yuan/person (November 1---March 31).

Today is the third time I have visited the Forbidden City. Due to the cloudy day and the off-season, very few people visit the Forbidden City. The second time I visited the Forbidden City, it was crowded with people, and it was difficult to take photos in one place.

Due to the epidemic this year, to visit the Forbidden City, you need to book tickets online one day in advance, and tickets are not sold on site. The Tiananmen floor is not open yet and cannot be accessed. When it opens, separate notice is required.

We arrived at Tiananmen Square at 11:30 and took some photos. Enter the Forbidden City at 12 o'clock.

Before entering the Forbidden City, you need to pre-check and activate tickets booked online at the ticket office, and present your Beijing health code and ID card. Then, you can go to the ticket gate and present your ID card to enter the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City in Beijing is a royal palace in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China. It was formerly called the Forbidden City and is located in the center of Beijing's central axis. The Forbidden City in Beijing is centered on three halls, covering an area of 720,000 square meters and a construction area of about 150,000 square meters. It has more than 70 palaces and more than 9,000 houses.

Construction of the Beijing Forbidden City began in 1406, the fourth year of Yongle, Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty. It was built based on the Nanjing Forbidden City and was completed in 1420. It is a rectangular city, 961 meters long from north to south, 753 meters wide from east to west. It is surrounded by a 10-meter-high city wall on all sides and a 52-meter-wide moat outside the city. The buildings in the Forbidden City are divided into two parts: the Outer Dynasty and the Inner Court. The center of the Outer Dynasty was the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Zhonghe Hall, and Baohe Hall, collectively referred to as the Three Halls, which were the places where the country held major ceremonies. The center of the inner court is the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Hall, and Kunning Palace, collectively known as the Later Three Palaces, which are the main palace where the emperor and queen lived

The first place to enter the Forbidden City is: Meridian Gate. It is the main entrance of the Forbidden City.

The second one is: Taihe Gate.

It is the largest palace gate in the Forbidden City and the main entrance of the Outer Dynasty Palace. In the Ming Dynasty, Taihe Gate was a place where "the royal gate listened to politics". Emperors in the early Qing Dynasty also listened to politics and gave banquets at Taihe Gate.

Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The third one is: the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Commonly known as the "Golden Luan Hall", it was built in the 18th year of Yongle of the Ming Dynasty (1420) and is called Fengtian Hall. In the 41st year of Jiajing (1562), it was renamed Huangji Hall. The name was changed in the second year of Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty (1645). It was the place where the emperor held a grand ceremony. Since its completion, it has been burned down many times and rebuilt many times. What we see today is the shape after reconstruction in the 34th year of Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1695).

In March 1985, I went to the Forbidden City to see the Hall of Supreme Harmony for the first time. Visitors can visit the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but the emperor's "dragon chair" was blocked with red ropes and was not allowed to enter the "dragon chair".

I visited the Forbidden City for the second time in April 2014. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was not allowed to enter, but you can go up the steps to the window and look inside at the "dragon chair". You can still see it.

During this visit to the Forbidden City, red ropes were used to block the steps from the steps, and even the steps were not allowed to go up. If you want to see the "dragon chair", you can only look under the steps and look from afar. You can't see anything inside.

The fourth one is: Zhonghe Hall. It was a place where the emperor rested and practiced etiquette before going to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to hold a grand ceremony. Before going to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the emperor stopped here for a short while to receive salutes from cabinet ministers and officials from the Ministry of Rites, and then entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony to hold a ceremony.

Finally: Baohe Hall. Baohe Hall (Jinshen Hall and Jianji Hall) is also one of the three halls of the Forbidden City, behind Zhonghe Hall. Baohe Hall is the place where the emperor gives banquets to foreign vassals and princes every New Year's Eve. Baohe Hall is also the place where the imperial examinations are held.

Go down from here to "Clock Museum"

We bought tickets for "Treasure Hall", so we turned right from Baohe Hall and went down the steps to "Treasure Hall".

The Beijing Palace Museum of Treasures opened in 1958. It is one of the important exhibition halls of the Palace Museum that open all year round. Together with the Watch Museum, it mainly displays Qing Dynasty palace cultural relics and curiosities, and mainly works with calligraphy and painting, ceramics, bronze, and curiosities. It also forms the Forbidden City display system together with the calligraphy and painting, ceramics, bronze, crafts and other museums. The Forbidden City display system complements each other with the original display of ancient buildings. The Forbidden City Treasures Hall is located in the east of the Palace Museum in Beijing. It is located in the west wing of the Huangji Hall, Yangxing Hall, Leshou Hall and Yihe Xuan Lane in the northeast corner of the Forbidden City. The Treasure Hall is a treasure house with various gems, sparkling gold and silver utensils, pearl jade, gold silk phoenix crowns, ivory jade carvings. All kinds of treasures are unparalleled in the world; the most prominent one is a pickaxe tower weighing 5000 kilograms. Large jade carvings.

Before arriving at "Treasure Hall", there are Forbidden City restaurants and arrow towers.

Nine Dragon Wall is located outside the Huangji Gate in the Ningshou Palace District of the Forbidden City. The wall is 29.4m long, 3.5m high, and 0.45m thick. It is a single-sided glazed shadow wall built against the palace wall. It was burned during the reconstruction of Ningshou Palace in the 37th year of Qianlong (1772). The Nine Dragons Wall in the Forbidden City, together with the Nine Dragons Wall in Datong, Shanxi, and the Nine Dragons Wall in Beihai Park in Beijing, are collectively called the "Three Major Nine Dragons Walls in China".

Then, enter: Huangji Gate, and you will arrive at: Huangji Hall.

Let's enter the Jewelry Hall and admire the jade and jade art.

Further inside are: Yangxing Hall,

Changyin Pavilion, Leshoutang, Yihe Xuan, Zhenfei Jing. Finally, the Imperial Garden.

This is the last place to the Forbidden City. There should be other places. We haven't walked there yet. We have been visiting for 3 hours. We are all over 60 years old and now have sore backs and legs. We decided to go here. From the north: Shenwu Gate exits the Forbidden City.

Several feelings:

1. Now the Forbidden City is paying more and more attention to historical relics, especially the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Tourists want to see the true appearance of the Throne Hall, but there is no way to see it.

2. When traveling to the Forbidden City, it is recommended to visit in the off-season, with few people. The Forbidden City is mainly composed of buildings and treasures, not flowers and plants.

3. Half ticket for people over 60 years old.

4. If you want to see the "Kowloon Wall", you must buy tickets to the "Treasure Hall" because the Kowloon Wall is inside the Treasure Hall. Tickets for Treasure Hall: 10 yuan/person.

Written in Beijing on March 21, 2021