The Forbidden City, which is
located in the heart of Beijing,
was constructed during the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. The city of Beijing, which has such a rich history, grew and
prospered under the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and remained a national capital to
the present day. But how did “Beijing”
become the capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties? And how was it different
from today?
The two Chinese characters
in the name Beijing
(北京) literally mean “Northern
Capital”. The name was first given as a
reference to the newly-built royal settlement in 1406, opposite the existing
capital of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing
(南京Southern Capital). Beijing,
because of the many different dialects and the romanization of Chinese, was
referred to as “Peking”. Examples of this can be found in references such
as “the Peking Man”, Homo erectus
fossils found around the outskirt of Beijing near
the village of Zhoukoudian in the 1920-30s.
Before royal palaces were built for Ming rulers, Beijing was used as a secondary
capital, or “South Capital” (aka Yanjing 燕京), during the Jin Dynasty (1115 - 1234). When Jin successfully defeated the
Liao Dynasty in 1153, extending Jin’s territory southward, Beijing became the Central Capital (Zongdu)
of Jin. In 1213, Genghis Khan’s army besieged the city and razed it to the ground
two years later. Ironically, Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kublai Khan, established
the Yuan Dynasty after conquering the lands of China and beyond, and ordered his
capital to be located adjacent to the Jin Ruin. The capital was then called
Dadu (or commonly known to Mongols as Khanbaliq (Daidu)). The construction of
the capital, including royal palaces, took place from 1264 – 1293. Unlike Jin’s
Yanjing, Yuan’s Dadu had extended to the downtown areas of what is known today as
Beijing.
In 1368, soon after Zhu Yuanzhang（朱元璋）(Hongwu Emperor) founded the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), he sent an army to
Beijing and burnt
the Yuan capital to the ground. Since Yuan continued to occupy parts of the northern
frontiers of China,
this city was used as Ming’s military garrisons and was governed by the 4th son
of Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Di, also known as “Prince of Yan”.
When his brother, the second Ming emperor, attempted to challenge his
military power, the Prince of Yan carried out a brutal plot that ultimately led
to his ascension to the throne. In 1403 Zhu Di became the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty,
sworn to the throne in Nanjing, Ming’s Capital in the South. Three years later,
Zhu Di ambitiously decided to relocate his primary residence and administrative
center to Beijing.
The construction of the Forbidden City went
on for a painfully long time - from 1406 to 1420 - eventually remaining as a capital
city for the next 500 plus years. During this time other major landmarks of the
city were also built, such as the Temple
of Heaven, in accordance with
the city layout.
(Figure 1)
The Chinese character for “city” (or cheng) can be found in ancient
pictographic writing as early as 3000 years ago. In ancient China city
planning was regulated for more than two thousand years (figure 1). Depicted in this map is an enclosure complex
with a square wall and gates. Walls and gates functioned as primary features,
especially gates that were linked by major gateways throughout cities that made
into a grid system. Because the ancient city walls of Beijing
were torn down completely in the 1950s, the best preserved example of a Ming
Dynasty city is the reconstructed city of Xi’an,
which is a popular tourist destination today.
Another key feature of ancient Chinese city planning is the separation of
an inner city (residences of royal and noble families and administration), and
an outer city (commoner’s residences and markets). Constructing inner and outer cities have been
well established traditions since the Warring State
period (481 – 211 BC). Beijing was the home of royal families and
the center of state administration, thus was constructed with four enclosures, a unique form of city-within-city
during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. From its core outwards, it is divided into
the Palace City
(commonly known as the Forbidden City), Royal
City, Inner City, and Outer City.
Within the city of Beijing
each “city” was separated by walls and gates. Another feature of ancient Chinese
cities, also seen in today’s Xi’an,
is the axis line and symmetric layout of the buildings. In Beijing, from the
center of the Forbidden City, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the North-South
city, the axis extends outside and along the city’s primary gateway (also called
the Royal Gateway), where some gates were built grander than others. In the
Qing Dynasty, if a foreign diplomat came and was to be met by an Emperor, he
would enter from the south side of the outer city. Before the visitor reached
the Meridian Gate, the south gate to the Forbidden City, the envoy would go
through five gates along the axial gateway, which was around 5 kilometers; they
would have to pass through the Guanganmen Gate (the outer city), Zhengyangmen Gate (the inner city), Daqingmen
Gate (center of the inner city), Tian'anmen Gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace – the
royal City), and Duanmen Gate (royal gateway to the Forbidden City).
The Forbidden City
Since 1420 the Forbidden City has been home
to 24 emperors – 14 Ming Dynasty and 10 Qing Dynasty. It was meticulously designed and built with purpose,
while functioning not only as a residence, but as a place of imperial power and
administration, thus dividing the outer court and the inner court. The Forbidden City ceased being the political
centre of China
in 1912 after the 1911 revolution. The outer court was converted over to public
use by the Republic of China, while the inner court was the home of the last
emperor Aisin-Gioro Fu Yi until 1924.
The Forbidden City took over one million
laborers to complete over a period of 14 years. The enclosure of the city scale
was established first (walls and gates) as well as the six primary buildings on
a center platform, three in the outer court and three in the inner court.
Others were built and rebuilt gradually over time. The present day layout probably retains what
it looked like during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1735 – 1799). It includes
nearly 90 palace complexes, 980 buildings, and about 9000 rooms.
The walls of the Forbidden City are
rectangular with right angles at the four corners. The city is about 961 meters
North-South, and 753 meters East-West (thus 720,000 square meters, and 780,000
square meters when adding the areas of the gateways between the Meridian Gate
and Gate of Heavenly Peace). The wall is about 10 meters high, with a base
width of 8.62 meters. The top of the wall has a width of 6.66 meters that can
allow up to 5 horses to stand side by side for patrolling.
Outside of the wall is a 52 meter wide moat, a defensive feature for the ancient
city. During the Qing Dynasty, about 700 rooms were built on the inside bank of
the moat, against the walls on the East, West, and North, which were used for
housing imperial guards. The water of the moat was channeled in from the Yuquanshan Mountain in the western city, through
the northwest end of the palaces and out the southeast side of the city. The
name of the bridge is called “Gold Water” after the natural-flowing golden water
located in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. During the reign of Kangxi
(1661 – 1722), the moat was used for growing lotus flowers. Bountiful lotus
roots were consumed in the Forbidden City, and
also sold to the markets providing revenue for the palace. There are four
corner towers, which traditionally functioned as defensive watch towers, and
they are now just beautifully designed and decorative building structures.
The Forbidden City has four gates, one on
each side. The North Gate (shenwumen) and South
Gate (Meridian Gate) are on the axial line, while the
East Gate and West Gate are in opposite positions, but towards the southern
end. The East Gate, open primarily for officials coming into the Palace, was
where visiting carriages and horses were parked. Only honoured guests of the
emperor were allowed to enter the Forbidden City
riding horses. The East Gate was also reserved for carrying coffins of emperors
or his family members. The West Gate was reserved for emperors and their families
traveling back and forth to and from the Summer Palaces.
The North Gate was used for common daily traffic and functions, such as the
comings and goings of guards, eunuchs, and servants. At one time there was a
bell and drum tower located on top of the gate to provide hourly indications.
The formal South Gate
or Meridian Gate is considered to be a much grander gate, which was used for major
events and ceremonies. The central gateway of the five was reserved for the
emperor himself; the only exception was for newly wedded empresses and the top
three scorers of the Imperial Civic Official Examinations. Next to the central
gateway, the left one was reserved for government functionaries while the right
was for imperial and noble families. The far left and right gateways were only
open for officials when grand ceremonies were held inside, allowing up to
ten-thousand individuals to go through, military officials on the west and
civic dignitaries on the east.
The Meridian Gate was so grand that it was also used for announcing the
emperor’s edicts in major events. Emperors used to meet and receive officials
here on the 5th, 15th, and 25th day of each
month. This was also where emperors would watch their high-ranked bureaucrats being
punished and/or humiliated for any wrongdoings or crimes.
The Imperial (Royal)
City
The area located between the Meridian Gate and the Gate of Heavenly Peace
is part of the Imperial City, and the walls that encircle the Forbidden City are around 11 km in length. The Gate of
Heavenly Peace is the grand South Gate (today an
iconic landmark of Beijing).
There is one gate on each of the other three sides: di'anmen (Gate of Earthly
Peace) to the north, dong'anmen (Gate of Eastern Peace) to the east, and xi'anmen
(Gate of West Peace) to the west.
Most of the Imperial
City was taken up by
royal garden/lakes, temples/altars, garrisons/supplies, and workshops, which
were all meant for servicing royal and noble families. Located within the Imperial City were the Mansions of Princes and
Princesses, who were relocated within the royal city after being wed. It was also the location of the central
government administration offices during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Especially in the Qing Dynasty, where most divisions of the Imperial Household
Department set up offices, close to the Forbidden City. No commoners were
allowed to live in the Imperial
City.
To the west of the Forbidden City were interconnected lakes (called “South
Sea”, “Center Sea” and “North Sea” in common names), along which were the closest
resorts for the emperor’s families outside the Palaces. Empress Dowager Ci Xi
and her adopted son, Emperor Guang Xu, died in Yingtai
Palace at the South-Center Seas.
The complexes of the South-Center
Sea today are off limits
– they are the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party and Government
administrations.
To the north of the Forbidden City is the largest royal garden, known as
Jinshan Mount Park, it was the highest point of view in Beijing during the Ming
and Qing Dynasties. Today, from the top you can view a multitude of yellow
roofs and red walls from the Forbidden City
below. In 1644, the last Ming emperor
Chongzheng committed suicide on Jinshan Mount; he hung himself from a tree when
Li Zhicheng’s peasant army captured the city of Beijing.
The two most notable royal complexes located just south of the Forbidden
City, are the State Altar and the Temple
of Ancestors. The State
Altar, which is for worshipping nature (animals and plants), is located in the
west area of the royal gateway (between the Meridian Gate and the Gate of
Heavenly Peace). The Temple
of Ancestors, where the
previous emperor’s spiritual name-tablets were worshipped, is a square complex
of the same scale to the east of the royal gateway.
The Inner City
f you have ever taken
the No.2 subway line (Figure 2) in Beijing
recently, you will find that the loop line has many stations ending with “-men”
(“gate” in Chinese). There are 11 stations with “-men” in the name. This subway
route follows the exact line of the inner city wall built during the Ming
Dynasty. In the 1950s two of the new gates, jiangguomen and fuxingmen, were
built and then soon afterwards torn down.
The other nine stations were built on the original locations of the
gates, three on each side in symmetrical and opposite placements – a reflection
of the Chinese ancient city layout. Today for tourist purposes, only two gates have
been reconstructed in the Ming style, Qianmen located in Center South, and Deshengmen
situated in Center North.
(Figure 2)
South of the Gate of Heavenly Peace is today’s famous Tian'anmen
Square. All aspects of government affairs, both residential and
commercial, would have taken place in the Inner City, which was once filled
with Qing Dynasty government buildings and rooms. However, these buildings were all demolished
in 1915.
The mansions of many high ranking officials and Princes were located in the
northern part of the Inner City. Yonghegong Temple
subway station, located at the northeast corner of the loopline, was at one
time the residential mansion
of Prince Yong before he
became Emperor Yongzheng in 1722. After Emperor Yongzheng moved to the Forbidden City, the mansion became the Tibetan Buddhist
temple for the royal family.
Across the street from the Yonghe
Temple is the laneway
housing government buildings dedicated to education and scholarship. Today, preserved
as cultural heritage sites are the complexes for the Ministry of Education,
State College, and the Temple
of Confucians.
The Outer City
The Outer City was a 2.5 km extension to the Inner
City. The 18 km-long wall that enclosed this extension was built during the
reign of the Ming Emperor Jiajing (1521-1567) to house city residences of all
kinds. But due to a financial shortage, only phase one of the project was ever completed. During the rule of Jiajing, for some unknown reasons,
the outer city wall and gates have never been extended to the other three sides
of the Inner City. The Outer
City had seven gates,
three at the south, and two each on the east and the west sides.
The Outer City
was where most of the activities happened it was the location where skilled
craftsmens and mobile traders gathered, this was the area where you could
experience the most vivid life of ancient Beijing.
The well-known components in this part of Beijing
were the Qianmen markets south of the Qianmen Gate (South-Central Gate of the
Inner City), and the Tianqiao entertainment quarters in the south near the
Yongdingmen (South-Central Gate of the Outer City).
Today, both places are popular tourist attractions because they still reveal
the traditions of ancient Beijing.
It must be noted that just inside the Yongdingmen South-Center Gate is a giant
royal temple complex, sitting to the east of the Imperial City’s
axial gateway. It is the Temple of Heaven, or Altar of Heaven, where emperors went to
worship the heavenly emperors or gods (emperors were the sons of Heaven in China). Opposite
the Temple of Heaven was the Altar of Agriculture,
where the emperors went at the beginning of spring to pray for a prosperous
harvest by participating in the spring cultivation. A wall of the palace where
the emperor changed his clothes to dress up like a peasant has been replicated
and is on display in the ROM’s Chinese Architecture Gallery.
Corresponding to Altar of Heaven, there are three other altars
symmetrically located on each side just outside the Inner City. They are Altar
of Earth in the North, Altar of Sun in the East, and Altar of Moon in the
west.
The Final
Remarks
The Ancient city of Beijing during the Ming
and Qing Dynasties refers to a combination of a square Inner City and a
rectangular Outer
City to the south.
Before the Forbidden City was built, Beijing
had a population of around 100,000, but after the Ming capital was moved it
increased to roughly 800,000 by 1425. In 1621 (close to the end of the Ming
Dynasty) Beijing’s
population may have reached as much as 1.2 million. It was said that Beijing was the largest
city in the world during the 15th – 17th centuries.
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