Brief introduction of imperial gardens in Forbidden City

The Imperial Garden is located on the central axis of the Forbidden City, behind the Palace of Kunning. In the Ming dynasty, it was called "the back garden of the palace", and in the Qing dynasty it was called the imperial garden. It was built in the 18th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), and has been revised continuously since then, and still retains the basic pattern when it was first built.

The whole park is 80m long from north to south and 140m wide from east to west, covering an area of 12000m2. The main building in the park, Qin 'an Hall, is a double-eaved roof, which is located on the north-south axis of the Forbidden City and spreads to the front and sides with the pavilion as the center. The park is dotted with pines, cypresses and bamboos, forming an evergreen garden landscape.

The Royal Garden is135m wide from east to west and 89m deep from north to south, covering an area of12015m2. On the south is Kunning Gate, and on the left and right are Qiongyuan Right Gate and Qiongyuan Left Gate respectively. North across the archway gate and Shunzhen gate surrounded by Jifu Gate, Yanhe Gate and Chengguang Gate. The buildings in the park are centered on the courtyard of Qin 'an Hall, and the central axis is symmetrically arranged. The buildings of the East-West Road are basically symmetrical, which is a model of classical palace gardens.

Three characteristics of royal gardens:

First, the architectural layout is symmetrical but not rigid, stretching but not scattered. With Qin 'an Hall as the center, nearly 20 buildings of various types are arranged on both sides in a balanced way. Whether it is built against the wall or the pavilion is independent, it is exquisite and unique, and the density is suitable. Among them, Fu Bi Pavilion and Cheng Rui Pavilion, Wanchun Pavilion and Qianqiu Pavilion are the most distinctive.

Two pairs of pavilions are symmetrically arranged in the east and west, and the Floating Garden and Cheng Rui are square pavilions that extend southward across the pool. Wanchun Pavilion and Qianqiu Pavilion are polygonal pavilions, which form a cross-shaped plane under the upper circle and are surrounded by buildings, reflecting the traditional concept of "the sky is round and the place is round". The two pavilions are exquisite and beautiful, adding a lot of color to the imperial garden.

Secondly, the strange stone Rob, lush Aoki and its vines in the garden are hundreds of years old, which makes the garden full of interest. There are more than 160 ancient trees scattered all over the park, with various rock bonsai. For example, a bonsai made of wood fossils placed in front of Jiang Xuexuan looks like rotten wood exposed to the sun at first glance, but it sounds sonorous when it is knocked. It's really stone, especially precious.

Third, the colored stone pavement is simple and unique. The Yong Road in the park is carefully paved with pebbles of different colors, forming more than 900 different patterns, including figures, flowers, landscapes, plays, allusions and so on. It's interesting to look along this road.

Refer to the above contents: Palace Museum-Royal Garden