Why the Ming and Qing dynasties Chinese palace buildings are used red and yellow?

As you can see, the Forbidden City is a first-class red walls and yellow tiles of the complex, why is this? According to the Taoist doctrine of yin and yang, the five elements, including gold, wood, water, fire, earth, where the earth occupies the central position, because the Chinese people have been living on the Loess Plateau, so the yellow produced a feeling of admiration and attachment, and so from the Tang Dynasty onwards, the yellow has become a representative of the royal colors, others are not allowed to use the dress and architecture. And red, it means beauty, good luck and wealth, because of these reasons, the Forbidden City building the basic color tone will be used in red, yellow two colors.

The Forbidden City, also known as the Forbidden City, is the result of a blend of astronomy and folklore. Ancient Chinese astronomers divided all the stars in the sky into three walls, twenty-eight dormitories, thirty-one day area. The three walls are Tai Wei, Zi Wei and Tian Shi. Ziwei is in the center of the three walls, which is in line with the saying that "Ziwei resides in the center". Therefore, the ancients believed that the Zi Wei Wall was the seat of the Emperor, so it was called the Purple Palace. The emperor is the son of the emperor of heaven, the earth's supreme, so they also want to imitate the emperor of heaven, in the name of their own palaces on the crown of the word purple, in order to show that its position in the center, looking around the world of the emperor. There is also a saying that refers to the "Purple Qi coming from the East". Legend has it that when Laozi came out of the Hangu Pass, Yin Xi, the commander of the Pass, saw purple gas coming from the east and knew that a sage would pass through. As a result, Lao Zi rode a green ox, and Xi asked him to write down the Tao Te Ching (道德经). Later generations used the phrase "Purple Breath Coming from the East" to symbolize auspiciousness. Of course, the emperor's family hoped for auspicious celestial phenomena, so it was only natural to use the word "purple" to name it. The meaning of the word "forbidden" is more obvious, that is, the palace is forbidden, heavily guarded, the people do not approach. This is not half a word, in 1924 the last emperor was expelled from the palace after the official opening of this place before the common people do not want to step close to half a step, we can imagine the Forbidden City in the past is how sublime and majestic, sacrosanct ah!

The Forbidden City was built in Beijing, is its history, but also because it is a piece of feng shui, to say the long story. The Forbidden City from the Ming Yongle four years (1406) began to build, it took 14 years to be basically completed, to today has more than 570 years of history. As you can see, the Forbidden City is a first-class complex of red walls and yellow tiles, why is this so? According to the Taoist doctrine of yin and yang, the five elements, including gold, wood, water, fire, earth, where the earth occupies the central position, because the Chinese people have been living on the Loess Plateau, so the yellow color has produced a kind of admiration and attachment feelings, so from the Tang Dynasty onwards, the yellow color on behalf of the Royal Family, other people are not allowed to use in clothing and construction. And red, it means beauty, good luck and wealth, because of these reasons, the Forbidden City building the basic color tone will be used in red, yellow two colors.

The Forbidden City covers an area of more than 720,000 square meters, with more than 9,900 palaces and pavilions and a floor area of about 150,000 square meters. Surrounded by 9.9 meters high, known as the 10-meter wall, outside the wall is 52 meters wide moat, commonly known as the tube river. City north-south length of about 960 meters, east-west width of about 760 meters, the city on the four corners of each of the structure of a strange, harmonious and beautiful corner tower, octagonal, known as the nine beams and eighteen columns, seventy-two ridges. City around each set a door, the main gate in the south is the noon gate, the north door called Shenwumen, the east door called Donghuamen, the west door called Xihuamen. The Forbidden City in the construction of **** enlisted the country's famous craftsmen 230,000, 1 million people. The building materials used came from all over the country. For example, alabaster stone from Beijing Fangshan County, five-color tiger skin stone from Hebei Jixian Panshan, granite quarried from Quyang County, Hebei. The square bricks in the palace plastered floor, burned in Suzhou, wall bricks are burned in Linqing, Shandong Province. Palace walls used in the red, raw materials from Shandong Xuanhua (now Gaoqing County) of the Smoky Mountains. Wood is mainly from Hubei, Jiangxi, Shanxi and other provinces. This can also be seen at the time of the project is huge.

The building in front of us is called the Noon Gate. Noon Gate is the main gate of the Forbidden City, commonly known as the five phoenix building. In the Ming Dynasty, every year on the 15th day of the first month, the noon gate should be hanging lights to give food to all officials. To the Qing Dynasty this activity was canceled. Every year on the first day of October in the lunar calendar, are to be held here to promulgate the next year's calendar ceremony, the Qing dynasty during the Qianlong era to avoid the name of Emperor Qianlong "Hongli", so the "awarded the calendar" renamed "awarded Shuo". During the Qing Dynasty, the emperor held the imperial court or the great sacrifice, as well as the new year's day, winter solstice, longevity, marriage and other major festivals, are to be displayed here halogen books, ceremonial battles. In addition, the country where there is a triumph of war, the emperor in the afternoon door to accept the dedication ceremony, if the emperor's personal conquests from the afternoon door out of the car.

On the "push out of the noon beheading" statement, may be due to the theater on the stage and wild fiction perfunctory. In fact, the Ming dynasty court officials committed crimes, some in the noon gate cane, of course, serious may also be killed on the spot.

(In front of the Jinshui Bridge after entering the Noon Gate)

Now that we've arrived inside the Forbidden City, I'll introduce the layout of the Forbidden City and the tour route before the official tour. The Forbidden City covers an area of more than 720,000 square meters, in such a large area, set a variety of architectural techniques, to build a group of such a magnificent scale of the complex, not only without the phenomenon of chaos, but instead give a person with structural rigor, color and layout of the feeling of splendor and neatness, the most important means of construction is to highlight an extremely obvious axis of the red, which is organically tied together with the entire city of Beijing, the north from the Bell Tower, the south to Yongdingmen, the total length of about 8 kilometers, the Royal Palace of Beijing, the Royal Palace of China. The total length of about 8 kilometers, the royal forbidden area of the court part of about one-third. Important buildings in the palace are on this axis, and other buildings are symmetrically distributed in the east and west. The entire palace design and layout of the feudal monarch's "dignity" and the feudal hierarchy of the strict.

The Forbidden City is divided into the outer and inner court. Now we are in the southernmost end of the outer court, in front of the Taihe Gate. In front of the door there is a pair of bronze lions, majestic, ferocious, became the guardian of the bridge in front of the door, symbolizing power and dignity. The emperor is the son of heaven, the lion in front of the door is naturally the most exquisite, the tallest. East standing for the male lion, a young lion under the front paw, symbolizing the imperial power forever, a thousand generations. The river in front of us, called the Jinshui River, decorative and waterproof use. The five bridges on the river symbolize the five virtues advocated by Confucius: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith. The whole river looks like a bow, and the center axis is the arrow, which indicates that the emperor was entrusted to rule the country on behalf of the heavenly emperor.

(In front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony)

The Forbidden City is divided into two main parts: the "outer court" and the "inner court". By the noon gate to the Qianqing Gate between the part is divided into "outside", to the Taihe, in and, Baohe three halls as the center, the east and west sides of the Wenhua, Wuying two groups of palaces, symmetrical left and right, to form the "outside" of the majestic and spectacular pattern. The three halls before and after the same huge "work" type alabaster stone hall base, the hall base height of 8 meters, divided into three layers, each layer of alabaster stone railings around the three platforms in three layers of carved stone "Royal Road". Hall of Imperial Harmony, commonly known as the Hall of the Golden Emperor, is the Palace of the highest and largest of a building, is also the highest and most magnificent ancient wooden buildings. Qianqingmen within the "inner court", the building layout is also symmetrical. Center for the Qianqing Palace, Jiaotai Hall, Kuning Palace, is the feudal emperor lived and dealt with the daily political affairs of the place. On both sides of the East and West Six Palaces is the residence of the concubines, East and West one is the residence of the Emperor. The "Inner Court" also has three gardens for royal play - the Royal Garden, Ci Ning Garden, Qianlong Garden. Inside the Jinshui River along the "inner court" along the west side of the winding around the Yingwu Hall, Taihe Gate, Wenhua Hall out of the palace, the river has alabaster bridges, along both sides of the river has a zigzagging and colorful alabaster carving balustrades, shaped like a jade belt. The vast majority of the Forbidden City buildings to yellow glazed tiles for the top, in the sunshine, golden, solemn and beautiful.

The buildings in the Forbidden City, in addition to highlighting the central axis, but also used a variety of techniques to make the palace city in each group of buildings unique. For example, the treatment of the base of the temple, the form of the roof, the number of anastomoses and spine beasts, painted patterns of the regulations and so on. In this way, not only make the main building more tall, spectacular, but also shows the difference in the hierarchy of the palace building. Folklore says that the Forbidden City has a room 9999 half, said the heavenly palace a **** room 10,000, on the ground, the emperor called himself "Son of Heaven", do not dare to the same number, so less than half a room. Where is this half room? It refers to the west end of the Wen Yuan Ge that a small room. In fact, the Forbidden City has more than 9,000 rooms, the so-called half of this room is simply does not exist. Wen Yuan Ge west end of a room, although the area is small, can only accommodate a staircase, but it is still a whole room. Wen Yuan Ge downstairs is hiding China's first "Siku Quanshu" place, in order to take care of the layout on the beautiful, so the west end of a room built extra small.

(After passing through the Gate of Taihe)

Ladies and gentlemen, the front of the hall called the Hall of Supreme Harmony, commonly known as the Hall of the Golden Emperor, is the largest palace in the Forbidden City. Building area of 2,377 square meters, heavy eaves hipped roof, is the highest grade in the hall, the largest of the three halls for the external dynasty. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was built in three overlapping "work" type Sumeru, carved from white jade, more than 8 meters from the ground, the lower level of 21 steps, in the upper level of 9 levels.

Taihe Temple was built in 1406 A.D. It has been destroyed by three fires and a conflagration, and what you see now was built in the Qing Dynasty. There are rows of animals on each of the four eaves, originally nails, used to hold the tiles in place, but later replaced with animals from myths and legends, said to ward off evil spirits, and the greater the number, the more important the building. There are nine of them on the Hall of Supreme Harmony, nine being the extreme number of yang, in order of 7, 5, 3 and 1. Such decorations are not allowed in the homes of commoners.

There were 24 emperors who ascended to the throne here during the Ming and Qing dynasties, announcing their reigning edicts. On New Year's Day, the winter solstice, the emperor's birthday, the enthronement of the empress, the promulgation of decrees, governmental orders, the sending of generals on campaigns, the transmission of information from the Golden Hall and the giving of peace, etc., the emperor had to hold ceremonies here to receive the congratulations of the civil and military officials.

This plaza is the Hall of Supreme Harmony Square, an area of 30,000 square meters. The entire square without a grass and trees, open and quiet, giving a person a solemn and solemn feeling. Right in the center of the Royal Road, the left and right ground paved brick horizontal and vertical, **** 15 layers, in case someone digs a tunnel into the Palace. Surrounded by a number of vats, what is it for? In the Forbidden City, a **** there are 308 vat, is used to store water anti-inflammatory, under the cylinder can burn charcoal heating, to prevent the winter tank water freezing. Why do you want to build such a large square it - that is to let people feel the majestic Hall of Supreme Harmony. Standing below and look forward: under the blue sky, yellow tiles. Layers of stone platforms, as white clouds, coupled with incense smoke, the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony as if the heavenly fairyland. When the ceremony was held, the enameled cranes in the hall on the plate lit candles, incense pavilion, incense burner burning sandalwood incense, the terrace of the copper furnace, tortoise, crane burning pine and cypress branches, in front of the hall on both sides of the smoke, the whole scene is silent. When the emperor ascended the throne, drums and music, civil and military ministers kneeling in the square according to Lv level, looking up at the building in the clouds, shouting long live, to show the emperor's supreme authority and dignity.

The last emperor of the Qing dynasty, Puyi, ascended to the throne at the end of 1908, at the age of 3, by his father, Regent Zai Feng held him to the throne. When the ceremony began to poor, suddenly drums and music, scared the little emperor cried more than, yelling to go home. Zai Feng anxious sweating, had to coax the little emperor said: "do not cry, do not cry, almost finished, almost finished!" The ministers considered this statement unlucky, and coincidentally, three years later the Qing Dynasty really fell, thus ending more than 2,000 years of feudal rule in China.

(On the stone platform of the Hall of Supreme Harmony)

This is a copper incense burner,, which was used to burn sandalwood incense when the emperor held ceremonies. Here a *** there are 18 seats, representing the 18 provinces of the Qing dynasty. Outside the temple placed around four copper tank, symbolizing the "gold ou", as water storage fire. On each side of the east and west of the pedestal, there is a copper crane and tortoise, is a symbol of longevity. This is made of lead casting apparatus called the amount of Jia, the amount of Jia was the amount of standardized equipment, said the emperor fair dealing, who half a catty, who eight, the heart of natural numbers. Opposite there is a stone made of appliances called sundial, is an ancient time measuring instrument. The emperor means: the amount and time benchmarks are in their own hands.

Taihe Temple front has 12 round red columns, east and west about 63 meters, north and south depth of about 37 meters, 35 meters high, the front of the temple Dan ah three layers of five out of the temple before and after the gold casement 40, gold locks window 16, the entire hall carved beams and paintings, luxury and opulence. The center of the hall is equipped with a 2-meter-high platform, on which is placed a nanmu throne carved with 9 golden dragons. There is a gold-lacquered enclosure screen at the back, a royal case in front, and symmetrical displays of precious elephants, corner ends, cranes, incense cones, etc. on the left and right. The elephant carries a vase containing five grains, symbolizing a peaceful scene and a bountiful harvest. Horn end is an ancient myths and legends of China's a beast, can "travel 18,000 miles a day", understand the language of the four directions, only the Ming dynasty, it holds the book to, escorting the body.

Taihe Temple is also known as the Palace of the Golden Emperor, why so called? Because the temple for the gold brick plastered floor and named. Gold brick plastered floor flat as a mirror, smooth and delicate, like a layer of water, glowing with a dark light. So the gold brick really contains gold? In fact, this is a special method of firing the brick, the process is sophisticated, complex, specifically for the Palace and the system, knocking up the sound of gold and stone, so it is called "gold brick". Burn this brick, each equivalent to the price of a stone of rice, visible bricks do not contain gold, but also really expensive.

The temple **** 72 large pillar, supporting its full weight, of which 6 carved dragons and gold columns, leaching powder paste gold, around the throne. In the center of the temple there is a well, from the ancient "patio" and "skylight" form of evolution to the surface, for one of the characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture. Mainly set in the "noble" buildings, "sacred" meaning. In the central part of the well, there is a relief dragon, mouth a ball (ball for the copper tire hollow, coated with mercury), the ball called the Regulus mirror, legend has it that the ancient times of Emperor Xuanyuan Huangdi made, hanging ball and the well coiled dragons associated with the form of a dragon playing with beads, hanging in the emperor above the throne to show that successive emperors of China are the descendants of Emperor Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor is the rightful successor. It makes the hall opulent, elegant and luxurious. The mirror is right under the throne, and it is said that Yuan Shikai was afraid that the big ball would fall and kill him, so he moved the throne backward to the present position. About the dragon chair, there is a story here. 1916 (Republic of five years) Yuan Shikai ascended the throne, the original throne moved away, replaced by a western-style high back chair, decorated with his own design of the imperial emblem. It is said that his legs were short, thus lowering the seat of the chair. After the establishment of new China, in order to find that dragon chair, according to a photo of the past, in the broken furniture library found a broken chair, identified by experts, this chair is the emperor's throne, after restoration on display.

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