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The imperial Palace of Beijing.. carries the name also of " Quoted Crimson Forbidden" . Of 1420 to 1911, during 491 years, he was the main residence of 24 emperors of the Ming and the Qings. It is also the architectural set of former vast palace and best kept of the world.

Spreading on more of 72 hectares, the imperial Palace counts 9 999,5 pieces, protected by a defensive wall of surrounding wall of 10 meter high, of 960-meter long of the north to the south, and of 750-meter large of the East to the west. A large moat of 52 meters gets round the whole defensive wall. Thus, it is a city in the city.

Most buildings have been constructed in wood. The big columns made of wood raised on pedestals of marble support the gorgeously decorated roofing and covered of yellow glazed tiles. The main buildings stake out the central axis that is also the axis of the city of Beijing, and the other distribute themselves on the two sides, while respecting the principle of the symmetry. The whole disposition offers a majestic aspect.

The architecture divided the City Forbidden in two parts:  the outside court and the interior court. The outside Court, where the sovereign received his ministers and presided the big official ceremonies, shelter the room of the Supreme harmony (Taihe), the room of the Perfect harmony (Zhonghe) and the Room of the harmony Preserved (Baohe) as well as the main lateral buildings--the room of the Literary Glory (Wenhua) and the Room of the Prowess Soldier (Wuying). Does the interior court consist especially of the palace of the Puret? Celestial (Qianqing), the room of the union (Jiaotai) and the palace of the Terrestrial Tranquillity (Kunning), who are surrounded respectively by the six Palaces of the East and the Six Palaces of the west. The interior court acted as cabinet of work to the emperor and apartments to the imperial family and to the concubines.

In short, the imperial Palace is a crystallization of the culture and history complicate five times millennium.

Why are the tiles of the imperial Palace yellow, and the red walls?

It is probably about there an expression of the former aesthetic conception of the Chinese. In the antique already the Chinese estimated that the yellow was a noble color and that the red represented happiness and joy. According to the archaeologists, the Men of Peking who lived has about hundred thousands of years, had the habit to decorate their caves with the red color.

According to historic documents of the time, from the dynasty of the Song (960-1279), the imperial buildings were covered with yellow tiles. To the time of the Ming and the Qings, the government's regulations stipulated that only the imperial buildings--the palaces, the tombs, and the monasteries constructed on the emperor's order--could use the glazed yellow tiles. Those that dared to contravene the regulations risked to be condemned to death.

However, there are some exceptions. For example, within the Forbidden City, one also finds buildings covered of plain tiles, that were not part of the districts of dwelling of the emperor. For example, the three rooms of the south (Nansansuo) situated close to the Donghuamen door support a roofing of green glazed tiles, because they corresponded to the lodgings of the princes;  the pavilion of the Culture (Wenyuan) that sheltered a library is covered of black glazed tiles. According to the superstitious beliefs of the time, the black represents water. One thought that the black tiles could warn fire and protect the collections of books.

How many workers do you know participated to the works of construction of the forbidden City? And from where came woods of. uvre and the stones used?

According to historic documents, the construction of the imperial residence dates the beginning of the Ming. A few 100 000 craftsmen and a million of chore peasants worked there.

The stones came from Fangshan and Panshan, close to Beijing, while wood of. uvre came from virgin forests situated in the Sichuan, the Guizhou, the Guangxi, the Hunan and the Yunnan. The dejected trees had first descended by the rises in the water level of the high mountains, before being transported to Beijing by fluvial way.

Why the roofing of the style buildings traditional door always of the raised eaves?

The former buildings of traditional style are constructed in wood. However the columns of wood driven in the earth, that supports the roofing, are sujettes to rot. To the time, one chooses to envelop these columns in thick walls. But the problem was not solved. One lengthened the eaves that protected the walls of the sun and rain then. However, the inside of the rooms had become very dark, because light penetrated there with difficulty.

To facilitate the out-flow of the rain of the roofing, one increased the slant of this one. But the falls of fast water also damaged the foundations. To solve this problem, the old architects inclined the summit deeply to give him a concave shape then and water flows out of the four sides. Thus, not only the rainwater flows less quickly, but one also has an illuminated distinctly better building. The four raised angles embellish besides the roofing, while conferring him an imposing aspect.

The big bricks breves used to pave soil are called bricks of gold. They have been manufactured mainly in Su-Zhou. The process of manufacture was complicated. First, to dry, to grind, was necessary then to sift and to knead the clayey earth before introducing it in the molds. At the end of eight months, one heaped the bricks grown in the ovens nourished by branches of fir. Cooking lasted 130 days, and the well cooked bricks had to be soaked again in the oil of abrasion. Smooth and luminous, these bricks are characterized, again today, by their resistance to wear. According to historic documents, during the reign of emperor Jiajing of the Ming, in three years, one only manufactured 50 gold 000 bricks. To the time of the Qings, a brick of gold cost 1 hectoliter of rice. Elated in Beijing, the bricks underwent a last control again. According to the norms of manufacture, every brick had to be able to emit a resonant tolling and to contain no bubble of air.

Done the big bricks use for the construction of the surrounding walls of the Cit? forbidden were manufactured in Linqing, in the Shandong. Hard and smooth, these bricks have each a length of 50 cm, a width of 25 cm and a thickness of 12 cm.

Done the imperial seat install in the room of the Supreme harmony is it of origin?

Yes. But in 1915, when the warlord Yuan Shikai usurped the conquests of the Revolution of 1911 and proclaimed itself emperor of the Chinese empire, did he make install in the room of the Supreme harmony a low chair? very high file, because, does one say, did he have the short legs. Yuan sat on the throne during only three months. In 1947, one removed the chair of Yuan, but one didn't find the emperor's former seat. In 1956, on an old photo taken in 1900, does one succeed? to distinguish the decoration of the room of the Supreme harmony dating of the last years of the dynasty of the Qings. Then, one discovered in the deposit of the imperial Palace a big armchair made of wood lacquered of gold and sculpted of motives of clouds and dragon. One recognized there the seat of origin of the emperor.

Why does one call the imperial Palace also the Forbidden Crimson City?

The imperial Palace sheltered the residence of the emperor's family. Surrounded with high walls, he forbade hiss doors the people's people. Of oh? his Forbidden City appellation. In the ancient China, the crimson color represented the clouds of good omen, and according to the legend, the celestial emperor would live in the Crimson Palace. Besides, the Constellation of the Purple symbolizes the emperor. So to heighten the prestige of the imperial Palace, one called it the Forbidden Crimson City.

What big architect associates it one to the works of the imperial Palace?

One mentions Lei Fada in general. Born in 1619? Nankang, province of the Jiangxi, in a family of woodworkers, Lei Fada worked in Nanjing, since his to stretch youth, by his father, what allowed him to observe the numerous works of construction,:  temples, palaces and pavilions. Later, he continued hiss father's profession to become at the age of 30 years a very known carpenter-drawer.

Ten years later, he finally had luck to be convened in Beijing, the capital, to direct the works of restoration of the three big rooms of the imperial Palace. Thanks to him, the imperial Palace can keep its style of origin. From then on, Lei Fada remained in Beijing as person responsible of the works of construction and restoration of the imperial buildings. In 1693, he died at the age of 73 years.

What made of bronze do the dragons and the phoenixes symbolize that one sees at the imperial Palace? What is their use?

The dragon represents the emperor. According to the legend, the emperor is the son-dragon of the Sky. The phoenix represents the empress, because this fabulous bird to the superb feather is, one says, immortal. In the imperial Palace, the dragons and the phoenixes made of bronze serve burn-perfume. One burned the sandalwood there then:  one put wood by a crack on the back of the animals and a smelling smoke escaped of their mouth.

What did the monitoring of the government's discussions mean behind the curtain?

Emperor Xianfeng of the Qings died in 1961, letting the throne to his son Zaichun, even minor, and the power was placed between the hands of the high Mandarins. The empress dowager Here Xi organized a stroke of state then to preside Here with the empress dowager Year the business of state. In the feudal society complicates, the women could not detain the political power directly. Thus, Here Xi and Here Year was behind a yellow curtain that separated them of the emperor sat on the throne. In appearance, the young sovereign exercised the power, but actually these were the women behind the curtain who decided all. In the Forbidden City, the audiences took place to that time in the Palace of the Food of the mind, and, when the sovereign was at the Palace of summer the two empresses managed the business of state in the room of Kindliness and the Longévit.

We saw the movie the last emperor. What was this emperor's life?

Born in 1906, the last emperor was called Aisin Gioro Puyi. He went up on the throne at the age of 2 years, in 1908, becoming the tenth emperor of the dynasty of the Qings. After the Revolution of 1911 reversed the feudal domination that had lasted several thousands of years, the last emperor abdicated October 12, 1911, at the time of a ceremony presided by the empress dowager Longyu, and left the City Forbidden in 1924.

During the war of aggression triggered by Japan against China, Puyi was taken by the Japanese in Changchun, in China of the Northeast, to become the emperor puppet of the Mandchouko established by the Japanese. Toward the end of World War II, the red army of soviet union made it prisoner in 1945 and put back it to China in 1950. One sent it in jail for a rehabilitation and in 1959, he was put in liberty following a decree of amnesty. Then, he first worked in a botanical garden, then in an institute of history research. His work title " The first half of my life" had a big reverberation.

How many maids and did eunuches live at the time in the imperial Palace of the Ming and the Qings?

Their number was very important. Toward the end of the dynasty of the Ming, there was in the Palace imperial 9 000 maids and 100 000 eunuches. To the time of the Qings, one decreased the number of it. A regulation stipulated that the number of eunuches had to not pass 2 260 and the one of maids had to maintain itself to 300. But their real number was superior. Otherwise, one recruited every year of the score of thousands of people taking care of various tasks in the Forbidden City.

That means the expression " three palaces and six courses?

By " three palaces and six courses" one hears the residence of the emperor and his wives. There was a regulation published before the dynasty of the Qins returning itself/themselves of it. But no sovereign followed it.

To the time of the Springs and Falls, China was composed of numerous principalities. According to the regulation of the time, the sovereign, at the time of marrying the girl of the king of a certain principality had to marry the princesses coming from other principalities at the same time but structural the same name that the main wife. When the king of a State took woman, he had to marry two other girls provided by other States at the same time. The queen got settled in the palace of the center, while the sovereign's other women, in the palaces of the East and the west. From where the term of " three palaces."

The emperor of the dynasty of the Zhous had six residences to install his wives, the one of the center being occupied by the empress. One called them them " six courses."

Today, the expression " three palaces and six courses" indicate the residences of the emperor's women.

Did the emperor's married life have to follow some regulations also?

Yes. The emperor's intimate life with his favorite was not secret. There were eunuches charged of the emperor's personal business that took care some.

Every time that the sovereign and his empress shared the same layer, an eunuch had to stand outside near the window of the room. If he heard a small cough coming from the emperor, he immediately noted on them " Annals of the "emperor's personal life the date and the hour to which the imperial couple had united sexually and that were going later to act as proof to the empress's pregnancy.

If the emperor wanted to grant his favors to his concubines, he had to follow more rigorous regulations. After the dinner, an eunuch presented to the emperor a tray of money on which was of the plates carrying the names of a certain number of concubines, if the emperor didn't want a woman, he told the eunuch to go himself of it, and if he wanted some, he reversed the concubine's plate that he selected. The eunuches were going to look immediately for the convened concubine. This one had to take a bath, then to be enveloped, stark naked, in a big coat and taken away by the eunuches until the emperor's bed. The sovereign waited for it there but she had to approach it by the foot of the bed while passing under the cover. After the carnal union, she had to leave by the same way and be carried again by the eunuches to return in his own room. While the concubine was with the emperor, an eunuch also stood near the window, to take note of the meeting.

How did the ceremony of marriage of the emperor of the Qings take place?

To the time of the Qings, it was the empress dowager who chose a wife for the emperor. However, she had to consult the opinions of the princes and the Mandarins of high rank, and the emperor's opinion himself. The protocol of the marriage was extremely sought-after and strict. First, one presented the gifts of engagement to the family of the future empress. Then, one announced the nomination of the empress and the date of the marriage. The day of the marriage, a solemn cortege was going to look for the new bride, the bridal ceremony, consistent of an imposing banquet, was imposing and sumptuous.

How did the emperor move?

During the reign of emperor Qianlong of the Qings and during the ulterior times, the means of transportation reserved exclusively to the emperor's use consisted of five sorts of carriages, chariots of gold, of skins of animals, of wood, of jade and in the shape of elephant, two cars to arm of gold and jade, as well as three palanquins. The empress and the empress dowager had their own cars and palanquins.