I believe everyone in the world hears of the Forbidden City, and know it is in China. but do you know its history and the stories that took place in it? it is not just a tourist attraction,but also a witness of chinese history from Ming dynasty for about 500 years.it is just like a long history book with endless stories.
the Forbidden City, also called the palace museum, stands in the center of Beijing and served as the imperial palace in Ming and Qing dynasties.it is the largest and best preserved ancient imperial palace and ranks the NO.1 of the top five palaces in the world. it covers an area of 723,600 square meters.The construction of the group began in 1406 and was finished in 1420.in the following year 1421,the third emperor of Ming dynasty Yongle moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing ans started its magnificent civilization.from the third emperor Yongle in Ming dynasty to the last emperor Fuyi in Qing dynasty, altoghter 24 emperor lived here for a total of 491 years.It experienced both the feodal culmination and the downfall of the Qing dynasty. there is a popular saying that there are 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden city. Because Chinese people believed that the God's palace in the heaven had 10,000 rooms.As the son of the god of heaven,the emperor didn't dare to compare himself to the God,so his palace had half one less.But according to the records in 1973, there are about 90 coutyards and 980 palaces with a total of 8707 rooms.but with so many rooms, it doesn't give an impression of disorder.instead, it looks orderly and imposing. Architecturally, the Forbidden City can be divided into two parts: the outer court and the inner palace. the outer court consists of three main buildings:the Hall of Supereme Harmony, the Hall of middle harmony and the Hall of Preserved Harmony where the emperor conducted the state affairs and held important ceremonies.The inner palace is also comprised of 3 rear buildings : the Palace of Heavenly Purity,the Palace of heavenly Tranquility and the Palace of Union and Peace where the emperor had his living quarters with royal family members.all the palaces were built along the North-south axis with large number of rooms beside them.
It is regarded as an amazing and outstanding masterpiece by many architects. No matter from the view of the layout and stereoscopic angle or from the splendid and serious format, it collected the cream of Chinese ancient architecture arts, showing the brilliant achievement of the artisans 500 years ago.

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