Forbidden City is 600 years old

Beijing’s Forbidden City, so-named because commoners were forbidden to enter, was home to 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for five centuries, and has since served as a public museum. All aspects of the design, in the imperial colours of yellow and crimson, were intended to project the pre-eminence of the emperor

World’s largest palace complex, covering 720,000 square metres with 980 surviving
buildings

Gate of Divine Progress

Imperial Garden

INNER COURT
Private quarters of emperor and household

Dividing line between Inner and Outer Courts

OUTER COURT 
Ceremonial and administrative quarters

East Gate 

Watchtowers

City wall: 10 metres high

Moat: 52 metres wide

Imperial Way: Narrow marble path solely for emperor’s use

Meridian Gate
Entrance to City

100m 325ft

HALL OF SUPREME HARMONY
Ceremonial centre of imperial power, and largest surviving wooden structure in China

West Gate

MAIN STRUCTURES
1. Golden River Bridges
2. Gate of Supreme Harmony
3. Hall of Supreme Harmony
4. Hall of Central Harmony
5. Hall of Preserving Harmony
6. Palace of Heavenly Purity
7. Palace of Earthly Tranquillity
8. Hall of Imperial Peace
9. Hall of Military Eminence
10. Hall of Literary Glory
11. Palace of Tranquil Longevity
12. Hall of Mental Cultivation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12


Roof design: Hipped roof with double-tiered eaves denotes highest-ranking buildings. Colour yellow used exclusively in imperial roofs

Terraces: Three marble tiers with balustrades featuring carved dragons and phoenixes – symbols of emperor and empress – drained through 1,100 dragon-headed gargoyles

Bronze vats: Once full of water for dousing fires, surround hall

Stone sundial: Reflects role of emperor in proclaiming seasons

Tortoise: Bronze dragon-head tortoise symbolises longevity, strength and endurance

Bronze tripod incense burners

Ceremonial ramps: Part of Imperial Way, featuring elaborate and symbolic bas-relief carvings

Dragon throne: Gilded throne features sets of five and nine carved dragons – numbers symbolically connected to majesty of emperor

Bronze Crane: Symbol of longevity of reign and good fortune

Roof guardians: Glazed ceramic beasts protect building against lightning. Number of statuettes represents status of building – in imperial times Hall of Supreme Harmony was only building in China to be allowed 10 statuettes, bracketed by a dragon and an immortal riding a hen


MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

1400s

1406: Yongle, third Ming emperor, begins building Forbidden City as he moves capital from Nanjing to Beijing

1420: Construction of Forbidden City completed

1500s

1600s

QING DYNASTY (1644-1912)

1644: Manchu invaders from north conquer China, starting Qing dynasty. Three great emperors, Kangxi (1661-1722), Yongzheng (1722-35), left, and Qianlong (1735-99), reinvigorate Beijing as centre of China’s political and cultural life
Forbidden City restored

1700s

1800s

1861-1908: Empress Dowager Cixi, once a fifth-rank concubine, is de facto ruler for 47 years
Her resistance to change and inability to stand up to foreign powers heralds end of Qing Dynasty

1900s

1912: Last emperor, Pu Yi, abdicates at age six as anti-imperial revolution paves way for Republic of China
In 1925 Forbidden City opens to public as Palace Museum

1949: Mao Tse-Tung proclaims People’s Republic of China

2000s

2020: Forbidden City, named World Heritage site in 1987, marks its 600-year anniversary


Sources: The Palace Museum, The Forbidden City by Antony White
Pictures: Jordi Bou, Newscom, Getty Images 
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