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All the gates in the Forbidden City have nails which hold the boards together. Because 9 is the largest odd (yang) number smaller than 10, it is regarded as auspicious.
Therefore most of the gates have nails in a 9 x 9 formation.
Lions in the Forbidden City are in pairs, the female extending her leg to play with a baby lion - symbolizing fertility of the royal family. The male lion
has a ball under its paw, representing the imperial power.
When bronze lions are in front of a residence, they signify the occupant is an official. First rank officials have lions with 13 bumps on their heads.
This decreases with the official's rank, eight being the least number of bumps on the head. Officials of rank seven and below were not allowed lions outside their gates.
The large bronze vats seen throughout the Forbidden City are for extinguishing fires as well as decoration. In the past they were kept full of water and in the
winter they were lined with cotton pads, had a lid on them and were heated by a fire underneath to keep the water from freezing.
The vats were guilded in the Qing Dynasty. When the Allied Forces of the Eight Powers occupied Beijing the foreign soldiers scrapped off the gold with their bayonets.
The scrapping marks are visible in the photo.
On the marble terrace of the Hall of Supreme Harmony there are 18 bronze incense burners representing each of the 18 provinces of Imperial China.
Sandalwood and Tibetan incense were burned in them on special occasions.
Each corner of the Forbidden City has a unique corner tower.
Below is seen the moat surrounding the palace which is 3,800 metres long and 52 metres wide.
Intruders were discouraged by guards in watchtowers with bow and arrows.
Legend has it that the emperor gave craftsmen only nine days to design the corner towers.
With still no ideas after eight days, the craftsmen were sitting in a teahouse hoping for an idea.
An old peddler selling a cricket cage approached them and was quickly sent away.
But he smiled and said, "Look closely, this is no ordinary cricket cage." In fact it was finely crafted and had
9 beams, 18 columns and 72 ridges. It was taken as the model for the towers.
The peddler was actually master craftsman Lu Ban who became an immortal.
Yellow is a royal colour, thus the colour of the roof tiles. The red colour of the walls symbolize happiness and auspiciousness.
Marble for the palace came from outlying areas of Beijing and coloured stones and granite from Hebei province.
During Beijing's cold winters the roads were splashed with water so sleds could move the huge chunks of rock.
Wells were dug every 500 metres along the way especially for the purpose. In summer logs were used to roll the rocks along.
This might take hundreds of people for large rocks.
Animal ornaments commonly decorate the corners of roofs. The more animals the more important the building.
On the far left is a dragon and on the right an immortal rides a phoenix.
Dragon heads are used as water spouts as in Chinese mythology Paxia, the sixth of the dragon's nine sons, loves water.
The emperor was personified as the "Son of Heaven" or the supreme ruler under heaven. The emperor's palace was off limits to commoners
who were not allowed to even approach it. It thus is called the "Forbidden City".
This is not the emperor however as he would never wear red. He wore only the color
gold. Noone else could wear an entirely gold costume.
Typical Manchu costume for young women
Qing Dynasty style security guard uniform
There are art galleries in the Forbidden City with treasures from the past.
The Imperial Garden is where members of the imperial household came to relax. Alabyrinthh of old trees,pavilionss and flowers the footpaths are paved with mosaic patterns made from small stones.
At the Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eighth lunar month) the emperor and empress came to the garden to view the full moon.
Weaving its way through the imperial gardens is a path one kilometre long of paved mosaics.
The path has over 720 pictures and patterns. Some are are historical stories, pictures of people, animals
and folk customs.
There was an assassination attempt in the imperial gardens in 1803 on Emperor Jiaqing when an armed stranger chased him. He was rescued by his ministers.
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