Theln perial Palace
故宫
The Imperial Palace, also known as the Forbidden City, was the imperial palace of emperors in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Located at the centre of Beijing, it was built in the 4th year of the reign of Emperor Yongle (1406) in the Ming Dynasty, and completed 14 years later ( 1420) ; it boasts a history of more than 570 years. There were 14 emperors in the Ming Dynasty and 10 emperors in the Qing Dynasty who had been enthroned and ruled here. The Forbidden City, rectangular in shape and 720,000 square meters in size, owns 9,999 and a half rooms, the floor space of which is about 160,000 square meters. The palaces are surrounded by the purplish-red walls 3 ,400 meters long, and a moat 52 meters wide and 4.1 meters deep. At the middle of the four walls stands a gate tower respectively: the Meridian Gate in the south, the Godly Prowess Gate in the north, the Donghua Gate in the east and the Xihua Gate in the west, and at each of the four corners stands a tower. The whole Forbidden City looks like a strongly fortified castle. It is composed of two parts, the outer palace where the emperors held grand ceremonies, discussed state affairs with high-ranking officials and exercised their powers, and the inner palace where emperors conducted routine government affairs and empresses, concubines, princes, princesses resided, amused them- selves and worshipped gods. There are over 920, 000 pieces of valuable historical relics stored in the Imperial Palace. It is the largest and most complete ancient wooden architectural complex among the existing ones in China and in the world.
故官是明清两代的皇宫，又称紫禁城。位于北京市中心，建于明永乐四年(1406)，完成于明永乐十八年(1420)，距今已有570多年的历史。先后有明代14位皇帝和清10位皇帝在此相继登基执政。紫禁城平面呈长方形，占地72万平方米，有殿字楼阁9999间半。建筑面积约16万平方米。紫红色的宫墙长3400米。四面正中设城门四座，上建城门楼阁，南为午门，北为神午门、东为东华门、西为西华门，城垣外环绕宽52米、深4.1米的护城河，四隅各建一座角楼，犹如壁垒森严的城堡。宫殿分前后两部分，前为外朝，是皇帝举行大典，召见群臣，行使权力的场所。后为内廷，是皇帝日常处理政务和帝后、嫔妃、皇子、公主居住、游玩、奉神之处。故宫保存有大量珍贵文物，达92万件以上，是中国也是世界上现存规模最大、最完整的古代木结构宫殿建筑群。