We learnt our lesson and headed straight for McDonalds the next day for breakkie. It was hard ordering in Chinese and the waitress brought out the menu so that I could point to what I wanted haha. Darn sausage and egg mcmuffin ....
Forbidden City was still packed but at least the weather was overcast and cloudy so Mum was very happy.
Mum rubbed the door ornaments at the entrance of the Palace.
I read somewhere that there are audio guides available for hire so I got one in Mandarin - RMB10. All other languages are RMB40 and the sneaky thing is that the price for the mandarin one was listed in chinese character so that non-Mandarin speakers wouldn't realise this. Tsk tsk tsk. The audio guide was very clever, it knew where I was and would play the appropriate parts even though I didn't follow the recommended route.
I accidentally bumped the audio guide so I had to reset it myself. I discovered there were quite a few different versions - narrative, story-telling and kids.
We took a few shots in front of 太和殿 (Hall of Supreme Harmony) which is the largest hall within the Forbidden City. Built above three levels of marble stone base, and surrounded by bronze incense burners, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is one of the largest wooden structures within China. It is the tallest building in the Forbidden City and no buildings in Beijing is allowed to be higher than it to preserve the feng shui of the place.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor held court here to discuss affairs of state. During the Qing Dynasty, Emperors held court far more frequently. As a result, the location was changed to the Inner Court, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony was only used for ceremonial purposes, such as coronations, investitures and imperial weddings.
Next to the Hall, there is a sundial made of white marble stone. It is a device which during hours of sunlight indicates the time by a shadow cast marked in hours. The placing of the sundial in front of the Hall symbolizes that the emperor had the highest power to grant time to all the people in the country.
The roof corners of each building always had these little statues - an emperor riding a phoenix, nine beasts, immortal figure and a dragon is the highest decoration. The number of beasts indicate the importance of the duties performed within the building or within the courtyard protected by a gate. The maximum number of beasts is nine, including evil-dispelling bull, courageous goat-bull (獬豸), wind- and storm-summoning fish (狎魚), mythical lion (狻猊), auspicious seahorse, heavenly horse, lion, and chiwen (鴟吻, a son of dragon).
Huge crowds of people were everywhere, many toting ipads. Very annoying.
Mum posing with one of the giant iron vats which used to be covered with gold.
Giant ramp carved out of a single slab of stone.
Walking into the Palace of Heavenly Purity, you will see a board with four Chinese characters 正大光明 (be decent, honest and magnanimous) written by Emperor Shunzhi hung over the throne. Behind the board, there used to be a secret box holding the name of the following crown prince. In Chinese history, the competition for throne succession was fierce among the emperor’s sons. In order to relieve the conflicts, Emperor Yongzheng set up a policy of choosing the crown prince secretly. During the lifetime, the emperor wouldn’t release the name of the crown prince. He just drew up the document secretly, and placed it beside himself. He would also make a copy of the document and sealed it in the box. After the emperor died, the appointed officials would open the box and compared it with the other document beside the emperor. They would announce the name of next emperor after verification.
Imperial Garden:
These rocks are dotted all around the gardens and they were actually rocks from TaiHe Lake in Suzhou which is near Shanghai, i.e. very far from Beijing and would have taken a lot of effort to get to Forbidden Palace in those days.
TV series based on the lives of emperors and concubines always showed them walking up and down this pathway so Mum was pretending to be a concubine, or maybe a maid. Haha.
Photo of Empress of Pu-Yi (China's last emperor):
Gold wedding invitation for their wedding:
Pu-Yi:
I think these were the ornaments near Empress Cixi's palace:
Empress Cixi ruled China with the help of a puppet emperor so she dared to place Phoenix statues at the entrance of her rooms, signifying her power.
Check out the beams needing repair:
Candles used for royal weddings:
Gold pagodas:
Dad checking out one of the numerous wells around the place:
Lunchtime.... very disgusting.
False advertising???????
This was a clock with a water feature but it was not shown in action. The guide said that water would flow down and some device would show the time. Something or other.. can't remember now.
Gold clock.
The Nine Dragons Wall is the front wall of the Palace of Tranquil Longevity. The wall is composed of 270 glazed tiles. The number 270 can be divided by both nine and five. Nine is the largest odd number, while five is right in the middle of the odd numbers. In ancient China nine and five symbolized the supremacy of the emperor. It is said that the center of the third white dragon was broke when fired in the kiln, which meant a death penalty for the people responsible. In the risk of death, a carpenter volunteered to replace the original with wood and did the carving and painting overnight. At last it passed and saved those involved. One may still find the traces of repair on the third dragon from the left.
寧壽宮 Palace of Tranquil Longevity was constructed by Emperor Qianlong in preparation for his retirment, although he never moved into the palace. Emperor Qianlong publicly announced in a court letter that if fate would allow him to live so long, he would abdicate the throne at the age of 85 to avoid breaking his grandfather Emperor Kangxi's record as the longest ruling emperor of China (61 years, 318 days), an important act of filial piety for the conservative Qianlong. Though he pledged to retire and took the title of Retired Emperor (太上皇) after officially yielding the throne to his son after 60 years, 124 days of reign, Qianlong never spent a night in his Palace of Tranquil Longevity and continued to hold on to power. Emperor Jiaqing reigned only nominally until his father's death, making Qianlong's actual reign 63 years and 122 days long.
Display of 鼻煙壺 Snuff boxes.
Court pearls:
Pendants:
Hair ornaments:
Crazy head pieces:
Jade thumb rings:
Earrings:
Me and the book I bought on Empress Cixi. Heheh check out the lady in the background. I think she was calling out to her grandson.
玉玺 Jade seal was used by emperors in Ancient China as the imperial seal. Any document containing this seal was seen as legitimate, mandated by the emperor.
Each emperor had their own seal.
Theater building:
Bedroom:
Check out the amazing carvings on the jade:
Huge ivory tusks:
Dad checking out the well where Concubine Zhen was drowned. She was the beloved concubine of Emperor Guangxu who was the puppet emperor under Empress Cixi's rule. She was a threat due to her trying to influence the Emperor with regards to governmental matters so Empress Cixi ordered her to be killed.
After 5 hours in the Forbidden City, we left and it was a huge hassle trying to find a taxi. Nearby jumped in one of these metal tuktuks but we managed to hail a proper taxi down (albeit at a high inflated price!!).
We went off to a mall and shopped till we dropped. On the way home that night, we came across the food pedestrian street.
Woooooooooooooooo bugs!
Yum...
Roasted chestnuts:
Another stop at McDonalds and i got the taro pie this time around.
Last day in Beijing and it rained hard all day long. hehehehh
Lunch at another awful place.
Saw Pei's favourite and Logan's most dreaded shop:
Last meal was super exxxxxxxy RMB800 as it was meant to be what Empress Cixi used to eat. No thanks is all I can say.
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