The whole Forbidden City, in terms of architectural layout, is combined into a whole through the changes and ups and downs of its shape. Functionally, it conforms to the hierarchical system of feudal society. The artistic effect of left-right balance and morphological change is like a picture of thousands of families. The main entrance of the Forbidden City is called the "Meridian Gate". There are 1 buildings on the wall pier with a height of 10. In the middle are nine broad halls. On the wall extending from left to right, there are pavilions with eaves and ridges, and there are tall corner pavilions in every corner to support the main hall. The buildings in this group of cities are magnificent and the first peak in the Palace Museum. Within the meridian gate, there is a vast courtyard. In the courtyard, there is an arc-shaped inner Jinshui River that runs through the east and west, with the outer palace gate and Taihe gate in the north and rooms on the left and right. There are five bridges on the Jinshui River, which are equipped with white marble railings, and they rotate with the river like jade belts. This layout is very attractive. Boarding the Taihe Gate, in the open courtyard of more than 30,000 square meters, 1 hall-Hall of Supreme Harmony appeared in front of you. The Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Zhonghe and the Hall of Baohe are arranged on an 8-meter-high I-shaped abutment, with Taihe in front, Zhonghe Hall in the middle and Baohe Hall in the back. This is the three halls of the outer court. The abutment has three overlapping layers, and each layer is surrounded by various components carved with white marble, which is beautiful in shape. The lower abutment is the largest, reaching the middle platform through the dragon embankment, and then reaching the stage through the middle platform. Among the three platforms, there are three layers of stone carving "Imperial Road", and the upper edge of each platform is decorated with white marble carved railings, watchtowers and faucets. There are 14 15 carved railings, Yunlong Xiangfeng 1460 carved sentry box and 165438 faucet on the 25,000m2 countertop. Three sets decorated with so many white marble are exquisite and beautiful, overlapping and undulating, like white marble mountain. This is a unique decorative art in China architecture. In terms of structure and function, this decoration is also a drainage pipe for 25,000 square meters of countertops. A small hole was carved under the railing. A small hole is also carved between the lips of the faucet protruding under the sentry. Every rainy season, three groups of rainwater are discharged from small holes layer by layer, and water flows out from the faucet. Heavy rain is like white practice, light rain is like icicles, and thousands of dragons spray water, which is a grand view. This is a scientific and artistic design.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is 35.05 meters high, with 72 large wooden pillars supporting beams as the roof and four slopes. The roof of ancient buildings in China presents a slope, which is related to architectural technology. This kind of frame is customarily called hanging beam type. First, erect a wooden column on the foundation, then put a beam on the column, then put a small short column (melon column) on the beam, and then put a shorter beam on the frame. From the girder to the top, you can overlap several layers of beams with small columns, and each layer of beams will be raised and shortened step by step. On the top floor, ridge melon columns are erected, and purlins are crossed between the two groups of frames. The purlin is paved with wooden rafters, the rafters are paved with wooden boards (kanban), and the boards are paved with gray-backed porcelain tiles. Because the beam frame is raised step by step and the beam is shortened step by step, a sloping roof is formed. This is how the four slopes of the Hall of Supreme Harmony are formed.
The seat of the Hall of Supreme Harmony is 37.20 meters deep from north to south and 63.96 meters wide from east to west. Calculated from the depth from north to south, the wooden columns are in groups of 6; The east-west width is calculated as 12. The pillars supporting the beam frame in the temple are called Zhu Jin, with a height of14.4m and a diameter of1.06m, all of which are huge. Taking the space of every four pillars as a room, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a hall composed of 55 rooms. The "ceiling" and "algae well" in the temple and the "bucket" under the eaves of the temple are all painted and magnificent. "Dougong" is a special part of China architecture. The bucket is shaped like a small wooden barrel; Bow and boat-shaped blocks of wood are called rafters. The bucket is below, and the bucket is placed in the upper slot of the bucket, which is called a bucket. This kind of component, mounted on the stigma, is called the stigma clan, the flat square mounted on the forehead between the two columns outside the eaves (also called the sitting bucket square) is called the Pingshen clan, and the one mounted on the corner column is called the Gladiator clan. For the hall of supreme harmony, which has a far eaves, each group of buckets can overlap and pick out multiple layers, which are called several rows. The bucket under the eaves has two functions in architecture: it mainly plays a supporting role in structure, and the weight of supporting the eaves is transferred to the columns through the bucket; In addition, because it was painted under the eaves, it looks like mountains and green flowers from a distance, which has a decorative effect.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the largest wooden structure in the Forbidden City. It was the place where the feudal emperor issued orders to the whole country and held ceremonies. The architectural form requires solemnity and grandeur. This building has achieved the required effect.
The roof forms of buildings in China are rich and colorful. In the Forbidden City, there are 10 different kinds of roofs. Take the three halls as an example. The roofs are different. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is a temple with five ridges and four slopes, with long ridges in the east and west and two oblique vertical ridges in the front and back, thus forming a roof with five ridges and four slopes, which is called fairy hall style in architectural terminology. From the Ming Dynasty in the14th century, the hanging eaves palace was the highest form of the feudal dynasty palace. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is a hall of this shape. Zhonghe Hall, 27 meters high, is a pavilion-style square hall with four vertical ridges on the roof. The top of the four ridges gather into a pointed shape, and the spherical treasure top is covered with a bronze tire, which is called the quadrangular pointed shape in architectural terminology. Baohe Hall is 29 meters high and has nine ridges on the roof. There is a positive ridge in the center of the roof, with two vertical ridges in front and two vertical ridges in the back. The lower part of each vertical ridge is inclined with a fork ridge, which, together with nine positive ridges, vertical ridges and fork ridges, is called inclined mountain type in architectural terminology. These three halls are the main buildings of the Forbidden City. Their heights and shapes are different, and their roofs are also different, so they are rich and varied but not rigid.
The roofs of buildings in the Forbidden City are covered with glazed tiles of various colors. The main temple is mainly yellow. The buildings in the prince's residential area use green. Other colorful colored glasses, such as blue, purple, black, emerald, malachite green and sapphire blue, are mostly used in gardens or glass walls. There are glazed kissing animals at both ends of the main ridge on the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the swallowing ridge is steady and powerful. Kissing animals have beautiful shapes, which are both components and decorations. Some ceramic tiles create three-dimensional animal images such as dragons and phoenixes, lions and seahorses, symbolizing auspiciousness and majesty. These components play a decorative role in the building.
Behind the three main halls is a big square, due north is the gate of the Forbidden City-Gan Qing Gate, with glazed walls on both sides, and the golden lion and golden jar in front are arranged opposite each other. In the door is the third house. Gan Qing Palace is the bedroom of the feudal emperor. The Palace of Kunning is the queen's bedroom. Between the two palaces stands a square hall called Jiaotai Hall, which is a small auditorium of the palace. The Queen's annual birthday celebration and the so-called sericulture ceremony are held here. There is also a collection of "Bao Xi" seals from the Qing Dynasty. On the east and west sides of the last three palaces, there is also a hall for storing crowns, robes, belts and shoes for the emperor, as well as a hall for storing books and calligraphy. There is an upper study room for the prince to study, a southern study room for the Hanlin, and a place to manage the daily life of the imperial court. In addition, there are Nissin Gate, Yuehua Gate, Longguang Gate, Cai Feng Gate, Ji Hua Gate, Duanze Gate, Long Fu Gate and Jinghe Gate, which are symmetrical to each other and connect the six palaces where concubines live. This symmetrical plane layout is also one of the characteristics of ancient architecture in China.
At that time, the palace in front of the Forbidden City required magnificent architectural modeling and bright and open courtyards, symbolizing the supremacy of feudal regime. The palace behind requires a deep courtyard and a compact building. Therefore, the six palaces in the East and West are self-contained, each with its own palace doors and walls, which are arranged in an orderly manner. Together with the palace lanterns and embroidered beds, they are all arrangements to meet the needs of luxury life. Behind the palace is the backyard. In the back garden, there are pines and cypresses that never wither, exquisite rockeries with strange rocks and pavilions around them, which are beautiful and quiet.
These palace buildings are surrounded by the Forbidden City. There are four doors in the Forbidden City. The main entrance is called Wumen, the east entrance is called Donghuamen, the west entrance is called Xihuamen, and the north entrance is called Shenwumen. At the four corners of the Forbidden City, there is also a turret, 27.50 meters high, with a cross-shaped roof, three double eaves, four sides of bright mountains and staggered turrets. This is an amazing building. Facing the north gate of the Forbidden City, there is a towering Jingshan, which is made of earth and stone and covered with pine and cypress. The mountain is divided into five peaks, and each peak has a pavilion, which stands tall. In the overall layout, Jingshan can be said to be the barrier of the Forbidden City complex.
The Forbidden City was created by the working people hundreds of years ago, and it is the crystallization of the wisdom and sweat of the working people. When it was first built, there were 100,000 enslaved laborers, including 1 million laborers. Every brick and tile of the Forbidden City and every temple are permeated with the blood and sweat of the working people. Under the social production conditions at that time, it fully reflected the high wisdom and creativity of the working people in ancient China. At the same time, in order to build the Forbidden City, it also brought great disasters to the working people. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, most of the wood needed was collected from Sichuan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places, and countless working people were forced to cut down and transport wood in the virgin forests among the mountains, taking countless lives. Most of the stones used are collected from the outer suburbs of Beijing and the mountainous areas two or three hundred miles away from the suburbs of Beijing. Each stone often weighs several tons or even dozens of hundreds of tons. For example, on the steps of the back eaves of Baohe Hall, there is a stone carving of Yunlong weighing about 250 tons. I don't know how many quarrymen and migrant workers are disabled and killed in the process of mining and transportation.