Page 26 - Boca ViewPointe - October '21

Page 26, Viewpointe October 2021
The Forbidden City: Beijing’s Former Imperial Palace

By Don Kiselewski, MCC, Designed and constructed as the
D.S., Palm Beach Gardens “Imperial Palace,” the complex has been
Travel Leaders bestowed with numerous names over the
course of its history. The “Forbidden”
A little more than 600 aspect of the name stemmed from the
years ago, in 1406, ground fact that no one could enter or leave
was broken for the world’s the city without the permission of the
largest palace complex emperor. Other names associated with
– known today as the the palace throughout time were the
Forbidden City. “Forbidden Palace,” “Purple Forbidden
It was the fifth year of the Palace,” “Layered Inner City” and the
reign of the third emperor of “Purple Forbidden Walled City.”
the Ming Dynasty. The walled area that is now in the heart of The Mongols ruled China from an
Beijing, China, took only 14 years to build. This seems like imperial palace located in Beijing in the
an astronomical feat considering that the complex consisted latter portion of the 14 century during the
th
of 9,999 buildings contained within a 20-foot-high wall that Yuan Dynasty. When Emperor Hongwu
encapsulated some 72 hectares (178 acres). The wall that established the Ming Dynasty, he moved
encloses the city is 2,300 feet from east to west and 2,900 feet the palace to Nanjing in the south and
from north to south. It is 26 feet wide at the base sloping to ordered the Mongol palace razed. When
a width of 20 feet at the top. A moat that is 20 feet deep and Hongwu’s son Zhu Dii became the
60 feet wide surrounds the city, further buffering the interior Yongle Emperor in 1402, he ordered the
from the outside world. Records indicated that more than construction of a new imperial palace in
a million workers, of which around 100,000 were artisans, Beijing (the Forbidden City).
worked around the clock to complete the construction of the For 224 years, the Forbidden City
complex. was the seat of the Ming Dynasty. In
1644 the city fell to Li Zicheng, who proclaimed himself the Second Opium War, and held it until the end of the war.
emperor of the Shun Dynasty. His reign was short-lived It was then that the Empress Dowager Cixi began to hold
because of a counterattack by the combined forces of the court, which lasted until 1900 when she fled the palace
Ming and Manchu armies. By the end of the year, the during the Boxer Rebellion.
Manshu force had claimed supremacy in northern China. The last emperor of China, 2-year-old Puyi, then
In the fall of that year, Shunzi was proclaimed emperor of controlled the city until his abdication in 1912. Before
all China. “Supremacy” was replaced with “Harmony” as his departure, he sold many of the artifacts to finance his
the theme of the dynasty, changing many of the building extravagant lifestyle. Puyi lived in a small section of the
names accordingly. palace until he was evicted by a coup in 1924.
There were other changes in ownership of the city.
Anglo-French forces took control of the city in 1860, during The Forbidden City on page 27

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