Page 10 - The Shores of Jupiter - October '21

Page 10, The Shores
The Forbidden City: Beijing’s Former Imperial Palace

By Don Kiselewski, MCC, the Ming and Manchu armies. By the end
D.S., Palm Beach Gardens of the year, the Manshu force had claimed
Travel Leaders supremacy in northern China. In the fall of
A little more than 600 that year, Shunzi was proclaimed emperor
years ago, in 1406, ground of all China. “Supremacy” was replaced
was broken for the world’s with “Harmony” as the theme of the
largest palace complex dynasty, changing many of the building
– known today as the names accordingly.
Forbidden City. There were other changes in ownership
It was the fifth year of the of the city. Anglo-French forces took
reign of the third emperor control of the city in 1860, during the
of the Ming Dynasty. The Second Opium War, and held it until the
walled area that is now in the heart of Beijing, China, took end of the war. It was then that the Empress
only 14 years to build. This seems like an astronomical feat Dowager Cixi began to hold court, which
considering that the complex consisted of 9,999 buildings lasted until 1900 when she fled the palace
contained within a 20-foot-high wall that encapsulated some during the Boxer Rebellion.
72 hectares (178 acres). The wall that encloses the city is 2,300 The last emperor of China, 2-year-
feet from east to west and 2,900 feet from north to south. It is old Puyi, then controlled the city until
26 feet wide at the base sloping to a width of 20 feet at the top. his abdication in 1912. Before his
A moat that is 20 feet deep and 60 feet wide surrounds the city, departure, he sold many of the artifacts
further buffering the interior from the outside world. Records to finance his extravagant lifestyle. Puyi
indicated that more than a million workers, of which around lived in a small section of the palace
100,000 were artisans, worked around the clock to complete until he was evicted by a coup in 1924.
the construction of the complex. When Japan invaded the area in 1933,
Designed and constructed as the “Imperial Palace,” the the national treasures in the museum
complex has been bestowed with numerous names over the were divided and sent to various areas of the country. A In 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was
course of its history. The “Forbidden” aspect of the name small but very valuable portion of the treasures were sent established, there were several confrontations and damage
stemmed from the fact that no one could enter or leave the city to Taiwan under orders of Chiang Kai-shek. These were not was inflicted upon portions of the palace. Further destruction
without the permission of the emperor. Other names associated returned and kept hidden until 1965, when they reappeared
with the palace throughout time were the “Forbidden Palace,” at the core exhibit of the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The Forbidden City on page 11
“Purple Forbidden Palace,” “Layered Inner City” and the
“Purple Forbidden Walled City.” “Service is our number one priority”
The Mongols ruled China from an imperial palace
located in Beijing in the latter portion of the 14 century 561-743-0070
th
during the Yuan Dynasty. When Emperor Hongwu
established the Ming Dynasty, he moved the palace to www.palmspoolservices.com
Nanjing in the south and ordered the Mongol palace razed.
When Hongwu’s son Zhu Dii became the Yongle Emperor
in 1402, he ordered the construction of a new imperial
palace in Beijing (the Forbidden City).
For 224 years, the Forbidden City was the seat of the Ming
Dynasty. In 1644 the city fell to Li Zicheng, who proclaimed
himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty. His reign was short-
lived because of a counterattack by the combined forces of

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