What is the origin of the Forbidden City?
The feudal emperor claimed to be the son of the heavenly emperor and thought he was the real dragon emperor. And the palace where they live is compared to the purple palace in the sky. They also hope to live in the Purple Palace, rule the country by virtue, naturalize in all directions, and come to Korea from all directions to achieve the goal of maintaining long-term rule.
In order to maintain their authority and dignity and consider their own safety, the Ming and Qing emperors built palaces, which were both magnificent and heavily guarded. The city is not only full of palaces and pavilions, but also surrounded by a wall more than 10 meters high and a moat 52 meters wide. Moreover, there are many outposts and high security. Needless to say, it is absolutely forbidden for ordinary people to enjoy balconies and pavilions, even if they are very close.
In addition to serving their ladies-in-waiting, eunuchs and bodyguards, only summoned officials and privileged people can enter the palace where the Ming emperors and their families lived. This is a place where outsiders can't cross the border. Therefore, the imperial palace in the Ming Dynasty was both a purple palace and a forbidden area, so it was called the Forbidden City.
The Forbidden City was built in the fifth year of Yongle in the early Ming Dynasty (1407). During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty and the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Forbidden City finally formed today's architectural scale. The architecture of the Forbidden City is a masterpiece of China's ancient palace architecture, from which we can appreciate the rich accumulation of China's 5,000-year architectural culture.
The four periods of Beijing architecture in Ming Dynasty-Judy, the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty, built Beijing Palace in the fourth year of Yongle (1406). Since then, the construction project has continued until the end of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to general maintenance, it can be roughly divided into four periods in terms of engineering quantity.
First, the pioneering period of Yongle. During this period, combined with the construction of the capital city, the old city of Yuan Dynasty was pushed southward as a whole, and the construction of the Beijing city wall was completed, thus determining the location and scale of Miyagi. Because the Forbidden City was built by absorbing the experience of palace architecture in Fengyang and Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty, its layout is more complete. Before and after the north-south division of Miyagi, the central axis runs through the north and south, which is symmetrical from left to right, with three roads and one row, six palaces in the east and west, showing the trend of stars arching the moon, and basically planning according to the urban rules in traditional documents such as Zhou Li. The existing Forbidden City has basically maintained the plane pattern laid in Yongle period.
Second, the orthodox completion period. This period includes three dynasties: Orthodoxy, Jingtai and Tianshun, and it was a period of initial stability and prosperity after the founding of the Ming Dynasty. The country has relatively abundant financial and material resources, and has successively completed the construction of the main temples and the imperial homestead forest in Beijing. The reconstruction of the three halls of the Forbidden City and the renovation of the two palaces were also major projects in this period. Zhu Qizhen's first major task after he ascended the throne was to build the Forbidden City, which started in the first year of the Orthodox Church (1436) and was completed in the tenth year of the Orthodox Church (1446).
Third, Jiajing expansion period. At this time of Ming Dynasty, commercial capitalism was developed, and a prosperous business district was gradually formed outside the first three gates of Beijing. In the 23rd year of Jiajing (1544), Nanwai Luocheng was built for defense. The key project in this period is still the first to promote the three halls of the Forbidden City. This dynasty has the most fires. In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing (1557), the fire caused "three halls and fifteen doors were all in disaster" and had to be rebuilt one after another. It was not rebuilt until the forty-first year of Jiajing (1562). In the meantime, due to the reconstruction of Wanshou Palace, the project of the three halls was once stagnant.
Fourth, the decline period in the late Ming Dynasty. From Wanli to the end of Ming Dynasty, the signs of decline became increasingly obvious, and the government was unable to carry out large-scale construction. Another fire broke out in the Third Hall of Wanli, but the reconstruction was shelved in 18, and the project lasted 12 years, and it was not completed until the apocalypse.
[Edit this paragraph] Architectural style
Architectural French refers to a special system formed by taking wood structure as the main structural mode in the process of standardization and finalization of ancient architecture in China. In the second year of Chongning in the Northern Song Dynasty (1 103), the architectural style was about the design, construction and materials specification of palaces, temples, yamen and mansions. Accordingly, modern architectural historians refer to the specifications, dimensions, proportional relations and practice requirements of various parts of ancient buildings and their components as "law" for short.
The architectural style of the Forbidden City is developed on the basis of inheriting the traditional standardization and stereotypes. In the 12th year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty (1734), the Code of Engineering was promulgated, which further institutionalized France's requirements for the renovation of palace buildings.
Compared with the past, the architectural style of palaces in Ming and Qing Dynasties is more complete, meticulous and practical, and there are clear regulations on site layout, abutment railings, large wooden frames, roof style, wall modeling, internal and external decoration, oil painting and many other aspects. On the one hand, the institutionalization of architectural style marks the high maturity of architectural system, which is conducive to improving work efficiency and strengthening project management, but on the other hand, it also has a rigid trend, which greatly limits the creativity of architectural designers.
[Edit this paragraph] Building technology
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, architectural technology developed to a great extent. Design and construction are highly standardized and stereotyped, which not only speeds up the progress of the project, but also facilitates the management of construction and funds.
The repair of palaces in the Qing Dynasty was the responsibility of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry. There is an architectural department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for the renovation of the Forbidden City. The construction department has a "sample room" and a "calculation room", which is responsible for designing drawings, making "hot samples" and estimating engineering quantities. In the 12th year of Yongzheng (1734), the Ministry of Industry published "Engineering Practice" as a criterion for architectural design, construction and engineering quantity accounting of temples, palaces, warehouses, city walls, temples and palaces. There are eleven majors in housing construction, including about twenty types of work, with clear division of labor and different departments. There are mainly eight majors: wood, tile, stone, binding, earth, painting, color painting and pasting. All disciplines cooperate with each other to ensure the engineering quality.
By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the output of brick and glaze components was much higher than before, both in quantity and quality. Palace buildings generally use glazed tile roofs, and important halls use brick floors, so the architectural decoration is extremely luxurious.