Usually many monuments have thresholds at their entrances. Why doesn’t the Forbidden City have one?
The threshold of the Forbidden City can be seen by anyone. Many of the thresholds of the Forbidden City we see now have been sawn off. In fact, this is because one of the hobbies of Emperor Xuanzong Puyi of the Tang Dynasty was riding bicycles.
In China during the Republic of China, when bicycles were on fire, there were many large families and high-ranking officials and nobles. Bicycles were not only a means of transportation, but also a symbol of wealth and status. But because of the high price, there were not many bicycles in China at that time. Until one day Puyi went to Paris and he saw that bicycles on the streets of Paris were very popular and there were many people renting cars. His car drove like a horse. This deepened Puyi's preference for bicycles. In the eyes of the ancients, thresholds had two functions. One is to show the status of one's family. We often hear people's sarcasm when they say: Your threshold is really high, and that's the reason. Second, don't let bad luck affect disaster prevention. Therefore, the people of our country, especially the people in the north, attach great importance to this threshold.
When Puyi ascended the throne at the age of three, no one knew about it. After Puyi came of age, the Qing Dynasty had been destroyed. The old ministers of the Qing Dynasty shouted in Puyi's ears for restoration every day. Over time, Puyi also became full of hatred. It can be said that he was full of ideals. He was determined to restore the Qing Dynasty, but he could not hold on for a few days. Under the influence of foreign master Johnston, Puyi opened up to the outside world.
After Wanrong learned to ride a bicycle, Puyi and Wanrong often rode bicycles to play together, and even hired someone to repair the garage in the palace. But after all, each palace and courtyard is not big, how can there be room to ride horses? So Puyi asked the eunuchs to remove all the window sills between the palaces. The threshold can be said to be a special cultural heritage in ancient China, left by the ancestors. Puyi's demolition caused a catastrophe.
In order to ride a bicycle, Puyi took a group of young eunuchs to practice cycling in the square outside the palace every day. Later, he felt that the threshold of the palace gate was too inconvenient, so he sent people to cut down the threshold. At that time, there was an uproar in the Forbidden City, and the old ministers and dead ministers blocked it, but in the end they could not stop Puyi's crazy decision.