【正文】 also know as the Purple Forbidden City. It is the largest and most well reserved imperial residence in China today. Under Ming Emperor Yongle, construction began in 1406. It took 14years to build the Forbidden City. The first ruler who actually lived here was Ming Emperor Zhudi. For five centuries thereafter, it continued to be the residence of23 successive emperors until 1911 when Qing Emperor Puyi was forced to abdicate the throne .In 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recognized the Forbidden City was a world cultural legacy.
It is believed that the Palace Museum, or Zi Jin Cheng (Purple Forbidden City), got its name from astronomy folklore, The ancient astronomers divided the constellations into groups and centered them around the Ziwei Yuan(North Star). The constellation containing the North Star was called the Constellation of Heavenly God and star itself was called the purple palace. Because the emperor was supposedly the son of the heavenly gods, his central and dominant position would be further highlighted the use of the word purple in the name of his residence. In folklore, the term ‖an eastern purple cloud is drifting‖ became a metaphor for auspicious events after a purple cloud was seen drifting eastward immediately before the arrival of an ancient philosopher, LaoZi, to the Hanghu Pass. Here, purple is associated with auspicious developments. The word jin (forbidden) is selfexplanatory as the imperial palace was heavily guarded and offexplanatory as the imperial palace was heavily guarded and offlimits to ordinary people.
The red and yellow used on the palace walls and roofs are also symbolic. Red represents happiness, good fortune and wealth. Yellow is the color of the earth on the Loess Plateau, the original home of the Chinese people. Yellow became an imperial color during the Tang dynasty, when only members of the royal family were allowed to wear it and use it in their architecture.
The Forbidden City is rectangular in shape. It is 960 meters long from north to south and 750 meter wide from east west. It has 9,900 rooms under a total roof area 150,000 square meters .A 52meterwidemoat encircles a
—high wall which encloses the plex. Octagon —shaped turrets rest on the four corners of the wall. There are four entrances into the city: the Meridian Gate to the south, the Shenwu Gate(Gate of Military Prowess) to the north, and the Xihua Gate(Gate of military Prowess) to the north, and the Xihua Gate(Western Flowery Gate )to the west ,the Donghua (Eastern Flowery Gate) to the east.
Manpower and materials throughout the country were used to build the Forbidden City. A total of 230,000 artisans and one million laborers were employed. Marble was quarried from fangshan Country Mount Pan in Jixian County in Hebei Province. Granite was quarried in Quyang County in Hebei Province. Paving blocks were fired in kilns in Suzhou in southern China. Bricks and scarlet pigmentation used on the palatial walls came from linqing in Shandong Province .Timber was cut ,processed and hauled from the northwestern and southern regions.
The structure in front of us is the Meridian Gate. It is the main entrance to the forbidden City. It is also knows as Wufenglou(FivePhoenix Tower). Ming emperors held lavish banquets here on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar year in hornor of their counties .They also used this place for punishing officals by flogging them with sticks.
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木匠數(shù)完了蟈蟈籠子，蹦起來一拍大腿說：“這不正是九梁十八柱七十二條脊么？”大伙一聽都高興了，這個(gè)接過籠子數(shù)數(shù)，那個(gè)也接過籠子數(shù)數(shù)，都說：“真是九梁十八柱、七十二條脊的樓閣啊，”
大伙兒受這個(gè)籠子的啟發(fā)，琢磨出了紫禁城角樓的樣子，燙出紙漿做出樣型，最后修成了到現(xiàn)在還存在的角摟。他急忙擺著手說：“你們先別吵吵嚷嚷的，讓我數(shù)數(shù)再說。
這個(gè)木匠提著蟈蟈籠子，回到了工地。
走著走著，聽見老遠(yuǎn)傳來一片蟈蟈的吵叫聲，接著、又聽見一聲吆喝：“買蟈蟈，聽叫去，睡不著，解悶兒去！”走近一看，是一個(gè)老頭兒挑著許多大大小小秫秸編的蟈蟈籠子，在沿街叫賣。這時(shí)候，正趕上六七月的三伏天氣，熱得人都喘不上氣來，加上心里煩悶，工頭和木匠們真是坐也不合適，躺也不合適?！惫ゎ^和木匠們對(duì)這樣的工程都沒把握，只好常常在一塊琢磨法子。并且說：“你就做這個(gè)管工大臣吧，如果修蓋的不好是要?dú)㈩^的！”管工大臣領(lǐng)了皇帝的諭旨后，心里非常發(fā)愁，不知如何蓋這九梁十八柱、七十二條脊的角樓。這四座角摟是怎么蓋的呢？北京有這么個(gè)傳說——
明朝的燕王朱隸在南京做了永樂皇帝以后，因?yàn)楸本┦撬鐾鯛敃r(shí)候的老地方，就想遷都北京，于是就派了親信大臣到北京蓋皇官。每年二月皇帝到先家壇舉行親耕儀式，前一天要來這里閱視種子、農(nóng)具、祝文。皇帝舉行大典前，先到此暫坐休息，會(huì)見一些官員。是偽統(tǒng)治時(shí)期，大缸被拉出宮門，裝上日本侵略軍的卡車，用去制作子彈，再反過來屠殺我國人民。救死扶傷和軍官們燒、殺、搶、掠，從宮中及頤和園等處動(dòng)掠奪的文物在各侵略國使館區(qū)堆積如山，至今仍有大量文物被倫敦、巴黎、紐約博物館攫為已有。侵略者是誰？是英、美、德、法、俄、日、意、奧八國聯(lián)軍。
清代時(shí)，共有308口大缸，按其質(zhì)量分類三種，即鎏金銅缸、燒古銅缸和鐵缸，其中最珍貴的是鎏金銅
缸。在科學(xué)不民達(dá)的古代，宮中沒有自來水，更沒有消防器材。因此，大缸又稱為吉祥缸。新中國成立后，為了尋找那把龍椅，根據(jù)過去的一張照片，在破家具庫找到了一把破椅，經(jīng)專家鑒定，這椅子就是皇帝寶座，后經(jīng)修復(fù)展出。1916年（民國五年）袁世凱登基時(shí)，把原來的寶座搬走了，換了一把西式高背大椅，上飾他自己設(shè)計(jì)的帝國徽號(hào)。鏡下正好對(duì)著寶座，據(jù)說是袁世凱怕大球掉下來把他砸死，故將寶座向后挪到現(xiàn)在的位置。在藻井中央部位，有一浮雕蟠龍，口銜一球（球?yàn)殂~胎中空，外涂水銀），此球叫軒轅鏡，傳說是遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)代軒轅黃帝制造的，懸球與藻井蟠龍聯(lián)在起，構(gòu)成游龍戲珠的形式，懸于帝王寶座上方，以示中國歷代皇帝都是軒轅的子孫，是黃帝正統(tǒng)繼承者。在殿中央有一藻井，是從古代“天井”和“天窗”形式演變面來，為中國古代建筑的特色之一。燒這種磚，每一塊相當(dāng)于一石大米的價(jià)錢，可見金磚雖不含金，但也確實(shí)貴重。金磚墁地平整如鏡，光滑細(xì)膩，像是灑了一層水，發(fā)著幽暗的光。角端是我國古代神話傳說中的一種神獸，可“日行一萬八千里”，通曉四方語言，只有明君，它才捧書而至，護(hù)駕身旁。后面有金漆圍屏，前面有御案，左右有對(duì)稱的寶象、角端、仙鶴、香筒等陳列品。
太和殿正面有12根圓紅柱，東西約63米，南北進(jìn)深約37米，高35米，殿前丹陛三層五出，殿前后有金扉40個(gè)，金鎖窗16個(gè)，整個(gè)大殿雕梁畫棟，豪華富麗。對(duì)面還有一個(gè)石頭做成的器具叫做日晷，是古代的測(cè)時(shí)儀。臺(tái)基東西兩側(cè)各有一只銅制仙鶴和龜，是長壽的象征。這里一共有18座，代表清朝18個(gè)省。載灃急得滿頭大汗，只好哄著小皇帝說：“別哭，別哭，快完了，快完了！”大臣們認(rèn)為此話不吉祥，說來也巧，3年后清朝果真就滅亡了，從而結(jié)束了我國2000多年的封建統(tǒng)治。
清朝末代皇帝溥儀1908年底登基時(shí)，年僅3歲，由他父親攝政王載灃把他抱扶到寶座上。舉行大典時(shí)，殿內(nèi)的琺瑯仙鶴盤上點(diǎn)上蠟燭，香亭、香爐燒檀香，露臺(tái)上的銅爐、龜、鶴燃松柏枝，殿前兩