Overview
The Forbidden City (Zijin Cheng, "Purple Forbidden City") occupies the central north–south axis of historic Beijing. The Yongle Emperor (Zhu Di) of the Ming dynasty began its construction in 1406, moving the primary capital from Nanjing; the complex was largely complete by 1420. For almost five centuries it housed the Ming and Qing imperial households, their bureaucracies, and ritual life, until the abdication of the last Qing emperor Puyi in 1912. Ordinary subjects were barred from entering — hence "forbidden" — while officials and envoys passed through a graded sequence of gates and courtyards toward the throne halls.
The palace covers roughly 72 hectares within a rectangular wall and moat, containing on the order of 980 surviving buildings and some 8,700 rooms (traditional counts vary). Architecture follows strict axial symmetry: the Outer Court (Taihe, Zhonghe, Baohe halls) hosted state ceremonies; the Inner Court housed the emperor's residence and the empress's quarters, with the Imperial Garden at the north end. Timber post-and-beam halls rest on white marble terraces; roofs are glazed yellow tile (imperial colour), with bracket sets (dougong) distributing weight. Qing rulers added Manchu ritual elements while preserving Ming spatial order.
China (Beijing) Aerial view of Forbidden City (38884882275) | Güldem Üstün from Istanbul, TURKEY (CC BY 2.0)
"The Son of Heaven dwells in the centre of the earth; his palace faces south, the direction of virtue, and the five gates open upon the five directions of the realm."
— Paraphrase of Ming ritual cosmology applied to Beijing's axial palace layout
After 1925 the complex opened as the Palace Museum (Gugong), one of the world's largest collections of Chinese art — bronzes, ceramics, painting, jade, and court regalia evacuated to Taiwan during the civil war form a parallel collection at the National Palace Museum, Taipei. UNESCO listed the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing in Beijing and Shenyang in 1987. Visitor numbers rank among the highest of any historic monument globally.
