Time and Location

The Forbidden City was built during the Ming Dynasty in Beijing, which was the capital of the Ming Dynasty in China.  The actual construction began in 1417, and it was completed in 1420 (Yu 18).  Some buildings were added, burned, rebuilt, or modified through the Ming and Ching Dynasties.  There were 24 Chinese emperors who lived in the Forbidden City over about 500 years (Glancey 102).  The Forbidden City is located in the center of Beijing because Chinese believed that �it is a rule of etiquette for the king to live in the center of the country he dominates� (Ru 116).  Indeed, the famous Confucian sage Mencius believed that the Chinese emperor�s role was �to stand in the center of the earth and stabilize the people within the four seas� (MacFarquhar 72).  As a result, the Forbidden City was built in the center of the Chinese capital, Beijing.

Symbolization of the name of the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City in Chinese is called Zi Jin Cheng.

Zi in Chinese means purple.  It symbolizes the Ziwei Star, which is called the Pole Star in English.  The Chinese believed that the supreme deity lived in a palace within this star.  The palace was located at the apex of the vault of heaven.  The gods of other stars lived around this palace (Yu 18).  This Chinese belief implies that the Forbidden City is the palace in the Pole Star because the Chinese emperor is known as the Son of Heaven, who should live in the palace of the Pole Star.  They believed that the Chinese emperor was the �central body around which everything on earth revolved� (MacFarquhar 72).  In terms of landscape architecture, they built the Forbidden City in the center of the Chinese capital in order to express this idea.

Jin in Chinese means forbidden.  It symbolizes the Forbidden City because ordinary people and officials were not permitted to go inside the Forbidden City�s gates from the time it was built until the Ching Dynasty ended (Yu 18).

Cheng in Chinese means a walled city.  Chinese called the Forbidden City a walled city because it is surrounded by high walls in order to keep ordinary people out of it.

Chinese Cosmology

In Chinese cosmology, any object belongs to either yin or yang.  Yin and Yang are �two mutually opposing and independent elements� (Yu 26).  Yang includes above, front, odd, and positive while yin includes below, back, even, and negative.  In the Forbidden City, yin and yang are balanced.  The outer court of the Forbidden City has �three halls and five gates,� and the number of halls and gates is odd (Yu 26).  Moreover, the numbers of steps leading to the terrace, layers of brickwork of the terrace and the walls beneath the windows are all odd (Ru 119).  Therefore, the outer court of the Forbidden City is yang.  On the other hand, the inner court of the Forbidden City has �two palaces and six residential palaces,� and the number of palaces is even (Yu 26).  In addition, �layers of brick wall dadoes� and the number of �steps up to the terraces� are all in even numbers (Ru 120).  Hence, the inner court of the Forbidden City is yin.  The Forbidden City is balanced because it contains both yin and yang.

Home    Background    Map    Religion    Libraries    Theaters    Conclusion    Bibliography

Created by May Wong