Where are we today? South China Sea, Bejing Part 2

From around 1420 to 1924, the Forbidden City was the winter palace complex for the Emperor of China.  What remains today covers 7.75 million square feet.  The museum part consists of 980 buildings.  I had no idea that it was that large! 

The mystical animals on the roofs have significance both for the number and in which order they are lined up. One function was to serve as guardian totems which Feng Shui masters believed would drive evil spirits away. Also, some of them had iron tongues that stuck out and were attached to wire.  This was an early version of a lightening rod. Our guide said the mystical animals also communicated information about the building and could be read like a language.

The Forbidden City was constructed according to geomancy (Feng Shui), and the buildings are red and yellow or gold, which are believed to be auspicious colors.  The layout emphasizes the importance of the Emperor, who was believed to be divine. The Chinese thought of China as the center of the universe and the Emperor as the center of China. One building was struck by lightening twice, which fused the Feng Shui masters think the elements were displeased. 

Though Feng Shui was and still is based in superstition, such as appeasing lightening deities, researchers think the ancient Fung Shui architects did have some valid ideas about the way landscapes and buildings affect people. 

Huge cauldrons of water were placed throughout the city. In case of fire, people would fill buckets from these vessels to dampen the flames. In the winter, blocks underneath were heated to keep the contents from freezing. 

This statue is inside the courtyard of Cixi, the next-to-last Empress of China. The surrounding rooms were originally for lesser wives of the Emperor. Typically,  only the first wife of the ruler was allowed the status, great power, and responsibility of being the Empress. Thus, the Empress’ rooms were elsewhere. Cixi lived in these secondary quarters when she was a concubine. 

When Cixi gave birth to a son, she was elevated to the status of Empress of the West. Even at that, she was second to the original wife, who was known as the Empress of the East. Cixi rose to a position of control in China through a series of deaths in the upper echelons of the Court, beginning with the passing of her rival Empress.  It is thought that Cixi poisoned her way to the top. 

Just before her death, she appointed the last Emperor, who inherited the role at the age of three. Cixi thought she would live long enough to control him, just as she had manipulated the previous two Emperors. Instead, she succumbed to an illness. The boy she had appointed lived a lonely, damaged, damaging, and just generally tragic life.  He died of cancer in 1967. 

Upon rising in power, Cixi revamped the old concubine quarters and took them as her own home. Westerners called Cixi “the Dragon Lady”. 

This building was also used to house concubines. 

These rooms were where the Boy Emperor was educated by a Scottish tutor.

Tomorrow, we arrive in Hong Kong.  Dave will write one more post about a Beijing Treasure — the Temple of Heaven. That might have to be after we leave China. 

Thanks for reading along with us!