Day02- Beijing 2007

Here we are again, showing here are some pictures from Beijing. I am about to take you through a journey to the Famous Forbidden City of China(紫禁城). The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Above here is a the entrance to the Great Forbidden City, whereby long long time ago, only the Emporer and his delegates used to walk in and out from these doors/ gates. Well as you can see here now, it's the face of Chairman Mao. After the step down of the Last Emperor, the forbidden city is turned into Palace Museum and later open to the public. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987,[2] and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. Everyday, there are hundreds and thousands of people entering through these gates to take a glimpse of what is it like to be inside the Forbidden city!
This is a site map for references......... well I got this from wikipedia.... :P See how far is the palace from the entrace! Well, the front Door is entered only by the Emperor, and Emperess on her wedding day. After that she will never walk out of the palace anymore. If you study the map closely, the back door / gate is actually where all the young beautiful maidens are selected and enter through it. Also, she will not allow to leave the palace too after she enters. Only the maids are allowed to go out through the side doors, (C) to do some chores and running errants. So life in the palace is almost like a prison for the Imperial court ladies! This is one of its court yards. It is definately a long walk from the entrance to this place. Inside there are more of these huge red walls. The yellow roof or Gloden roof is actually meant for the royals only. No peasants or anyone are allowed these yellow roofs! Wow....

As you can see here that the weather is quite pleasant and bright blue sky with no clouds at all. This is considered rare in Beijing these days due to pollution and weather conditions. Well we are lucky to get these wonderful pictures; as the great weather is helping us too. This time is during October, and it is autumn. The tourist guide says October has the best weather in Beijing.

Well I took one of huge doors/ gates picture as I think we can only see these gates in Beijing, China. So much so that we can see these huge doors everywhere. Kind of like a symbol too. The story is that there are 9 rows and 9 columns of these studs so altogether is 81 studs. Interesting! The number 9 is considered as auspicious for the Emperors. Number is quite an important issue here in China, as everything is calculated, even the numbers of pillars, doors, tiles, dragons, trees.... etc.

The picture here shows the Emperor's Court Costume. This is a portrait of one of theEmperor. Here shows the Headgear, Accessories and the Dragon costume.

Here is the Emperess costume. It shows her Head pieces, Necklace, Earings, Jeweleries, etc. These are the formal wear. They will wear these clothes for formal function and celebration.

You can view additional information from here too!

Palace Museum official site
Forbidden City, A Photographic Tour