The Forbidden City - Part 4 - The Imperial Garden

Leaving the outer courtyard through the Gate of Terrestial Tranquility takes you to the Imperial Garden. Finally, the scale of things reduces to a more human level, even as the grandeur increases. Very few people other than the Emperor and his family would have been allowed in here.

The man made structures blend harmoniously with the natural environment. The Pavillion of Imperial Scenery sits atop the Hill of Accumulated Elegance, a lava rock cliff that is apparently held together with egg and rice (something they had in abundance).

Even though I enjoyed this space more than the vastness of the formal courtyards, it was finally time for me to leave (before I fell asleep on my feet). I think this little girl was feeling as exhausted and overwhelmed as I was.

As you leave the Forbidden City on the north side, you pass through (yet another) massive gate. (Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, one more gate, but it helps me illustrate my next point).

Finally outside, the entire scope of the the city becomes more clear. Here are two views looking left and right from the northern gate.

Walls, as far as the eye can see. The walls of the city are 10m high, and they are surrounded by a moat that is 50m wide and 6m deep.

The Forbidden City is almost 1km x 750m (not including the courtyards south of the Meridian Gate leading out to Tiananmen Square), and was home to almost 6000 people (all at the service of the Emperor).

I realized that I had spent over 3 hours traversing the meridian line from south to north, and had seen only a tiny fraction of the city, and none of the east and west areas of the city (where most of the smaller buildings, and less important people lived and worked).

From 1420 to 1924, this was the home to 24 Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The last young Emperor "Puyi" was evicted in 1924, and was the subject of the 1987 movie called (appropriately enough) "The Last Emperor".