The Forbidden City - Part 1 - How do I get in here?

The Forbidden City - This mysterious sounding name is only the local nickname as it was originally called the Imperial City, but is now (boringly) called the Palace Museum. For over 500 years, the city was home to 24 Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is referred to as the Forbidden City because only the Emperor, his family, servants, concubines and eunuchs were allowed inside the city walls.

My journey started at the south wall through Tiananmen Gate (The Gate Of Heavenly Peace), an imposing looking structure facing Tiananmen Square, and now adorned with the stern gaze of a portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong who declared the founding of the People's Republic of China from this location on October 1, 1949 to a crowd of over 300,00 gathered in Tiananmen Square.

Many people believe that this is where Chairman Mao is interred (I even heard an NBC reporter say this on TV), but in fact he is located in a Mausoleum in the centre of Tiananmen Square. I may visit this later, but photos are not allowed, and his body is rumoured to have been replaced with a wax replica.

After passing through Tiananmen Gate, we are are still not actually in the Forbidden City, but rather in an outer courtyard/park (although there is no grass). We follow a tree-lined path and pass through another large gate called the Duanmen Gate (The Upright Gate).

Amlost incredibly, I find we are still not in the city, but can at least see the entrance from here. The Meridian Gate is another imposing structure with huge doors that make you feel small and insignificant (which was the intended purpose, as only the Emperor was supposed to feel comfortable within these walls). The Emperors believed they were the Sons of Heaven and that they lived in the centre of the universe such that the Meridian Line passed through the Forbidden City (hence the name of the Gate).

Here is a look back at the Meridian Gate from inside the inner courtyard (yeah! we are finally inside the city itself). Note the five bridges over the water (a small river passes through the city). The centre bridge is raised, and only the Emperor was allowed to use it (it meant death for anyone else to cross here).

Ok, so we are finally inside the city, and it only took me an hour to get here. I'll have some interesting photos of what's inside in my next post (no more gates, I promise).