Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
seeing). Some say this was just as well, since the Cultural Revolution reduced much of
China's precious artwork to confetti.
ROUTINES FOR ROYAL FROLICKING
With so many wives and consorts to choose from, a system was needed to help the emperor choose his bedtime
companion. One method was to keep the names of royal wives, consorts and favourites on jade tablets near the
emperor's chambers. By turning a tablet over, the emperor made his request for the evening, and the eunuch on
duty would rush off to find her. Stripped naked (and therefore weaponless), the foot-bound woman was gift-
wrapped in a yellow cloth, piggybacked over to the royal boudoir and dumped at the feet of the emperor, the eu-
nuch recording the date and time to verify the legitimacy of a possible child.
According to an ancient Chinese belief, frequent sex with young girls could sustain one's youth, so all this
frolicking had a more serious purpose: prolonging the life of the emperor.
Layout
Ringed by a picturesque 52m-wide moat that freezes over in winter, the rectangular palace
is laid out roughly symmetrically on a north-south axis, bisected by a line of grand gates
and ceremonial halls that straddle the very axis that cleaves Běijīng in two. The palace is
so unspeakably big (over 1 million sq metres, with 800 buildings and 9000 rooms) that
restoration is a never-ending work in progress, and despite the attentions of restorers,
some of the hall rooftops still sprout tufts of grass. Many halls have been repainted in a
way that conceals the original pigment; other halls, such as the Hall of Mental Cultivation
Entering the Complex
four gateways now used as an entrance to the Forbidden City - you enter an enormous
courtyard. From there, you cross the Golden Stream (Jīn Shuǐ) - shaped to resemble a Tar-
tar bow and spanned by five marble bridges - on your way to the magnificent
Gate of Su-
audience of 100,000 people.
