Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
or Hall of Imperial Tranquillity, was where the emperor came to worship a Taoist water deity,
Xuan Wu, who was responsible for keeping the palace safe from fire. You can exit here into
Jingshan Park
,
which provides an overview of the complex.
Tian'anmen
天安门
, tiānānmén • Daily 8.30am-4.30pm • Entrance at junction of Xichang'an Jie and Dongchang'an Jie •
￥
15; tickets available from the
Forbidden City ticket offices
• Tian'anmen East or Tian'anmen West subway
(both line 1)
Tian'anmen
, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, is the main entrance to the Forbidden City. An
image familiar across the world, it occupies an exalted place in Chinese iconography, appear-
ing on policemen's caps, banknotes, coins, stamps and most pieces of official paper. As such
it's a prime object of pilgrimage, with many visitors milling around and taking pictures of
the large
portrait of Mao
(the only one still on public display), which hangs over the cent-
ral passageway. Once reserved for the sole use of the emperor, but now standing wide open,
the entrance is flanked by the twin slogans “Long Live the People's Republic of China” and
“Long Live the Great Union between the Peoples of the World”.
The entry ticket allows you to climb up onto the
viewingplatform
above the gate. Security
is tight: all visitors have to leave their bags and go through a metal detector before they can
ascend. Inside, the fact that most people cluster around the souvenir stall - which sells official
certificates to anyone who wants their visit here documented - reflects the fact that there's
not much to look at.
THE EMPEROR SPEAKS TO HIS PEOPLE
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Tian'anmen was where the
ceremony
called “the
golden phoenix issues an edict” took place. The minister of rites would receive an imperial
edict inside the palace and take it to Tian'anmen on a silver “cloud tray”, he and his charge
under a yellow umbrella. Here, the edict was read aloud to the officials of the court who
knelt below, lined up according to rank. Next, the edict was placed in the mouth of a gilded
wooden phoenix, which was lowered by rope to another cloud tray below. The tray was
then put in a carved, wooden dragon and taken to the Ministry of Rites to be copied out and
sent around the country.
Mao too liked to address his subjects from here. On October 1, 1949, he delivered the
liberation speech
to jubilant crowds below, declaring that “the Chinese people have now
stood up”; in the 1960s, he spoke from this spot to massed ranks of Red Guards and de-
clared that it was time for a “
cultural revolution
”
.
