Forbidden City, six hundred years!

　　WASHINGTON client Beijing September 10 electrical

　　Reporter Song Yusheng

　　My name is the Forbidden City and I am 600 years old this year.

　　From the Royal Forbidden Palace to the People's Museum, I am very old and have witnessed the dynasty change of the Ming and Qing dynasties for more than 500 years.

　　But I am also very modern. In the eyes of young people, I am a "net celebrity".

　　I have the largest palace complex in the world: 961 meters long from north to south, 753 meters wide from east to west, surrounded by a 10-meter high wall, and a 52-meter wide moat outside the city.

　　There are also more than 1.8 million pieces (sets) of collections, including more than 8,000 pieces (sets) of first-class collections.

　　I have witnessed too many ups and downs and changes in the times.

Now, I want to tell you all the stories.

Image source: Screenshot of WeChat Official Account of "Wei Forbidden City"

Born

　　In the fourth year of Yongle (AD 1406), Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, moved his capital to Beijing.

A palace is about to be born.

　　"The Book of the Later Han Dynasty" contains, "There is a purple palace in the sky, which is the residence of God. The king sets up the palace and acts as the elephant."

My earliest name was the Forbidden City.

　　At that time, I was a high palace, and ordinary people could not enter.

　　In order to build me, Emperor Yongle sent people to Sichuan to pick wood. It took more than ten years to prepare most of the wood needed for the project.

Ming Cheng Zu Zhu Di like a shaft.

Screenshot of the official website of the Palace Museum

　　It was not until the eighteenth year of Yongle (AD 1420) that the palace was finally completed with the wisdom of countless skilled craftsmen.

This year, I finally "born".

　　In my early years, it seemed that my luck had not been very good, and I was struck by lightning repeatedly.

　　In 1421, the three halls that were built a few months ago were burned down by lightning.

Twenty years later, in 1441, the three halls were rebuilt.

　　People said nothing but three things. However, not long after the reconstruction, the three halls experienced two major fires caused by lightning in Jiajing and Wanli dynasties.

　　It wasn't until the ancient construction experts installed a lightning rod for me in 1957 that I no longer suffered from lightning strikes.

Data map: Tourists taking pictures in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Du Yang

witness

　　How many masters have I had?

It depends on the calculation.

　　Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, built me; Emperor Jiajing, Emperor of Ming Dynasty, transformed me, causing great changes in the layout of the palace’s inner and outer courts and temples.

　　In 1644, I welcomed a new master, more than one.

　　This year, Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty hanged himself in Meishan; King Li Zicheng, who invaded Beijing, became emperor in the Wuying Hall of the Forbidden City. Emperor Shunzhi welcomed into Beijing.

　　My appearance and appearance have also changed due to the different masters.

　　In the twelfth year of Shunzhi (1655 AD), the Qing Dynasty imitated the Qingning Palace in Shenyang to rebuild the Kunning Palace, which became a typical example of the integration of Manchu and Han.

In the first year of Yongzheng (1723 AD), Emperor Yongzheng moved into the Yangxin Hall.

Since then, eight emperors have lived and governed here, and the Hall of Yangxin has become a place to witness major historical events in the Qing Dynasty.

Data map: Childhood photos of the last emperor Puyi.

Photo courtesy of Jia Yinghua

　　On February 12, 1912, Qing emperor Puyi announced his abdication; in 1924, Puyi and other royal family members were expelled from the Forbidden City.

　　I have witnessed the life course of 24 emperors, and Puyi was the last one.

　　From then on, I no longer belong to the supreme imperial power, I opened the palace gate, welcomed the people, and became a museum.

　　I belong to the people.

Data map: Photos of the Forbidden City taken in the 19th century.

China News Service reporter Song Yusheng

Toss and turn

　　In 1925, I had a new name-the Palace Museum.

　　But in those turbulent times, I became devastated by the war.

　　After the "September 18th" Incident in 1931, the safety of cultural relics and I became a troublesome problem.

In 1933, Shanhaiguan was defeated, and the Council of the Palace Museum officially decided to move the antiquities to the south.

　　These cultural relics finally gathered in the rear of China's war of resistance-Sichuan "refuge", and only after the victory of the war did they "return" one after another.

Image source: Screenshot of WeChat Official Account of "Wei Forbidden City"

　　By the time New China was founded in 1949, after the war, I was waiting for prosperity.

At that time, the muck removed from me was 250,000 cubic meters.

　　In May 1949, the restoration project of the ancient buildings of the Forbidden City started, and the brilliance of the former palace was gradually restored.

In December 1987, at the World Heritage Conference held in Paris, I was included on the World Heritage List.

Data map: Forbidden City in the rain.

Photo by China News Agency reporter Du Yang

Net Red

　　In 2002, my "Hundred Years Overhaul" kicked off.

At the same time, I have gradually become the "net celebrity" in the eyes of young people.

　　In 2013, I collected cultural product ideas from the public for the first time.

Since then, various cute route products such as "Fongzhi Travel" luggage tags and "I am such a man" folding fans have come out.

Data map: Night view of the Forbidden City.

Photo courtesy of the Palace Museum

　　In the past few years, my open area has expanded year by year, and there are more and more cultural relics on display. You can see precious collections such as the "Surfing the River on Qingming Festival" and "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" here, and even the "Forbidden City Running" "; a documentary film "I repaired cultural relics in the Forbidden City" has made cultural relics restoration a popular profession; I also have more and more fans on the Internet; even the word "Forbidden City" is also popular among young people. Create products and become a big IP in the museum industry...

　　Today, I opened the 600-year-old exhibition, each of the cultural relics and collections will tell you the history of these 600 years.

Data map: Night view of the Forbidden City.

Photo courtesy of the Palace Museum

　　I hope that in the next six hundred years, I will still be here, telling my story to generations of people.

(Finish)