It’s the third day in Beijing! Beijing has countless monuments over thousand years. It is full of rich cultural heritage! On the day, we went to the Forbidden City.

來到北京的第三天了！北京擁有無數流傳千年的古跡，充滿豐富的文化底縕，這一天，我們第一個去的地方是故宮。

The Forbidden City was the palace of 24 emperors of China during the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty (1406 - 1911). Built in 1406, the Forbidden City is 600 years old and covers an area of 720,000 square meters. It is currently the largest place building in the world. Today, Forbidden City has been converted into a museum, known as one of the world’s five major museums. The Forbidden City has experienced wars, fires over the years. In early 20th century, many cultural relics were taken to Taiwan. Then in the cultural revolution, Forbidden City was even under the risk to be burnt. It is precious the Forbidden City still exist.

故宮即紫禁城，是明代開始到清朝完結時，中國24位皇帝的皇宮。故宮建於1406年，至今600年歷史，面積達72萬平方米，可是現時全世界規模最大的宮殿建築。今天的故宮已改建成博物館，被稱為世界五大博物館之一！故宮數百年來經歷多次戰亂，火災，在近代中大部份文物被國民政府遷到台灣，後於文化大革命更差點被燒掉，所以現在仍然保留著的故宮可說極為珍貴。

photo source

photo source

There are four entrance from each side of the Forbidden City. Most tourists enter from the Tiananmen at the south and leave through the Gate of Divine Might at the north. The security check is very strict. We had our first check just coming out from the subway station. Passing the checking, we could see the Tiananmen, and the Tianasmen Square and Mao Zedong Memorial Hall opposite to the road. When I looked up to the lamp. I saw so many CCTV.

故宮有東南西北四個入口，大部份遊客都會由南門天安門出發，走到北門神武門離開，進入故宮的保安檢查十分嚴謹，我們在地鐵站一出來就先要進行安檢。經過安檢，眼前就是故宮的天安門了！而在馬路對面，就是著名的天安門廣場，還有毛澤東紀念館，單看燈柱上的閉路電視，可知保安是多麼嚴密。

Going through the Tiananmen, it’s the Duanmen, Upright Gate. Now it’s the entrance of the Palace Museum. After buying tickets we had the 2nd security check. As the Forbidden City is mainly made of wood, all fire lighters are banned. After the check we went to the Women, Meridian Gate.

進入天安門，我們先見到的是端門，現在這門是故宮博物館的入口。購過票後，我們進行第二次安檢，由於故宮的大部份材料都是木，所以故宮是全面禁火的，所有可以生火的東西都不能帶進故宮內。穿過安檢，眼前就是午門！電視劇中說的「午門抄斬」就是在這裡，但其實午門抄斬只是小說家自編之言，實際上午門是不會抄斬的。

We finally entered the Palace. In front of us was a big space and also the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Only the emperors and Empresses can pass through the gate. Other people can only use the gate on both sides.

穿過午門，才叫做正式進入故宮，這裡終於擁有皇宮的氣勢了！眼前的是太和門，它可是故宮外朝宮殿的門口，之前那幾道門都只是進入故宮的門。這太和門基本只有皇帝皇后才能用，其他大臣只能用兩旁的貞度門和照德門。

Pass through the Gate of Supreme Harmony was the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The function of the hall was holding major celebrations, including the emperor’s ascension, emperor’s wedding, etc. Unfortunate, we were not allowed to go inside the hall. Outside the hall there were two big water tanks. They were used to store water for fire. But I wondered who can moved such a big tank?

好了！穿過太和門，終於迎來第一個宮殿了！這個是太和殿，是皇宮舉行重大慶典活動的地方，包括皇帝登基，冊封皇后，封狀元等都在這裡進行。不過，故宮的宮殿都不淮入內參觀，我們只能從外拍攝。殿外有兩個缸，是當年救火用的水缸，長年儲滿水，但我倒是奇怪這麼大的水缸有誰搬得動？

After the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it was the Hall of Central Harmony. The emperor toke rest and prepared before the start of majors event, just like a VIP Room.

穿過太和殿就是中和殿，這宮殿是給皇帝在重大活動開始前休息及準備的地方，就等如今天的VIP Room了！

keep moving on and we saw the Hall of Preserving Harmony. In the Ming dynasty, it was the changing room of the emperor. In the Qing Dynasty, it’s the place holding the Chinese New Year banquet and also the Imperial> exam.

穿過中和殿後就是保和殿，這三個殿加起來就是故宮的外朝三大宮殿。保和殿的作用是什麼？在明朝時這是皇帝的更衣室，到了清朝則是新年時的宴會及殿試的地方了。

The three halls were mainly for work. Then we can see the home of the emperors. Pass through the Hall of Preserving Harmony it was the Gate of Heavenly Purity. The emperors used to listen the working reports of ministers.

經過三大宮殿，終於到了內廷的正門了，這是乾清門，在清朝，皇帝就是坐在這裡聽各大臣匯報工作。

Then it’s the Hall of Heavenly Purity. from the 15th century to the 17th century, it was the bedroom of the emperors. After 17th century, it became of office of the emperors.

乾清門後自然是乾清宮，乾清宮早期可以皇帝的居所，但自雍正帝起，乾清宮成為了皇帝的工作室。當然，兩旁的小殿都是皇帝使用的，正如乾清宮旁這小殿，正是康熙年幼時與太監練習布庫的地方，他就是在這裡~~和韋小寶~~智擒鳌拜。

After that was the Hall of Union. The hall placed the 25 Imperial seals of China. The seals represent the words of the emperor.

乾清宮後是交泰殿，這裡是放置25個皇帝印璽的地方。

Going forward is the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. It’s where the empress lived.

再往前走就是坤寧宮了！坤寧宮可是皇后居住的地方，不過後來雍正搬到養心殿住，皇后也搬走了，變成了薩滿祭祀之所。

Behind the Place of Earthly Tranquility is the Imperial Garden. It could only be used by the emperor.

坤寧宮後是御花園，是皇帝和后妃休憩~~和玩遊戲~~的地方。

We spent around an hour walking a straight line from the south gate to the north gate and we had visited 6 palaces only. And there were 2000 building in the Forbidden City. So I don’t introduce them one by one here and only to mention a few interesting: this is the palace for the Empress Dowager Cixi. She was the most powerful person in the late 19 century, even more powerful than the emperor.

走了那麼久，其實都只是走了故宮的六大宮殿，我們還有二千多座未觀看.....所以我就不一一介紹了，只介紹幾個特別的：這就是慈禧太后的皇宮居所，我看了一下，床好像很硬....

In this palace, we may see the only western style building. The original palace was destroyed by fire so in 1909 they were planning for a new one. At that time the western style architecture was spread to China and they started to build a western palace. But later the government lacked money due to war. And in 1912, the Qing Dynasty was defeated. It’s the Yanzi Palace.

還有這一個可能是故宮唯一的西洋建築，這建築俗稱水晶宮，1909年時，宮殿因火災燒掉而需要重建，由於當時西洋風吹到中國，端康太妃便打算建一個西洋宮殿在故宮，不過後來國庫空虛停工，然後，清朝都沒有了。至於這個宮殿叫什麼名字？它叫延禧宮。

The Forbidden City contains tones of stories. It can take you two to three days to walk through it! However my schedule is fully packed so I couldn’t spend more time to visit. The museum provides a tour guide device in over 40 languages. So you must not miss the stories. Next time when I go Beijing again I will visit the Forbidden City again!

故宮之大，所藏故事之多，實在是可以走幾天的！不過行程有限不能盡覽。至於外國的朋友來到故宮也不用擔心不了解當中的故事，因為故宮提供了講解機，有幾十種語言的！我想，下一次去北京，我要再去一次故宮。

!steemitworldmap 39.9150659 lat 116.3950708 long d3scr

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！

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