|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| royalld | profile | all galleries >> Out in the World >> China 2008 >> Day Two - Part 3 | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow | map |
China - Forbidden City (the Old Palaces)- Imperial Gardens So far we had transited Tiananmen Square and walked around the Hall of Supreme Harmony before entering the inner courtyards of the Old Palaces (Forbidden City). Along the way I learned that the height of a building’s threshold denoted the status of the resident. The higher the resident’s status, the higher his threshold. Threshold height also had a more practical role. They kept flood waters and crawling critters from easily entering the building. Next we used the interlocking courtyards to reach the Hall of Consolation, also known as “where the Emperor goes to play”. During the age of the Dynasties Manchurian women (girls) ages 13 to 17 were automatically engaged to the royal family with the understanding that they make be drafted as the Emperor’s concubine. If not selected by the age of 18 they were free to have a boyfriend or get married. The collection of small rooms or bays in the Hall of Consolation served as housing for the Emperors many concubines. The Old Palaces were guarded and served by eunuchs. These castrated men were trusted to be guardians and servants of the Emperors concubines and they, more or less, had free reign to travel about the Forbidden City. One Emperor, his name is missing in my notes, had more than 100,000 eunuchs handing the domestic affairs of the Imperial City. The Emperor traveled through the Imperial Gardens when he left his residence to go anywhere else in the Imperial city. Sand taken from the moat that surrounds the Imperial City was used to build the hill that the Imperial Palace sits on. Cypress trees in the Imperal Garden were older than the Forbidden City itself. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| comment | share |
| shatterbug | 06-Oct-2008 18:52 | |