If you ever plan on traveling to Beijing, China your number one attraction would be the Forbidden Palace. If you love architecture and history, Forbidden palace may be a surprise to you and by far would be the perfect and the most thrilling place for you to visit. With over 3000 years of history, this might be the oldest place you have ever been to.
The previous home of Chinese monarchs is an enormous complex of buildings, open spaces and complicated designs. You can spend a lot of time just walking around, fascinating and picturing what life at the court of the monarch was like.
The Forbidden city also is known as The Palace Museum was home to 24 Chinese Ming and Qing emperors for generations. It opened to the public in 1949.
You might be wondering why it is called the Forbidden Palace. That’s because it was home to the emperors and the regular public was forbidden from entering. Many of its Inhabitants were not allowed to leave. This is where it got its name. Not as histrionic as it sounds. I know…
The first thing when you enter, you'll see is a gigantic square. It is the external part of the building of the Forbidden City. The Emperor and his followers seldom made an entrance in this part of the city. It was for official get-togethers and military exercises.
The only people living inside of the city within was the Emperor, his Empress, his concubines and his guards that were emasculated men known as Eunuchs. Even the relatives of the Emperor who were male were not allowed to stay for a night in the inner circle of the city.
The History Of EUNUCHS In The Forbidden City
The Eunuchs protected these concubines of the emperor. Emasculated men were the only people that were allowed at the inner walls of the city and in the courtrooms.
This was to ensure that the Empress or these concubines could not get impregnated by any other than the Emperor himself. These Eunuchs lived a very privileged life. They were given power and wealth. Even a good position. They just had to do everything that got along without being a man.
The Concubines of the Forbidden City
The concubines of the Forbidden city lived a very lonely life in the Forbidden City.
By the time of the Qing Dynasty, which was China’s final dynasty. There were a total of 20,000 concubines on the premises.
There were some which never even saw the Emperor ever, but they were kept trapped inside the city till their last breath.
Others who were in favour of the Emperor lived a prosperous life and had enough affluence and luxury to spread to their prolonged families.
There was a ferocious competition between the concubines to be in good favour and it often leads to murder. It was a merciless and isolated life for the concubines.
These concubines were allowed to visit their friends and families only once a year and go behind the walls.
The emperor was not ever seen by the commoners. And if anyone tried to enter the city without the permission of the emperor they were imprisoned and left to die a very slow and painful death.
And so, there was an impermeable wall build which stood in the middle of the city which guarded their luxurious lifestyle and separated them from the commoners.
The Landmark of the Forbidden City
There are many landmarks in China and just like that there’s a landmark in the Forbidden city as well. And that is the gigantic decadent monument of the Emperor. Which took one million men working diligently in miserable and gloomy condition for 15 years.
In conclusion, The forbidden city is built at the heart of Beijing. No matter how much the city changes, this part always remains the same. It is a captivating reversion to a preceding time and a different culture and a look into Imperial China.
