"Tiananmen Square and Gu-Gong" Beijing Travelogue by mojo1980

When you approach this building to enter the forbidden city, there are 7 bridges to cross. In the past, the centre is only for the emperor. The 2 bridges next to it is for the family, and the following 2 is for important officials. The extreme outermost bridges are for the small officials.

The centre bridge is sealed off, reason being every one will want to be emperor.

This is the place where the emperor ruled his country. If you are lucky, you may spot the emperor welcoming you to his home.

The construction of this city is based mainly on Feng Shui.

If you notice carefully when you enter the main grounds, there are no trees around. Reason? Forbidden City is the centre of Beijing, and is represented by earth. If trees (wood element) is grown, it would harm the feng shui of the city, as wood hurts the properties of earth.

A practical explanation though, is that the concrete in the grounds is to prevent assassins from digging their way to the city.

The structure of the city is that the emperor officiates in the front part of the city, whereas the living quarters of the empress and the concubines are at the back.

There are 999 rooms in the city, with 9 sounding like long on chinese.

This garden is in the inner courts, where potential concubines are chosen.

In the past, this tower gives an overall view of Beijing.

Upon exiting the city at the back(north), you could see a hill. This hill wasnt there initially. The earth dug for the surrounding moat is used for this hill, just for fengshui.