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Introduction to the Forbidden City

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This week, we watched a video named: The Forbidden City-The Great Within presented by Discovery in class. The name, Forbidden City, refers to the imperial palace located in the heart of the capital of ancient China at Ch’ing Dynasty. Discovery uses what is now the Imperial Palace Museum to illustrate the architectural treasure by displaying it in historical perspective, resurrecting its last 150 years concluding with Pu Yi, the Last Emperor, in the 1920s. The final four leaders under the Ming and Ch’ing dynasties fuse verbal history and visual replay to indicate secrets of Chinese imperialism; it is a beautiful tease. Couriers, spies and dedicated ministers had kept the world of the emperors from commoners’ understanding, beyond their reach; by the end of the 19th century, interventions of foreign powers, public awareness and the rise of the Boxers began picking at the old system. The imperial palace became, eventually, simply a refuge. In the beginning of the documentary, it introduces us how Forbidden City was formed. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace form the Ming dynasty to the end of the Ch’ing dynasty. It served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years. Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of almost 1000 buildings and covers 180 acres. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture. There are reds which are refer to good luck, yellows which are refer to power, and the most significant thing, the dragon everywhere in the palace. There were many people including Han, Mongolia, Manchuria in the entire empire, but none of them were allowed to enter where emperor lived, expect the emperor’s servants who were responsible to take care of the emperor’s life. The emperor cannot function without them. Next part of documentary is taking about a very important person, the Kangxi emperor

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