Forbidden City 5

It just goes on and on…

A view of the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qian Qing Gong) from one of the little museums nearby.

    Qian Qing Gong (Palace of Heavenly Purity).
    This Palace was built in 1420 and rebuilt in 1798. From the Ming Dynasty to the Qing emperor Kangxi's reign, it was the place where the emperor lived and handled state affairs. After the Qing emperor Yongzheng ascended the throne, this palace was used as the place for holding great ceremonies and granting audiences to all sorts of officials as well as foreign envoys.
    During the emperor Yongzheng's reign, the crown prince was selected with a secret way—the emperor put into a box his testament regarding his choice of a son as his successor and hid it behind the horizontal board above the imperial throne in this palace; the box was taken down and opened as soon as the emperor died; and then the appointed crown prince ascended the throne.

What a great place! Little details everywhere. The green and white object that doesn't fit into the overall color scheme is a recycling container of the type springing up all over Beijing these days. I applaud the effort but not the color!

This special little hideaway near the north gate of the Forbidden City was the living place for the emperor. The next two pictures show it in more detail.

Note the little gate on the right. There are gates everywhere in China. They make every entrance into a little ceremony.

This is the beginning of a little botanical garden near the north end of the Forbidden City. It is the last part of the grounds that most visitors see as they move through from south to north. We doubled back, however.

Unfortunately, March was too early for some of the flowers to have grown yet. But it was still beautiful.

Ahead to Forbidden City 6
Back to Forbidden City 4
Back to Beijing March 2003