Like the sanctuaries and pyramids in ancient Egypt, the
Forbidden City in Beijing has a set of rules governing the choice
of its architectural dimensions. Measurements show the layout of
individual courtyards in the Forbidden City was designed according
to specific ratio.
The rear courtyard is 218 meters long and 118 meters wide, and
the front courtyard is 437 meters long and 234 meters wide. As a
result, the ratios of the length to the width in both courtyards
turned out to be the same, reaching six to 11, and the courtyard in
the front is twice as long and wide as the rear courtyard, which
means the front courtyard is four times the size of the rear
one.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was designed according to a
nine-by-five standard, displaying overwhelming imperial power.
There are nine bays (rooms that are each marked by 4 poles) in
length and five bays in width. The ratio of its length and width is
nine to five.
Both nine and five carried special meanings in ancient Chinese
architecture. Numbers can be divided into odds and evens, which
fall into the categories of Yang and Yin respectively, the Chinese
principle of opposing elements. Within the odds less than ten, nine
is the highest one and five ranks in the middle. Accordingly, both
nine and five connoted the supreme imperial power in ancient
China.
However, there are some exceptions.
Tourists may find that there are 11 instead of nine bays in
length in today's Hall of Supreme Harmony. The reason lies in the
fact that the original Hall of Supreme Harmony was destroyed by the
end of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and repaired in 1669 under the
reign of the Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Due to
the lack of a specific special superior wood during the
restoration, the width was adjusted to 11 bays.
The number of zoomorphic figures engraved in the ridges of the
imperial palaces was usually nine. The ridges of the Hall of
Supreme Peace, however, are embossed with 10. This is the only
exception to the number of zoomorphic figure in all the buildings
in China - showing the uniqueness of the building.
Another riddle was the number of doornails. It was an
established rule to have 81 nails on every door in the imperial
palace. There are usually nine rows and nine nails in every row.
However, on the Donghua Gate of the Forbidden City, there were only
eight rows. This is because coffins go through this gate hence the
number of doornails was reduced to an even or yin number.
The Golden Section, referred to as the Divine Proportion, has
similarities to the architecture of the Greek Parthenon and the
Renaissance architecture in Florence. But it also appears that the
design and construction of the Forbidden City comply with the
Golden Section Rule.
The courtyard where the Gate of Supreme Harmony lies in is 200
meters long and 130 meters wide, with a ratio of width to length
reaching 0.65. This number is somewhere near 0.618, the Golden
Section Ratio.
Also, with the distance from the Daming Gate to the Jing
Mountain reaching 2.5 km, and the distance from the Daming Gate to
the center of the Hall of Supreme Harmony hitting 1.5045 km, the
ratio of 1.5045 to 2.5 amounts to 0.618, which is exactly the
Golden Section Ratio.
There is no clear proof that the design of Chinese palaces was
influenced by Western architectural ideas however the employment of
the Golden Section Rule in both China and the West testifies to its
usefulness , and also reveals that human beings, regardless of
nationality, share a common goal in the pursuit of beauty.
Are there 9999.5 rooms in the Forbidden
City?
According to an old legend there are 9999.5 rooms in the
Forbidden City, but that is not really the case. Based on the field
surveys from historic building experts there are 8,707 rooms in the
Forbidden City including all the palaces, halls, studios and
pavilions.
Are dragons in Hall of Supreme Peace too many to
count?
Different kinds of dragon ornaments in the Hall of Supreme Peace
can be found everywhere. People say there are too many to count. .
However, after a lot of hard work, experts figured there were
13,844 altogether.
How much does the Yunlong Stone Strip weigh?
The famous Yunlong Stone Strip paved on the Imperial Palace road
in the Forbidden City is the biggest carved stone in China. Records
show it was carved from a 300-ton rough stone, weighing 239 tons
after roughhewing and 200 after intensive carving.
How many copper jars are there in the Forbidden
City?
Historical records show that once there were 308 copper jars in
the Forbidden City including 22 gold-plated ones.
(China Daily July 20, 2007)
