故宫英文导游词
2020-03-03 21:11:21 来源：范文大全收藏下载本文
The Meridian Gate The Forbidden City has four gates.Here is the Meridian Gate, the main entrance to the Forbidden City.In Chinese, we call it Wumen.Men in Chinese means gate.And Wu is the short of Ziwu in Chinese which could be translated as meridian line in English.According to the ancient Chinese compa, the word “meridian” indicates the direction of the south.So the Meridian Gate also served as the south gate of the Forbidden City.Besides, Chinese emperor believed that the meridian line went right through the Forbidden City and his imperial residence was the center of the whole universe.This is why Chinese emperors considered themselves as the “Son of the Heaven.” So the Forbidden City best demonstrates the elements of Chinese palace architecture, such as “supremacy”, “hierarchy” and “everlasting.”
Now please look at the central gateway.It was exclusively for the emperor.The empre could use it once when she got married on the day of the imperial wedding ceremony.On that day, the empre could be permitted to enter the Forbidden City through the middle doorway on a sedan chair.That is the only chance in her life.
Another exception was for the top three outstanding scholars who paed the Imperial Palace Examination.Just on the day when the results were announced, they were allowed to go through the central gateway.This was the greatest honor for the Chinese scholars in the old time.And this is why Chinese people have been valuing education so much.The gate as high as Tower.The Meridian Gate is 35 meters high.The gate is topped by five towers commonly known as the Five Phoenix Towers.It is recorded that the towers were installed with the bells and drums.When the emperor went to the Temple of Heaven, bells were struck.When he went to the Ancestral Temple, drums were beaten in order to publicize the event.
As a matter of fact, there were mainly two functions for the Meridian Gate.One is for Chinese emperor to enjoy the festival activities and the other is for reviewing the official ceremonies.“Court Beating” also took place in front of the Meridian Gate; it is a kind of punishment for those offending officials by beating them on their buttocks with sticks.And any officials who went against the emperor’s wishes would be taken out of the Meridian Gate and be beaten in this way; some of them even were beaten to death on the spot.But fortunately, this terrible punishment was abolished in the Qing Dynasty.Outside the gate there are 3 gateways and they are rectangle, but inside the gate, there are 5 gateways and there are round.And this is the typical building method for imperial constructions.Three obvious doorways can be seen from the outside, but five seen from inside.In Chinese traditions, people believe that the heaven is round and earth is rectangle.
The Symbolism of the Architecture in the Palace Museum Ladies and gentlemen, you may have seen a winding brook before us.It is the Inner Golden Water River.There are 3 reasons to dig a river channel here.First of all, the river is shaped like a bow, and the five marble bridges look like five arrows.This layout shows that the emperors ruled the country on behalf of Heaven.Secondly, the river was for draining the rain water away from the Forbidden City.Thirdly, it is used for the fire prevention.Just like the emperors want to report to the heaven, that’s why the gateways of meridian gate is round inside.The round represent heaven.Now we are walking acro the bridge and entering the courts of the palace.Here is the Gate of Supreme Harmony.There are a pair of bronze lions who are guarding the gate.In China, no matter yesterday or today, people regard stone, iron and bronze lions, placed at the gate, could ward off the evil spirits.Ladies and Gentlemen, could you tell me which lion is male and which is female? (yeah, you are so smart/ sorry, you said the opposite) The lion on the right is female, and she is playing with a baby lion.The Female lion and the lion cub are considered to be symbol of prosperity of the royal family’s offspring.The male lion, playing with a ball, is said to represent the emperor’s supreme power and state unity.Chinese people are good at imagination and symbolization.
Now you can see the figures on the roof, they are the glazed tiles with the mythical animal statues to prevent the tiles from sliding down.The roofs are decorated with a line of statuettes led by a man riding a phoenix and followed by dragon, Phoenix, Lion, Heavenly Horse, Sea Horse, and so on.The number of statuettes represents the status of the building—a minor building might have 3 or 5.Look at the Hall of Supreme Harmony: it has 10, the only building in China to be permitted this numbers that time.You can see the yellow roof under the sun is gorgeous, the color of Yellow is the exclusive color of the Chinese emperors.The red and yellow colors used on the palace walls and roofs are also symbolic.Red represents happine, good fortune and wealth.Yellow is the color of the earth.Yellow became an imperial color during the Tang Dynasty, when only members of the royal family were allowed to wear in it and use the color of yellow in their architecture.As you can see, all the roofs in the Forbidden City are yellow.There are only two exceptions.The library at the Pavilion of the Source of Literature had black tiles because black was aociated with water, for the purpose of fire-prevention.Similarly, the Crown Prince’s residences have green tiles because green was aociated with woo, and wood indicates growth and future.The Chinese color culture is very interesting.Believe it or not.Number is another culture point related to the Chinese architecture.According to the Chinese theory of Qian and Kun, the main halls of the Outer and Inner courts in the Forbidden City are all arranged in groups of six—the shape of the Kun Trigram, representing the Earth.According to the Chinese theory of Five Elements, the elements are fire, water, earth, wood and metal.Wood is said to overcome the earth.That’s why the three big halls in the Forbidden City were built on a three-tiered marble terrace, shaped like the Chinese character “earth”.
The Out Court and Inner Palace The Forbidden City is divided into two parts: the Outer Court and the Inner palace.The former consists of the first three main halls, where the emperor received his courtiers and conducted grand ceremonies, while the latter was the living quarters for the imperial residence.At the rear of the Inner Palace is Imperial Garden where the emperor and his family sought recreation.The most important buildings are situated on the central north-south axis.Beyond the Gate of Supreme Harmony, there stands the Hall of Supreme Harmony.It stands along the north-south axis on the triple marble terrace.Each terrace is higher than the other, encircled by marble balustrades carved with dragon and phoenix designs.The dragon and phoenix were symbols of the emperors and the emprees, respectively.You’ll find 18 bronze incense burners, representing the 18 provinces of China during the Qing Dynasty.Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there are the hall of Middle Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.The Hall of Supreme Harmony, also known as the Throne Hall, was first built in 1420.It is the largest existing hall of wooden structure in China.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties here used to be the place where the emperor had grand ceremonies.For example, the new emperor’s enthronement ceremony, emperor’s birthdays and wedding ceremonies and other important occasions such as the Winter Solstice, the Chinese New Year and the dispatch of generals to battles, and so on.On such occasions there would be an imperial guard of honor standing in front of the Hall that extended all the way to the Meridian gate.The Hall of Supreme Harmony is 35 meters high with a double-layered roof that represents the highest construction rank of all.Right in the center of the hall stands a red sandalwood platform about 2 meters high.The emperor’s gilded throne, carved with nine dragons, is placed on the platform.Around the throne stand a pair of bronze cranes, two elephant-shaped incense burner and two tripods in the shape of mythical beasts.The pillars, encircling the platform, are decorated with coiled dragons.Above the throne is the gold painted caion ceiling.In the middle of the ceiling is the design of two dragons playing with pearls.The pearls, so called “Xuanyuan Mirror”, were made of gla and painted with mercury.It represents orthodox succeion.It was believed that “Xuanyuan Mirror” was a symbol of the emperor who was the legitimate succeor.It was also a symbol to subdue fire.The floor is paved with “golden bricks”.The hall is heavily painted with dragons and has an aura of solemnity and mystery.The Hall of Middle Harmony is smaller and square with windows on all sides.Here the emperor rehearsed for ceremonies.It is followed by the Hall of Preserving Harmony in which banquets and imperial examinations were held.Behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony lies a huge marble ramp with clouds and dragons carved in relief.The marble, 250 tons in weight, is placed between two flights of marble steps along which the emperor’s sedan was carried up or down the terrace.It is the largest piece of stone carving in the Imperial Palace.
The Gate of Heavenly Purity leads to the Inner Palace.The three halls of the Inner Palace are replicas of the three halls in the front, but smaller in size.They are the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union and Peace, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.The Palace of Heavenly Purity was once the residence of the Ming emperors and the first two of the Qing emperors.Then the Qing Emperor Yong Zheng moved his residence to the Hall of Mental Cultivation and turned it into an audience hall to receive foreign envoys and handled the state affairs.After the emperor’s death, his coffin was placed here for a period of mourning.The Palace of Union and Peace was the empre’s throne room, where the empre held the important ceremonies and her birthday celebration.The Hall of Earthly Tranquility, once a private living room for the empre, was partitioned.The west chamber served religious purposes and the east one was the bridal chamber where the newly married emperor and empre spent their first two nights after their wedding.Behind these three halls lies the Imperial Garden.Relatively small, and compact in design, the garden neverthele contains several elaborate landscaping features.To the north of the garden is the Gate of Divine Prowe, the north gate of the palace.
Distributed to the east and west of the three rear palaces are a series of self-contained courtyards and minor palaces, where the Emperor’s concubines lived.The Hall of Mental Cultivation is located on the south side of the Six Western Palaces.Originally a minor palace, after Qing Emperor Yongzheng moved his living quarters here, this palace had become the most important building besides the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City.
Hall of Mental Cultivation Eastern Chamber is of historical interest because it was here that Empre Dowager Cixi gave audiences behind a screen or controlled power behind the throne for many years, a political phenomenon which was previously unheard of in the records of the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911).When Emperor Tongzhi ascended the throne in 1862 at the age of six, Empre Dowager Cixi and Ci’an (the first empre of Xianfeng ) both sat on a throne in the room, which was separated from the Emperor’s throne by a screen, to aist him in the conduct of state affairs.This practice continued when Emperor Guangxu succeeded to the throne in 1875 at the age of four.But with the sudden death of Ci’an one morning in 1881, state power paed entirely into the hands of the Empre Dowager Cixi.Empre Ci’an was believed to be poisoned to death by Cixi.Cixi effectively held the power and ruled China for as long as 48 years.However, she had to stay behind the screen all the time because at that time in China women were not supposed to be in the Outer Court or to hold any public positions.
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