Forbidden City

"Palace Museum" redirects here. For the palace museum in Taipei, see National Palace Museum.

The Forbidden City, now known as the Palace Museum, is a large historical palace and an art museum in the historical center of Beijing, China. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is very important to the history and architecture of China. The Forbidden City was the palace of the Emperor of China from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. For almost 500 years, it was as the home of emperors and their houses, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.

The Forbidden City
故宫

The Gate of Divine Might, the northern gate. The lower tablet reads "The Palace Museum" (故宫博物院)
Location within central Beijing Show map of central Beijing Forbidden City (Beijing) Show map of Beijing
Established	1925
Location	4 Jingshan Front St, Dongcheng, Beijing, China
Coordinates	39.915987°N 116.397925°E / 39.915987; 116.397925
Type	Art museum, Imperial Palace, Historic site
Visitors	16.7 million[1]
Curator	Wang Xudong
Area	72 hectares[2]
Built	1406–1420
Architect	Kuai Xiang
Architectural style(s)	Chinese architecture
Website	en.dpm.org.cn (English) www.dpm.org.cn (Chinese)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of	Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang
Criteria	Cultural: i, ii, iii, iv
Reference	439-001
Inscription	1987 (11th Session)

Forbidden City
"Forbidden City" in Chinese characters
Chinese name
Chinese	紫禁城
Literal meaning	"Purple [North Star] Forbidden City"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zǐjìnchéng IPA [tsɨ̀.tɕîn.ʈʂʰə̌ŋ] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jí-gam-sìhng IPA [tsǐː.kɐ̄m.sȅŋ] Jyutping Zi2-gam3-sing4 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chí-kìm-siâⁿ Tâi-lô Tsí-kìm-siânn
Manchu name
Manchu script	ᡩᠠᠪᡴᡡᡵᡳ ᡩᠣᡵᡤᡳ ᡥᠣᡨᠣᠨ
Romanization	dabkūri dorgi hoton ‘Former inner city’

Name

The name "Forbidden City" is a translation of the Chinese name Zijin Cheng (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjìnchéng; literally: "Purple Forbidden City"). The name Zijin Cheng was used for the first time in 1576.^[3] Another English name for Zijin Cheng is "Forbidden Palace".^[4] The word Zi means "purple" in Chinese. It means the North Star. This is because in ancient China it was called the Ziwei Star. In Chinese astrology the North Star was the home of the Celestial Emperor. Because the Forbidden City was the home of the emperor on Earth, the Chinese thought that it was Earth's equivalent of the Ziwei Star. Jin means "Forbidden" in Chinese. This was because no one was allowed to go in or out of the palace without the emperor's permission. Cheng means city.^[5]

The Chinese don't call the Forbidden Palace Zijin Cheng anymore. They call it Gùgōng (故宫) now. This means the "Former Palace". The museum that is in the Forbidden City is called the "Palace Museum" (Chinese: 故宫博物院; pinyin: Gùgōng Bówùyùan).

History

After Zhu Di became the Yongle Emperor, the capital of China was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. In 1406 construction began on the Forbidden City.^[5] The construction of the palace went on for over 14 years and more than a million workers had to work on building it.^[6] (1406-1420)