The Palace Museum(故宫导游词).doc

Venus SpaceThe Palace MuseumVenusThe Palace Museum, also called the Forbidden City, is located in the center of Beijing. 24 emperors in Ming and Qing dynasty used to live here since it was built In the Ming Yunglo 18 years (1420).It is known as one of the five big palaces all over the world which involves the French Versailles palace, British Buckingham Palace, the White House, the Russian Kremlin and itself, and also listed as world cultural heritage by the UNESCO.The Palace Museum covers an area of 720,000 square meters with 8707 temples in all which is regarded as incomparable ancient architecture masterpiece and the largest existing ancient imperial palaces in the world. All the temples are in post and panel structure, the roofs made of yellow glazed tiles, green and white stone bases painted with magnificent drawings. Referring to entrances, there are 4 main ones in the Palace Museum and the front door is the Meridian Gate where the emperor released imperial edicts and ordered an expedition. No one but the emperor could walk in and out through the Meridian Gate in ordinary days. But when the emperor got married, the queen could walk though once, and the number one, number two and number three scholars at palace examinations also got a chance to walk through the Meridian Gate to meet the emperor, and at the same time the civil and military officials would walk through the east opening and the royal families through the west.The east door is named as Donghuamen, which is also called the ghost door on account of the bier of the emperor being transported through here and the other two doors are Xihuamen and Shenwumen.Walking through the entrance, now youre in the grand Palace Museum now. According to the layout and functions, the architectures in the Palace Museum that borders the Gate of Celestial Purity are divided into 2 primary parts, the outer palace and the imperial one. And the building atmosphere between the two is widely different.Lets visit the outer palace first. There are three prime palaces in the outer palace which are the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Palace, all situated in an axile wire. The Hall of the Supreme Harmony is the largest in acreage and the most magnificent and best-formed with length and width ratio of 9:5 which represents the royal prerogative. The emperor holds significant ceremonies like enthronements, weddings, and birthdays here.The Hall of Central Harmony is the rest area for the emperor before he goes to the Hall of the Supreme Harmony. And the Hall of the Preserving Harmony is the site for emperors to entertain foreign leaders and to hold palace examinations for scholars pursuing high literary degrees. Apart from the prime palaces, there is Hall of Literary Glary, Pavilion of Imperial Literary，Hospital Stay and South Three on the east and Hall of Martial Valor, Imperial House, etc on the west. Not all of these are open to visitors but you can learn something in history through my introduction.Walking in the outer palace of the Forbidden City, people are impressed with the feeling of being serious, solemn, majestic and grand so as to symbolize the emperors supremacy. Comparatively, the imperial Palace has lively courtyards including gardens, studies, etc. lets go to have a look. The prime palaces of the imperial palace are the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility.The Palace of Heavenly Purity is the feudal emperors resting place. It is said that the emperor used to write the inheritors name on a paper and then put it behind the plaque “Above Head” in the palace. After the emperor died, the paper would be taken out and people would know who the next-emperor was. There were 27 beds in the palace in order to prevent the emperor from being assassinated.The Palace of Earthly Tranquility is the queens resting place and Kangxi, Tongzhi and Guangxu all held their wedding ceremony here.The Hall of Union is situated between the Hall of Heavenly Purity and the Hall of Earthly Tranquility.On two sides they are the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Six Eastern Palaces, Six Western Palaces, the Hall of Abstinence, etc. The Imperial Garden, a place for emperors and the queen and maids to entertain themselves is behind the imperial palace. Out the Palace Museum, it is magic that one cant even see a window as it is specially designed to prevent assassins from finding the way and assassinating the emperor.When walking in the majestic palaces, you can also find countless different dragons as the emperor is defined as the true son of heaven in feudal society. Then how many dragons there actually are in the grand museum? Someone once estimates roughly that there are nearly 40,000 dragons altogether when counting the ones in the palace hall, in bridg