the Meridian Gate

·The main gate of the Forbidden City, the largest of the four gates, has a history of nearly 600 years and is now an important exhibition hall of the Palace Museum.

·There are three gates in the middle of the tower, and a Yemen is set on both sides of the platform. The central gate can only be used once when the emperor and empress enter the palace in the wedding sedan chair on the day of their wedding, and when the number one scholar of the imperial examination high school, the number one scholar of the imperial examination high school, and the number one scholar of the imperial examination high school, and the number one scholar of the imperial examination high school, and Tanhua come out of the palace.

·Princes and nobles go to the west gate in the middle, civil and military officials go to the east gate, and Yemen at the left and right corners of Chengtai only open on special days.

·The Meridian Gate was the place where the emperor held important ceremonies. In case of large-scale triumphal sacrifice, the emperor would mount the Meridian Gate Tower to receive worship.

·In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor punished his ministers with "tingzhang", which was adapted from the movie and TV drama "pushing out Wumen to behead".

the Meridian Gate

Meridian Gate is the main gate of the Palace Museum in Beijing, with a concave shape. Its shape is the same as that of the Meridian Gate of the Palace Museum in Nanjing. It is located on the north-south axis of the Forbidden City, with a height of 37.95 meters. It was first built in 1420 of the Ming Dynasty, rebuilt in 1647 of the Qing Dynasty, and rebuilt in 1801 of the Qing Dynasty. Meridian Gate in the middle of the sun, when the position of noon, so called Meridian Gate. In front of it are Duanmen, Tiananmen (the main gate of the Imperial City), daqingmen, and later Taihe gate.

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Introduction to Meridian Gate

In front of the Meridian Gate are Duan gate, Tian'anmen Gate (the main gate of the Imperial City, called Chengtian gate in the Ming Dynasty), Daqing gate (called Daming gate in the Ming Dynasty), and then Taihe gate (called Fengtian gate in the Ming Dynasty, changed to Huangji gate later, changed to present name in the Qing Dynasty). Inside each door, the veranda arranged neatly on both sides. This kind of layout, which is surrounded by doors and verandahs, is inherited from the Forbidden City of Nanjing, which is conducive to highlighting the majestic and solemn features of the imperial palace. Meridian Gate is the main gate of the Forbidden City. East, West and north sides of the city are connected by platforms, encircling a square square. In the north, the gate tower is nine rooms wide, with double eaves and yellow tiles. There are 13 verandah rooms on the platforms of the East and West cities, which are arranged from both sides of the gate tower to the south. They are shaped like wild goose wings, also known as wild goose wings tower. There are two pavilions with double eaves at the north and south ends of the East and West Yanyi towers (the pavilions in Ming Dynasty were the same as those in Nanjing Imperial Palace). The majestic Meridian Gate is like three mountains encircling each other, five peaks protruding and imposing, so it is commonly known as wufenglou.

There are five openings in the Meridian Gate, but from the front, it seems to be three. In fact, there are two Yemen on the left and right, which open on the inner side of the East-West platform, one facing west and the other facing east. The two gateways extend eastward and westward into the platform, then turn northward and go out from the north of Chengtai. Therefore, from the back of the Meridian Gate, there are five openings, so there is a saying of "three bright and five dark". The main gate is usually accessible only to the emperor; when the emperor is married, the queen can enter once; and the top three in the palace examination, the top three, and Tanhua can walk out once. In the Qing Dynasty, the Minister of culture and military came in and out of the left door, and the royal family was the prince

Access right door. When the emperor held a grand ceremony in the hall of Supreme Harmony, the civil and military officials came in and out of the two Yemen.

In the middle of the Meridian Gate, there are two pavilions on the left and right of the gate tower, with bells and drums inside. There are rules about when to ring the bell and when to beat the drum. When the emperor offered sacrifices to the temple, the bell rang at the Meridian Gate; when the emperor offered sacrifices to the temple, the drum beat; when the emperor ascended to the temple to hold a ceremony, the bell and drum chimed.

Of course, on the first day of October every year, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty presented the almanacs of the second year at the Meridian Gate, and held a ceremony called "the ceremony of awarding the new moon". In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor beat the ministers who had committed crimes in the square outside the Meridian Gate. In the Ming Dynasty, a large number of ministers were punished by "tingzhang". There is no such saying that they were beaten to death on the spot.

History of Meridian Gate

The Meridian Gate was built in 1420, rebuilt in 1647 and rebuilt in 1801.

Building specifications

The Meridian Gate has a concave shape, which is evolved from the gate of the Han Dynasty. Its shape is directly inherited from the Meridian Gate of the Palace Museum in Nanjing, and the two shapes are the same. Meridian Gate is divided into upper and lower parts. The lower part is the pier and abutment, with a height of 12.00m. There are three doors in the middle, and a Yemen on each side, commonly known as "three bright and five dark". Both sides of the pier and abutment are provided with horse paths for the upper and lower city abutments. Each of the five gateways has its own purpose: the middle gate is for the emperor. In addition, only when the emperor is married, the empress's bridal sedan chair can enter the palace through the middle gate, and the number one, the ranking one, and the Tanhua who pass the palace examination can leave the palace through the middle gate after announcing the results of the palace examination. The east gate is for civil and military officials. The west gate is for the royal family. The two ye gates are only opened when large-scale activities are held. There is a gate tower in the middle of the pier, with a width of 9 rooms, 60.05m, a depth of 5 rooms, 25.00m, and a double eaves roof. There are 13 corridors on both sides of the pier and abutment, commonly known as "wild goose wing building". There are square pavilions with double eaves and sharp roofs at both ends of the veranda. There are three bell and drum pavilions on both sides of the main building. Every time the emperor comes to the temple of heaven and the altar of earth for sacrifice, the bell will ring. Every time he goes to the temple for sacrifice, the drum will ring. The Meridian Gate is also known as the "five Phoenix Tower" because it is high and low, echoing left and right, and shaped like a rosefinch spreading its wings.

Historical use

Make an imperial edict

It was the place where the imperial edicts were issued. The Emperor gave spring cakes at the beginning of spring, cold cakes on the Dragon Boat Festival and flower cakes on the double ninth day. On October 1 of the lunar calendar, a almanac is issued. Every year, on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, a new year ceremony is held at the Meridian Gate to promulgate the almanac. In case of a major war and the victory of the army, a "sacrifice ceremony" was held at the Meridian Gate to present prisoners of war to the emperor.

punishment

In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's "Imperial Staff" for punishing ministers was also held at the Meridian Gate.

In the Ming Dynasty, if the minister violated the dignity of the royal family, he was tied out of the east side of the imperial road in front of the Meridian Gate and spanked for the crime of "rebelling against scale", which was called "tingzhang". At first, it was only a symbolic beating, and later it developed into killing people. For example, in 1519, Emperor Zhu houzhao wanted to go to Jiangnan to choose beautiful women. His ministers remonstrated and dissuaded him. The emperor was angry. Ministers Shu Fen, Huang Gong and other 130 people were killed on the spot. Wang Yangming, a famous scholar of the mind, was also here because he impeached Liu Jin, the eunuch of the current Dynasty. In addition, after inheriting the throne, Zhu Houfu, the emperor of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, wanted to pursue his biological father as emperor, which was resisted by the ministers. More than 100 ministers cried and remonstrated at zuoshun gate. The emperor ordered the execution of tingzhang punishment and killed 17 people on the spot. Therefore, the saying of "Wumen beheading" was widely spread among the people. In fact, the Imperial Palace in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was very strict. The beheading of prisoners was not here, but had to be taken to the execution ground of chaishi (today's West Fourth) or Caishi.

Show the imperial power

Every important ceremony and festival, the emperor's dignified guard of honor should be displayed here.

Address: the gate to the south of the Forbidden City

Longitude: 116.3972016573

Latitude: 39.913865118909

Ticket information: tickets are included in the Forbidden City

Opening hours: the same as the opening hours of the Forbidden City, 24 hours outside the fence.

Chinese PinYin : Wu Men