Great Wall Overview

Author: Wang Shuqing
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Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: The Forbidden City in Beijing was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties and was then known as the Purple Forbidden City. It was first constructed in June 1406 during the fourth year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty and completed on the fourth day of the eleventh month in the eighteenth year of the Yongle reign (December 8, 1420). Fourteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, including the Yongle, Hongxi, Xuande, Zhengtong, Jingtai, Chenghua, Hongzhi, Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing, Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen, as well as ten emperors of the Qing Dynasty, including Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng, Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Xuantong, resided here and ruled the nation. According to the traditional customs of ancient China, when a dynasty fell, its imperial palace was referred to as the Forbidden City. In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution ended the Qing Dynasty's rule. On November 5, 1924, the last Qing emperor, Puyi, left the Forbidden City, and the Committee for the Restoration of the Qing Imperial Palaces was established. On October 10, 1925, the Palace Museum was founded, transforming the Purple Forbidden City, which had been used for 500 years by the Ming and Qing dynasties, into a modern museum. The countless treasures of the past dynasties within the palace became the museum's collections.