Entering the Meridian Gate, there are five marble bridges on the InnerGolden Water River, shaped like a bow. The five marble bridges just look likefive arrows reporting symbolically to heaven. The five bridges were supposed torepresent the five virtues preached by Confucius-benevolence, righteousness,rite, intelligence and fidelity.
Across the Inner Golden Water Bridge, we get to the Gate of SupremeHarmony. During the Ming and early Qing dynasties, here was the place where theemperor gave his audience, accepted documents from his ministers and madedecisions here. There are two bronze lions guarding in front of the Gate ofSupreme Harmony. The male lion was usually put on the left, playing with anembroidered design ball, which is said to show the emperor's supreme power. Theother one on the right is the female lion, playing with a lion cub with its leftpaw symbolizing prosperity of the royal family's offsprings.
Across the Gate of Supreme Harmony , we come to the Hall of SupremeHarmony. Here the emperor held grand ceremonies such as the emperor'senthronement ceremony, the wedding ceremony, dispatched generals to the battles,and the emperor received the successful candidates of the imperial examinationetc. Also, the emperor held grand feasts each year on New Year's Day, Wintersolstice and his own birthday.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony is 35.5 meters high with double layered roofthat represents the highest construction rank of all. Now, let's ascend thestairs and move on to look at articles in display on two sides of the hall. Onthe top layer of the terrace stands a sundial on the east an imperial grainmeasure on the west. The sundial is an ancient time measure or a time-measuringapparatus used in the old days. The sundial tells the time by seeing the shadowof the metal pin on the sundial, which has an inclination angle of 50 degreeswith the graduation on it. The grain measure was used as the national standardmeasure in agriculture in the old days. Both the grain measure and the sundialwere symbols of the emperor's justice and rectitude.
There are two pairs of incense burners in the shape of bronze dragon-headedtortoises and bronze cranes placed on each side. They are both symbols oflongevity.
When you look up the building in the Forbidden City, you can see mythicalanimal statues on the eaves of each building. Originally, there used to be bigwooden nails on the roof to prevent the tiles from sliding down. Later they werereplaced by glazed tiles, which were shaped into mythical animal statues forbetter beautification. They are symbols of auspiciousness and peace, and peoplebelieved that they are capable of subduing fire and warding off evilspirits.
Inside of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, you can see the gilded caissonceiling high above the throne with a magnificent sculpture of a curling dragonplaying with a huge pear was called “Xuanyuan Jing”， representing orthodoxsuccession.
This hall is supported by 72 giant columns inside. In the old days, thetraditional way of the Chinese to calculate a “room” is that: a square enclosedby four pillars was treated as one “room”， so the hall can be said to have 55“rooms” in total. The six columns inside are gilded and painted with coileddragon amidst clouds, and the rest are painted red.
The emperor's throne is placed on the dais in the center, and carved incloud and dragon patterns and gilded. On both sides of the throne are a pair ofelephant-shaped incense burners symbolize universal peace and two incenseburners shaped as a mythical animal 9,000 kilometers per day and speaking allthe languages of nearby kingdoms. Around the throne stand a pair of bronzecranes and in front of the dais is four cloisonné incense burners. The floor onthe ground is paved with “Gold Bricks”， specially made in Suzhou.
The Hall of Middle Harmony is a square-shaped hall with a single pyramidicroof standing behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony. This was the place where theemperor would take a short rest before he went to the Hall of Supreme Harmonyfor grand ceremonies. Every year before the emperor went to the Altars andTemples, the emperor would receive and read the sacrificial address here.
Before the emperor went to the Altar of Agriculture for offering thesacrifice, the seeds intended for spring sowing and the ploughs were examinedhere, just to show the concern of the emperor for agriculture.
According to the rule, the imperial genealogy should be revised every tenyears. The ceremony of presenting the genealogy to the emperor for revision andapproval would also be held here.
Now, we come to the Hall of Preserving Harmony, the last of the three fronthalls.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, on each New Year's Eve and the 15th day ofthe lunar moth, banquets would be held to entertain the civil and militaryofficials and the princes and envoys of the Mongolian nobles and othernationalities. To celebrate the princess's marriage, the emperor would incitethe bridegroom and his father as well as their relatives who served for theimperial government to a banquet.
The Imperial Palace Exam was held here once every three years in the Qingdynasty.
Just behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony, there is a big MarbleRampcarved with mountain cliffs, sea waves, clouds and nine dragons. It is 16.57meters long, 3.07 meters wide and 1.7 meters thick, and weighs about 250tons.
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