I can still remember the crowd on that day in the palace. I gave up on taking the photo of the decoration in the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. Continue walking, behind the Hall of Preserving Harmony, it is the Palace of Heavenly Purity (乾清宫), or called the Qianqing Palace. There is a small square in front of the Qianqing Palace; it is the boundary line of the inner and the outer court.
The Square and the Palace of Heavenly Purity
West of the square is the so called RongZongMen (隆宗门), it was one of the important pass ways to the inner court. However, it is now renovated as a restaurant. We have a break here, hot and cold food, drinks and desserts can be found here, but it is expensive to spend around in the palace.
The RongZongMen
The Qianqing Palace is sitting on the central axis of the palace. To it west is maintaining the original decorations which include the Hall of Mental Cultivation (养心殿), the Emperor’s and his wives’ bedrooms. On the other hand, to the east, it is where most of the exhibition halls are. The exhibited items include clocks and watches, china and ceramics, paintings, and jewelries.
When I was in the inner court, I notice that the painting and the pattern on the beams, and roofs are so much different from the outer court. There are more dragons and complicated drawing at the outer court, whereas more flowers and simple tile design at the inner court.
The Roof on the inner court
The flower tile on the wall (inner court)
I saw a lot of the big size copper tubs all the way from the main gate. At first, I thought it might be the cookers people used to prepare food for big event or some tub to cook criminal during the olden days, until I saw the description board for the tub. It is actually used to store water to put off fire in case of emergency. As in the winter, water will become ice; therefore, it needs to be heated up.
Big copper tub
Small copper tub
Description Board
The Hall of Mental Cultivation is kept very well. The structure and design of the building is very detailed and well presented. The wood craft are so amazing. Look at the window rail, it seem like it is made from metal, but it is actually crafted from wood.
My mother and I cursory walk though all the bedrooms till the Imperial Garden (御花园). The Imperial Garden is located at the central axis behind the Qianqing Palace. The Hall of Imperial Peace (钦安殿) is located in the garden on the central axis. In front of the hall, there is a significant pine tree. Its root is being separated in to two and being planted back to the floor. It is called the LianLiBo in Chinese (连理柏). There are a few of these pine trees in the Imperial Garden.
Behind the Imperial Garden, that is the north gate of the palace, called the Gate of Divine Might (神武门). On top of the gate, it is labeled as GuGong Museum. It is really a hard day walking through this huge palace under hot sun. We left the palace through this gate about 4pm.
Travel Tips:
The view of Hall of Mental Cultivation
The Rock Park (御花园景山公园)
The YuJingTing (御景亭)
The YangXinZhai (养心斋)
The Hall of Imperial Peace
The special pine tree (连理柏)
The Gate of Divine Might
Knock knock
The dock nail (门钉) on the Gate of Divine Might
After the Forbidden City, we continued the next destination to the Beihai Park (北海公园). Look out for Trip to Beijing – Beihai Park for more photos and tips.
Travel Tips:
North Gate: Jingshan Park (景山公园), Beihai Park (北海公园);
South Gate: Zhongshan Park (中山公园), Taimiao Temple (太庙),
Gate of Heavenly Peace - Tian'anmen (天安门)East Gate: East Glorious Gate Street (东华门大街)
Little Tips:
As the palace is huge, choose to visit places you wish to visit first if limited time.
Expenses in the palace for F&B is high, get some water before entering from convenience store.
