Gate of Supreme Harmony

Behind the Meridian Gate, Wumen, one can see five bridges and the courtyard beyond. Further north in the center, it is Taihemen, the Gate of Supreme Harmony.

The river is called the InnerGoldenRiver and the bridges called the Inner Golden River Bridges. The central bridge is reserved for emperors exclusively. The two flanking it are reserved for royal family members while the two outside are for ordinary officials. The bridges are well decorated with marble balustrades carved with motifs of dragon and phoenix. The river serves as fire hydrant in case of fire as well as decorations.

The courtyard beyond covers a space of 10,000 square meters. There are no trees on the square since in ancient China emperors considered themselves Son of Heaven, born to reign over the country, so they should occupy the highest position. Nothing was allowed to overwhelm the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the highest building in the Forbidden City and trees were no exception. Certainly there are many other stories about this strange arrangement.

You will be astonished when you are informed that the ground in the palace was laid in a very special way - seven layers lengthwise and eight layers crosswise, totaling fifteen layers to protect assassins from digging tunnels into the palace. And the bricks were specially made to sound nice when walking on. The rooms on each side were said to serve as warehouses for storing such items as fur, porcelain, silver, tea, silk, satin and clothes.

Taihemen, north of the square, is the main gate of the Outer Court and fairly grand. The gate is guarded by a couple of gilded bronze lions which were aimed to show imperial dignity. The east one is male, with its front right paw put on a ball, meaning imperial power extended worldwide. The lioness on the west puts its front left paw on a lion cub, indicating prosperously growing family.

The gate is an important place where emperors' wedding ceremonies were usually held and in the October of the first year under Shunzhi reign of the Qing dynasty, Emperor Shunzhi announced an act of grace.

Are you impressed? You've already seen Taihedian (Hall of Supreme Harmony), go!