Lost in the Forbidden City

The usual view of the Forbidden City is the one from Tiananmen Square. Which isn't really part of the Forbidden City at all but merely an outer entryway. After walking through an archway beneath Mao's portrait, you stroll down a large, stone-paved avenue, to the true main gate. The main walkway is paved with smooth marble paving stones but once we got to the outer courtyard of the main gate (surrounded by walls on three sides) we saw that off to the side the paving stones were uneven, with edges sticking up.

At first I assumed that this was due to frost and settling in the 400 years since those stones were first laid. But then another member of our group pointed out that the there was a pattern to the irregularity. The upraised edges seemed to be mostly on the edge that was furthest away from the gate. We have no idea why this might be so, though it might make it more difficult to run toward the gate.

As you pass through the Forbidden City, you encounter a series of three great halls, where the emperor would conduct business and recieve guests. The architecture is concerned with, first and foremost, overawing any visitor. You might walk through a human-sized arch moving from one courtyard to the next, only to see a giant sunken courtyard spread out in front of you, with a great hall on a raised platform in the middle of it.

It would be easy to think that men are fools to be so easily led, that the size of one's palace translates into the supremacy of one's ideas. But I felt the awe as I walked through these spaces, even after 400 years and without all the people of the court adding to the ambience of the place. Certainly this would make me more malleable.

And of course, the notion that it is forbidden adds to the effect, or at least prevents it from becoming familiar, and thus less awe-inspiring. But of course, it is the political/emotional content of such places that leads others to tear them down, or burn them.

After the three great halls comes the living quarters. To the East lay the quarters of the Emperor's number 1 wife, who was chosen for him by his mother. We didn't visit that part. To the West lay his number 2 wife, chosen by himself, and the quarters for concubines. Many of these quarters were restored and could be viewed through glass windows. They featured integrated furnishings, such as a wood-paneled beds that seemed built into the wal. And small tea tables by the window, with a raised platform for sitting or kneeling. No chairs were in evidence.

We were told a story of one beauty from a small town along the Yangtze River named Peach Blossom. She was sent to the Emperor to be his concubine. However, she failed to bribe the imperial portrait painter enough, and so the picture he painted of her was unflattering, and so the Emperor, choosing his companions from their portraits, never visited her.

But Peach Blossom was apparently resourceful and managed to win the favor of a provincial governor, who petitioned the Emperor to have her for his wife. The Emperor assented, and then saw Peach Blossom in person for the first time as they took their leave of him. He had given his word in writing, and could not go back on it, but he was very angry and had the painter executed.

And one cannot stroll the quarters without hearing of the Dowager Empress Xi Ci, who started as a concubine in the Forbidden City. My guess is that she is the most powerful women to ever have lived, top 5 certainly, and she was, as my mother would have said, a real stinker.

Further behind these quarters was a garden. This garden was maze-like, narrow and intimate, just as the great forecourts were open and awe-inspiring. It was here that my daughter and I got lost, somehow moving past the tour guide who had called a halt. We had made it out the back gate before we realized that the rest of the group wasn't with us and that the blue flag which was used to keep us together was nowhere to be seen.

It was a Saturday, and naturally, there were people everywhere. There were many foriegn tour groups, such as ourselves, but the majority were from China it seemed. And every single one of them was going out the back gate, which we needed to go back in. Was I sure about that? Not really. But we did our impersonation of spawning salmon anyway and were rejoined with our group after only about 10 minutes of panic.

At which point, of course, we went back out through the rear gate and got back onto the tour bus.