"Zi Yue: The saint stands in an image with all his will, sets up a gua to indulge in hypocrisy, and speaks with all his words."
- "The Genealogy of The Lexicon"
In the cognition of the ancients, the unsatisfactory speech reflected the limitations of language very well, so "standing like an image with full intention", appropriately introducing the concept of elephant, was used to unify the contradictions between speech and meaning. The Zen heart is imprinted, the so-called wonderful thing, and so on.
In terms of the layout and structure of the Forbidden City building, as well as the application of color, it also reflects the wisdom of the ancients on "meaning" and "image". In the traditional architectural aesthetics, it is embodied in the wisdom of the image and intention, and it is vividly expressed in the Forbidden City, the pinnacle of ancient brilliant architectural art. The Forbidden City has also been included in the World Cultural Heritage List.
The Forbidden City, which has not fallen for 600 years
In the fourth year of Ming Chengzu Yongle, in 1406 AD, the Construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing began, and after more than 600 years of ups and downs, the Forbidden City in Beijing still stands there like a monument in the history of architecture. After the residence and life of twenty-four emperors, the Forbidden City has become one of the most political, economic and cultural centers in the history of the mainland. Therefore, the Forbidden City in Beijing has a very strong cultural heritage.
For such a beautifully designed building, most people are dumped for it, but a considerable number of people are particularly curious about it, that is, why such a beautiful wooden building has not collapsed after six hundred years of ups and downs.
For this issue, not only the Chinese people are very interested, but even foreign friends have a strong interest. To this end, they spared no effort to find some professional carpenters and perfectly copied the Forbidden City according to the ratio of one to five.
The replica Forbidden City building adopted the tenon and bucket arch structure of ancient Chinese architecture, and after the reproduction, the person in charge of the experiment began to implement seismic simulation tests on it as a whole. Originally, these foreigners thought that the Forbidden City, which was purely caused by wooden buildings, could not withstand the earthquake.
But the results were unexpected, and they found that no matter how the intensity and intensity of the earthquake were simulated, the replica Forbidden City building had at most undergone a little displacement, and there was no sign of collapse at all.
For such a result, the foreigners who were observing at the scene were shocked. Then, after a series of calculations and simulations, Lao Wai discovered the mystery of the Forbidden City. Originally, all this had a lot to do with the bucket arch structure used in the Forbidden City building.
Due to the very ingenious design of the bucket arch structure, the bottom end of the load-bearing column of the Forbidden City building is not fixed on the floor tiles, but "placed" on the ground. In this way, even after some earthquakes or wind and rain, the exquisite building of the Forbidden City will only "shake" under the action of force, and will not collapse directly.
To some extent, the reason why the Forbidden City has not collapsed after six hundred years of wind and rain, the bucket arch structure of its building occupies a large part of the factor. Because of this, when a major earthquake occurred in Tangshan that year, the entire city was reduced to ruins, but the Forbidden City, which was only two hundred kilometers away, was safe and sound.
Second, the secret of the floor tiles of the Forbidden City
Of course, in addition to the arch structure of the Forbidden City, there is also a very important secret hidden on the floor tiles of the Forbidden City. If it were not for the floor tiles that can be seen everywhere, the arch structure of the Forbidden City alone would not have been able to escort it for more than six hundred years alone.
In 1959, the Forbidden City ushered in the largest renovation in two hundred years, followed by two large-scale renovations in 1974 and 1998. When the staff pried open the floor tiles of the Forbidden City for research, they found that the floor tiles that could be seen everywhere in the Forbidden City were actually the so-called "golden bricks".
The production of "golden bricks" in the Forbidden City is extremely complex, and it has to go through processes such as soil extraction, billet making, firing, kilning, polishing and soaking. This is true for the general floor tile manufacturing, and for the "golden bricks" needed by the royal construction of the Forbidden City, its materials and processes are excellent.
Measured by time alone, it will take three years to complete all the processes of the Forbidden City's "Golden Bricks". And the key point is that a kiln of "gold bricks" that took three years to manufacture can only produce a maximum of seven thousand pieces. This does not include a certain percentage of defective and waste products.
What is shocking is that the floor tiles of the Forbidden City have been laid with more than 80 million pieces, and the entire fifteen floors have been laid, and the manpower and material resources consumed are unimaginable. In addition, it is very important that these "golden bricks" use glutinous rice juice and the adhesive mixed with triad soil to bond the masonry in terms of bonding.
After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the mortar technology made of this glutinous rice juice mixture has been very mature. Therefore, the Forbidden City's "brocade brick mound" uses this blended mortar. It must be noted that in the history of architecture, the invention of this mortar is very great. It is used to glue the "golden bricks" of the Forbidden City, which are second to none in terms of waterproofness and firmness.
Therefore, it is precisely because of the secret of "gold brick" production and mortar technology that the Forbidden City has experienced hundreds of years of wind and rain and still maintained a complete style. Leaving aside the mortise and bucket arch structure of the wooden buildings of the Forbidden City, the neat and exquisite "golden brick mound" has also played a role that cannot be ignored.
It is said that in order to keep the secret of the "golden brick" production, Zhu Di even ordered that all the craftsmen who burned the "golden bricks" be made dumb. Because of this, experts lament that it is indeed fierce.
Of course, in addition to the above reasons, some experts have found a very interesting statement after research. This statement seems to have a bit of a "feudal superstition", but in general, it still has a certain symbolic significance.
Third, the "door" of fire prevention
When visiting the Forbidden City, if you look closely, you will find that the "door" character is written on the door plaques of the various gates of the Forbidden City. The most intuitive thing is that the last stroke of those "door" words is not hooked upwards, but straight down to the end.
As for why the word "door" in all the door plaques is not marked at the end, it is because this is an expectation of "fire prevention". It is said that after the Fire in the Lin'an Jade Palace in the Song Dynasty burned down the gate, when the minister talked about this matter, he said that the "door" character in the palace plaque was hooked at the end of the pen, and this hook foot with a fire pen was very easy to attract fire.
Since then, the word "door" in the palace door plaque cannot be hooked, which has become a conventional rule. Because of this, the word "door" on all the door plaques of the Forbidden City is written straight down to the end. Of course, the Forbidden City has experienced six hundred years of ups and downs without collapsing, which may have nothing to do with the so-called door plaque writing. But in a sense, this is also a more interesting answer.
Of course, the reason why the Forbidden City has been able to stand in the world for six hundred years without fading in the slightest may be part of the reason. That is the special status of the Forbidden City, the pinnacle of ancient architectural history. Because the Forbidden City is a place of royal activity, it is also the pinnacle of architectural culture. Therefore, no matter what kind of war and chaos has been experienced, basically no one "dares" to deliberately destroy the Forbidden City.
Perhaps this is a bit inaccurate, after all, when the Eight-Power Alliance burned the Yuanmingyuan, it would not take care of so much. But fortunately, the Forbidden City was finally safe and sound.
epilogue:
Ancient continental astronomers divided the stars in the sky into three walls and twenty-eight constellations, as well as other constellations. Among them, the so-called three walls refer to the Tianshiyuan, Taiweiyuan and Ziweiyuan. Because Ziweiyuan is a middle wall, it is also known as Ziwei Palace. Its symbolic meaning is the most noble meaning.
Because of this, the Forbidden City has another name called the Forbidden City. Ancient people believed that Ziwei Palace was the place where the Heavenly Emperor lived, and the feudal emperor preferred to think of himself as the Son of Heaven. Therefore, the imperial palace, the place where the emperor works and lives daily, has become the most honorable place in the world. In this way, the "forbidden" of the Forbidden City also reflects the majesty and nobility of the Heavenly Son's residence.
And a place like the Forbidden City, because it has lived in twenty-four emperors, its status will naturally be more special. Therefore, whether in literary works or film and television works, when the Forbidden City is mentioned, it is mostly referred to the Forbidden City in Beijing.