The square, covering over 7 acres or 30,000 square metres, is known as Taihe Square or the Square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. This is the outer palace of the Forbidden City.
Five bridges cross a stream with a central "Imperial Road" paved with stone slabs. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the largest wooden building in China and one of the largest in the world. It covers 2,377 square meters or over half an acre.
There are two other important buildings, the Hall of Preserving Harmony and the Hall of Central Harmony. All these outside halls of the Forbidden City were where the emperors held meetings, ceremonies, examinations for government officials. Very harmoniously, no doubt.
Wait...there's a Hall of Supreme Harmony. I need to go there. No, I need to go there with my whole family!
ReplyDeleteenjoying your blog, and I did join
ReplyDeleteWow. It seems incredible that China has such an incredible culture and heritage but that it has been explicitly attacked through various political movements. What is it about arts, culture and heritage that made governments in Cambodia and China so afraid??
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting Sheila.
ReplyDelete@Christine, and from there to the Hall of Preserving Harmony. :)
ReplyDelete@Dean, thank you!
@Emm, It's on a par with book banning, or book burning. Somehow traditional culture encourages too much thought? Who knows.