The Forbidden City is one of the best-preserved and largest wooden buildings in the world. Located on the central axis of downtown Beijing, it covers an area of more than 720,000 square meters and has more than 70 palaces of various sizes.
After more than 600 years of wind and rain, the Forbidden City not only carries a rich history and culture, but also hides many unsolved mysteries waiting for us to explore.
For a long time, people have been full of curiosity about the architectural designers of the Forbidden City. However, since the Forbidden City does not clearly mark the time and who designed it, this question has always been an unsolved mystery.
Beijing was originally the fief of King Zhu Diyan, and after he succeeded to the throne, Li Zhigang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and others wrote to say that Beijing was"The Land of Dragons", should follow the example of Ming Taizu to Fengyang and set it as the accompanying capital.
Therefore, Zhu Di vigorously promoted the status of Yanjing Beiping Mansion, renamed Beiping to Beijing, and relocated wealthy households from Jiangnan and merchants and ordinary people from Shanxi to this place. In the tenth year of Yongle, he ordered the construction of the imperial palace and city walls of Beijing according to the design of the Nanjing Imperial Palace.
At that time, the construction of the Forbidden City was presided over by Kuaixiang, so some people mistakenly thought that he was the designer. However, expert research found that it was Cai Xin, a native of Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, who really designed the internal structure and architecture.
Because Kuaixiang is only 20 years old, he is not qualified for such a heavy responsibility in terms of age and governance experience. Although Cai Xin's records are very few, there are different opinions about the number of rooms in the Forbidden City, some people think it is 9,999 rooms, some people say 9,999 and a half rooms.
In fact, the so-called "half-room house" refers to a small room at the west end of the Wenyuan attic, with only the area of going up and down the stairs.
Wenyuan Pavilion, a treasure house of books, attaches great importance to fire prevention. In order to prevent the destruction of the book collection by fire, the tradition of building an odd number of rooms in the Forbidden City was abandoned, and only 6 rooms were built.
But in order to make the architectural layout more aesthetically pleasing, a small room in the west end is as unique as half a room. As a result, it is rumored that the number of rooms in the Forbidden City has reached 9,999 and a half.
However, after actual measurements, experts found that the number of rooms in the Forbidden City was only more than 8,700, showing a unique design.
People often marvel at the plaques on the doors of the Forbidden City"doors"Why is the last stroke of the word always straight up and down, without hooking feet? It is often mentioned in costume dramas"Cold Palace", which palace in the Forbidden City?
Also, why is the Forbidden City also called"Forbidden City"？These have become many mysteries left by the Forbidden City to future generations, waiting for people to solve.