Ever thought about how the name, Forbidden Palace, came about? Apparently, officials of the 7th grade and lower were not permitted to enter the palace. Only 6th grades and above were allowed entry. But those officials have to line out outside the palace at 3am to prepare for morning court sessions which takes place on the 1st and 15th day of the lunar calendar. Fyi, the emperor wakes up at 5am.The emperor is a lucky man alright. Lets get this straight... I don't envy him in case anyone of you reading this is getting the wrong idea. Just take a walk around the palace and you will understand why. The place is huge and he gets to enjoy every single bit of it.
He has a huge place just for him to change. What's a walk-in-wardrobe when you have the entire building dedicated to that?
One building for him to enjoy his snacks, another for his private court matters, one for official court duty. Interestingly, almost all court matters hearings were conducted in the open courtyard just in front of the official court building. So, all the television programmes we've been watching were lying to us. HAHA.
He's either being carried around or has his own personal pathway which is always the center of all things. Even the pathway in the back courtyard which is the place were he takes his concubines for a afternoon walk is special. There is this narrow pathway that has stones littered on it for foot reflexology and no one else is allowed to set foot on that.
They have this room just for matrimonial ceremony aka matrimonial night. Apparently, back then the emperor was allowed to spend 3 nights inside there after marriage. However, for the numerous emperors that have lived in the forbidden palace, the room has only been used for 9 nights in total (3 emperors). I guess the rest were pretty afraid of staying in a fixed location for fear of being assassinated cause the building where he settles court affairs in private (I think) houses 27 beds and he changes the room he spends time in every night. Maybe being a commoner might be better? Hm.
Go visit the place if you have the chance and get a guide to explain the history to you. There are plenty of stories and many Chinese idioms actually come about from this very place. For example, the emperor will choose one concubine to spend the night with him but he's only allowed to spend 3 joss-sticks time with her. When the 3rd joss-stick extinguishes and the emperor is nowhere to be seen, the eunuch will shout for the concubine's name for 3 times and if there's no answer, he will start to panic. Henceforth 皇上不急，太监急 . There are a few more awesome stories which you will only appreciate when you're there :)
Btw, random thought. We Chinese are really superstitious people. You will probably understand if you visit the place.
Oh well, my last school trip in China. So fast over liao eh.
After the visit, we headed over to 一品小笼 (Yi Pin Xiao Long) for Xiao Long Baos that actually has soup inside. You have no idea how difficult it is to find decent ones here in Beijing.
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