After confronting his nephew and slaughtering most of the high-level officials of the Nanking government and making himself the emperor, Yongle began to miss living in the north. Officials, finally obtaining the chances to settle down in the economically superior south, were less willing.
“A new palace means a substantial economic strain,” some said.
“This is where your father established the Ming dynasty, you should stick to it,” said others.
But after all, Yongle is the emperor. While he made concessions to rock minded Confucian officials for smoother governance, he could also thrust his idea forward with iron fists and blood.
And thus a new palace, supposedly a replica of its Nanking counterpart but more grandeur in scale and immensely luxurious in expense, was built in Beijing.
The Chinese emperors proclaimed themselves as sons of God. Since God has a thousand quarters, as the ancient tales recounts, the forbidden city should have 999.
Being the only undestroyed ancient Chinese palace, the Forbidden palace’s emblematic status in China is unparalleled. Thousand years of endless turmoil destroyed countless far more magnificent endeavors. The Daming Palace of the Tang Dynasty, Weiyang Palace of the Han dynasty are far more massive than the Forbidden City. In contrast, this six hundred years old “newborn” survived later conflicts and thus continued to shine till this day.
The Shenwu Gate is the north entrance of the Forbidden city. In comparison to the official main gate, the Wu Gate, which serves ceremonial and governmental purposes, the Shenwu gate involved more in emperors’ individual matters, like picking his concubines. But this does not make the gate any inferior. Every entrance of the Forbidden city covers innumerable unheard tales, and every one of them merits investigating.
* The picture was taken during my trip to Beijing.