By Dr. Ying-chen Peng
Log in Mai King 9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Mai King's post “Why did China practice is...” Why did China practice isolationism • (6 votes) Adams.F.Daniel 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Adams.F.Daniel's post “How are the buildings eng...” How are the buildings engineered? Are there plans or blueprints? I ask because they are still standing and that skill should not be lost. • (3 votes) 207438 6 years agoPosted 6 years ago. Direct link to 207438's post “Many of the buildings tha...” Many of the buildings that are standing are not the original buildings. Many of them were lost to or damaged by fires and rebuilt better than before based on blueprints that were found. (3 votes) Jeff Kelman 9 years agoPosted 9 years ago. Direct link to Jeff Kelman's post “That _Scholar's Rock_ loo...” That Scholar's Rock looks really cool. What is the story behind the Scholar's Rock in the Imperial Garden i.e. what is it made of (Coral?), who put it there etc.? • (1 vote) Junru Zhou_astoria 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Junru Zhou_astoria's post “Like people in nowadays c...” Like people in nowadays collect antique and watches, ancient Chinese, especially royals, officials and wealthy merchants, collected this kind of scholar's stone(called Taihu stone in Chinese, meaning that they were originally from the Lake Tai in south of China) to display their affluence and artistic taste. Scholar's stone is a form of art in ancient China, especially during Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. Artists composed the multiple stones into different shapes to create visuals of animals or Chinese characters without any artificial or labor carve. Therefore, good artists and well-shaped Taihu stone are rare and super expensive. Due to the geographical location, scholar's stone is usually and mostly found in the houses in southern China(Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province). (6 votes) 28ga90 a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to 28ga90's post “This is a great way for p...” This is a great way for people to learn about The Forbidden City :) • (2 votes) Falisha Khan 5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Falisha Khan's post “How did the architecture ...” How did the architecture of the forbidden city impact the Chinese culture? • (2 votes) Laine W 3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to Laine W's post “Why did the Chinese creat...” Why did the Chinese create the Forbidden City and what was its impact on the role of the emperor? • (0 votes) David Alexander 3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “This looks like your home...” This looks like your homework. Is it? If so, you should do that yourself. (3 votes) stpatrick749 a month agoPosted a month ago. Direct link to stpatrick749's post “Was it called the Forbidd...” Was it called the Forbidden City because only some people could go there? • (1 vote) 437mayd 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to 437mayd's post “How does the government c...” How does the government control the lives of the university students? • (0 votes) David Alexander 7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “By granting or withholdin...” By granting or withholding scholarship aid. By having political security officers on campus. By paying students to spy and report on other students. We used to have ALL of these in Taiwan, but no longer. Now it's only the granting or withholding of scholarship aid that can be used to control students, kind of like in America. (3 votes) Jas 7 months agoPosted 7 months ago. Direct link to Jas's post “Did the Wanggongchang Exp...” Did the Wanggongchang Explosion effect or kill anyone in the Forbidden City? • (1 vote) AnyaJ 3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to AnyaJ's post “How would you cite this?” How would you cite this? • (0 votes) David Alexander 3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Cite this page as: Dr. Yi...” Cite this page as: Dr. Ying-chen Peng, "The Forbidden City," in Smarthistory, August 9, 2015, accessed January 16, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/the-forbidden-city/. (3 votes)Want to join the conversation?
Having one of the best quality Taihu stone in Forbidden city really demonstrates the authority of the emperors in terms of transportation. The stone in the picture was discovered and collected in Song Dynasty(more than 1000 years ago), even older than Forbidden City. It looks like a giant fish from certain perspectives, and if you move to other sides, it would appear to be like other animals. Some people say that they are able to recognize twelve Chinese zodiac signs on this stone. And it is the most interesting part of Taihu stone: different people can see different views by using their imaginations. If you have time, go visit FC in Beijing! You are definitely gonna discover a lot more than you expect:)
