北京故宫英文导游词

北京故宫英文导游词

　　中国建筑的屋顶形式是丰富多彩的，在故宫建筑中，不同形式的屋顶就有10种以上。下面小编为大家分享北京故宫英文导游词，欢迎大家参考借鉴。

FORBIDDEN CITY(紫禁城)

(Infront of the meridian gate)

　　Ladies and Gentlemen:

　　I am pleased to serve as your guide today.

　　This is the palace museum; also know as thePurple Forbidden City. It is the largest and most well reserved imperialresidence in Chinatoday. Under Ming Emperor Yongle, construction began in 1406. It took 14yearsto build the Forbidden City. The first rulerwho actually lived here was Ming Emperor Zhudi. For five centuries thereafter,it continued to be the residence of 23 successive emperors until 1911 when QingEmperor Puyi was forced to abdicate the throne .In 1987, the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recognized the Forbidden City was a world cultural legacy.

　　It is believed that the Palace Museum, orZi Jin Cheng (Purple Forbidden City), got its name from astronomy folklore, Theancient astronomers divided the constellations into groups and centered themaround the Ziwei Yuan(North Star). The constellation containing the North Starwas called the Constellation of Heavenly God and star itself was called thepurple palace. Because the emperor was supposedly the son of the heavenly gods,his central and dominant position would be further highlighted the use of theword purple in the name of his residence. In folklore, the term ”an easternpurple cloud is drifting” became a metaphor for auspicious events after apurple cloud was seen drifting eastward immediately before the arrival of anancient philosopher, LaoZi, to the Hanghu Pass. Here, purple isassociated with auspicious developments. The word jin (forbidden) isself-explanatory as the imperial palace was heavily guarded and off-explanatoryas the imperial palace was heavily guarded and off-limits to ordinary people.

　　The red and yellow used on the palace wallsand roofs are also symbolic. Red represents happiness, good fortune and wealth.Yellow is the color of the earth on the Loess Plateau, the original home of theChinese people. Yellow became an imperial color during the Tang dynasty, whenonly members of the royal family were allowed to wear it and use it in theirarchitecture.

　　The Forbidden Cityis rectangular in shape. It is 960 meters long from north to south and 750meter wide from east west. It has 9,900 rooms under a total roof area 150,000square meters .A 52-meter-wide-moat encircles a 9.9-meter—high wall whichencloses the complex. Octagon —shaped turrets rest on the four corners of thewall. There are four entrances into the city: the MeridianGate to the south, the Shenwu Gate(Gate of Military Prowess) to the north, andthe Xihua Gate(Gate of military Prowess) to the north, and the XihuaGate(Western Flowery Gate )to the west ,the Donghua (Eastern Flowery Gate) tothe east.

　　Manpower and materials throughout thecountry were used to build the Forbidden City.A total of 230,000 artisans and one million laborers were employed. Marble wasquarried from fangshan Country Mount Pan in JixianCounty in Hebei Province.Granite was quarried in Quyang County in Hebei Province. Paving blockswere fired in kilns in Suzhou in southern China.Bricks and scarlet pigmentation used on the palatial walls came from linqing inShandong Province .Timber was cut ,processed andhauled from the northwestern and southern regions.

　　The structure in front of us is theMeridian Gate. It is the main entrance to the forbidden City. It is also knowsas Wufenglou (Five-Phoenix Tower). Ming emperorsheld lavish banquets here on the 15th day of the first month of the Chineselunar year in hornor of their counties .They also used this place for punishingofficials by flogging them with sticks.

　　Qing emperors used this building toannounce the beginning of the new year. Qing Emperor Qianglong changed theoriginal name of this announcement ceremony from ban li(announcement ofcalendar)to ban shou(announcement of new moon )to avoid coincidentalassociation with another Emperor` s name, Hongli, which was considered a tabooat that time. Qing Dynasty emperors also used this place to hold audience andfor other important ceremonies. For example, when the imperial army returnedvictoriously from the battlefield ,it was here that the Emperor presided overthe ceremony to accept prisoners of war.

　　(Afterentering the Meridian Gate and standing in front of the Five Marble Bridges onGolden Water River) now we are inside the ForbiddenCity. Before we start our tour, I would like to briefly introduce you to thearchitectural patterns before us .To complete this solemn, magnificent andpalatial complex, a variety of buildings were arranged on a north-south axis,and 8-kilometer-long invisible line that has become an inseparable part of theCity of Beijing. The Forbidden City coversroughly one –third of this central axis. Most of the important building in the Forbidden City were arranged along this line. The designand arrangement of the palaces reflect the solemn dignity of the royal courtand rigidly –stratified feudal system.

　　The Forbidden Cityis divided into an outer and an inner count. We are now standing on thesouthernmost part of the outer count. In front of us lies the Gate of supremeHarmony .The gate is guarded by a pair of bronze lions ,symbolizing imperialpower and dignity. The lions were the most exquisite and biggest of its kind.The one on the east playing with a ball is a male, and ball is said torepresent state unity. The other one is a female. Underneath one of its foreclaws is a cub that is considered to be a symbol of perpetual imperialsuccession. The winding brook before us is the Golden Water River. It functions bothas decoration and fire control .The five bridges spanning the river representthe five virtues preached by Confucius :benevolence, righteousness, rites,intelligence and fidelity. The river takes the shape of a bow and thenorth-south axis is its arrow. This was meant to show that the Emperors ruledthe country on behalf of God.

(Infront of the Gate of Supreme Harmony)

　　The Forbidden Cityconsists of an outer countyard and an inner enclosure. The out count yardcovers a vast space lying between the Meridian Gate and the Gate of HeavenlyPurity. The “three big halls” of Supreme Harmony, Complete Harmony andPreserving Harmony constitute the center of this building group. Flanking themin bilateral symmetry are two groups of palaces: Wenhua (Prominent Scholars)and Wuying (Brave Warriors) . The three great halls are built on a spacious“H”-shaped, 8-meter-high, triple marble terrace, Each level of the tripleterrace is taller than the on below and all are encircled by marble balustradescarved with dragon and phoenix designs. There are three carved stone staircaseslinking the three architectures .The hall of supreme Harmony is also thetallest and most exquisite ancient wooden-structured mansion in all of China. From thepalace of Heavenly Purith northward is what isknown as the inner court, which is also built in bilaterally symmetricalpatterns. In the center are the Palaceof Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Unionand Peace and Palace of Earthly Tranquility, aplace where the Emperors lived with their families and attended to stateaffairs. Flanking these structures are palaces and halls in which concubinesand princes lived. There are also three botanical gardens within the innercount, namely, the imperial Garden, Caning garden and Quailing garden. An innerGolden Water Riverflows eastwardly within the inner court. The brook winds through three minorhalls or palaces and leads out of the Forbidden City.It is spanned by the White Jade Bridge.The river is lined with winding, marble –carved balustrades. Most of thestructures within the Forbidden City haveyellow glazed tile roofs.

　　Aside from giving prominence to thenorth-south axis, other architectural methods were applied to make every groupof palatial structures unique in terms of terraces, roofs, mythical monstersperching on the roofs and colored, drawing patterns. With these, the grandcontour and different hierarchic spectrum of the complex were strengthened.Folklore has it that there are altogether 9,999 room-units in the Forbidden City. Since Paradiseonly has 10,000 rooms, the Son of Heaven on earth cut the number by half aroom. It is also rumoured that this half –room is located to the west of theWenyuange Pavilion (imperial library). As a matter of fact, although theForbidden City has more than 9,000 room-units, this half-room is nonexistent.The Wenyuange Pavilion is a library where “Si Ku Quan Shu”- China `s firstcomprehensive anthology-was stored.