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The Forbidden City |
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The Forbidden City |
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The Hall of Complete Harmony
The Hall of Complete Harmony (ZhongHeDian), was originally built in 1420 and restored in 1627 and again in 1765. It is the smallest of the three main halls in the Outer Court and is square in shape rather than rectangular. The Hall of Complete Harmony served as a rest and preparation room when emperors were going to present ceremonies in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
It was in this hall that the emperor would interview his ministers of rite. Before their departure to important sacrifice rites held at the Temple of Heaven, Temple of Earth, etc., emperors would rehearse their speeches here. Before their departure to the Temple of Ancestor Farmers, they would also inspect the seeds and farming tools that they would use in the ceremony.
During the Qing dynasty, it was prescribed that the imperial genealogy should be revised every ten years. The ceremony of presenting the revision to the emperor would also be held here.
Sometimes the name of this hall is translated as 'Middle Harmony' or 'Central Harmony'. The meaning is something like : taking the middle road, not an extreme; being balanced; it refers to the old chinese notion of 'The Golden Mean', an idea developed by the disciple of Confucius named Mencius.
Inside the hall, visitors can see a golden unicorn on each side of the throne, which is in the center of the hall. The unicorn, called luduan in Chinese, was believed to be capable of traveling 9,000 kilometers in a day and speaking many languages. Therefore this divine beast was put beside the throne to indicate the emperor's wisdom and brilliance. The golden unicorns also served as sandalwood burners.
Beside the throne, there
are also two sedan chairs, which were used to shuttle the
emperor around the Forbidden City. |
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