Beijing Forbidden City tour

If you want to know more about Chinese history and culture you can take the Forbidden City tour and the Beijing hutong tour. You will learn more about ancient Chinese imperial culture and common people’s life.

The Forbidden City presents the imperial power in every brick and each tile. In the function, the Forbidden City suits to the social estate system in the feudalism society.

 The proofs in Chinese architectures are various. In the architectures in the Forbidden City, there are more than ten kinds of different proof styles. The three great halls are different. The proofs in the Forbidden City are full of different colors glazed tiles. The main halls have yellow color. Green color is used in the emperor's suns houses. Other blue, black, purple and jewelry blue various glazed tiles are used in garden or colored glazed walls. On the two sides of the ridges in Taihe Hall, there are color glazed beasts. They have beautiful sculptures. They are not only the structures, but also ornaments. The front part of the Forbidden City has gorgeous and magnificent structures. The courtyards are spacious and wide. The present the supreme feudal power Taihe Hall is in the center of the Forbidden City. On each corner of the quadrangle, there are ten auspicious and lucky beasts. They are vivid and lively. The designer thought only in this way the emperor’s dignified can be shown. The inner court has deep yard and well-knit architectures. The east six palaces and west palaces have their own system. The rockery, pavilion, terrace and water side room make the back yard beautiful and quiet.

In common people’s house, Hutong is an important part. Hutong is a small alley or street and a special architecture in Beijing. The Hutong in Beijing now is developed on the foundation of Yuan Dynasty. In Yuan Dynasty, the residential area was divided into squares and there are rows of residences in the squares. Most of the Hutongs and houses are in east-west line. The streets and valleys in Beijing form chessboard shape. In Ming and Qing dynasties, the layout was not so clear. There is not only horizontal and vertical Hutongs, but also inclined and half Hutongs and so on. Some small Hutongs are in the large Hutong.

Hutong is the passageway between quadrangle courtyards in essence. Many quadrangles in Beijing are linked by the Beijing Hutong. The whole Beijing likes a large quadrangle courtyard. The courtyards are divided into different grades according to the position of the residents and the architecture.

You can visit the Forbidden City and Hutong during your Beijing bus tours. You will be more interested to Chinese architectures.