Tian’anmen Rostrum
Tian’anmen( the Gate of Heavenly Peace), is located in the center ofBeijing. It was first built in 1417 and named Chengtianmen( the Gate of HeavenlySuccession). At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was seriously damaged by war.When it was rebuilt under the Qing in 1651, it was renamed Tian’anmen, andserved as the main entrance to the Imperial City, the administrative andresidential quarters for court officials and retainers. The southern sections ofthe Imperial City wall still stand on both sides of the Gate. The tower at thetop of the gate is nine-room wide and five –room deep. According to the Book ofChanges, the two numbers nine and five, when combined, symbolize the supremestatus of a sovereign.During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Tian’anmen was theplace where state ceremonies took place. The most important one of them was theissuing of imperial edicts, which followed these steps:
1) The Minister of Rites would receive the edict in Taihedian( Hall ofSupreme Harmony), where the Emperor was holding his court. The minister wouldthen carry the decree on a yunpan( tray of cloud), and withdraw from the hallvia Taihemen( Gate of supreme Harmony)
2) The Minister would put the tray in a miniature longting( dragonpavilion). Beneath a yellow umbrella and carry it via Wumen( Meridian Gate), toTian’anmen Gate tower.
3) A courtier would be invested to proclaim the edict. The civil andmilitary officials lining both sides of the gateway beneath the tower wouldprostrate themselves in the direction of the emperor in waiting for the decreeto the proclaimed.
4) The courtier would then put the edict in a phoenix-shaped wooden box andlower it from the tower by means of a silk cord. The document would finally becarried in a similar tray of cloud under a yellow umbrella to the Ministry ofRites.
5) The edict, copied on yellow paper, would be made known to the wholecountry.
Such a process was historically recorded as “ Imperial Edict Issued byGolden Phoenix”.During the Ming and Qing dynasties Tian’anmen was the mostimportant passage. It was this gate that the Emperor and his retinue would gothrough on their way to the altars for ritual and religious activities.
On the Westside of Tian’anmen stands ZhongshanPark( Dr. Sun Yat-sen’sPark), and on the east side, the Working People’s Cultural Palave. The Park wasformerly called Shejitan( Altar of Land and Grain), built in 1420 for offeringsacrificial items to the God of Land. It was opened to the public as a park in1914 and its name was changed in 1928 to the present one in memory of the greatpioneer of the Chinese Democratic Revolution.The Working People’s CulturalPalace used to be Taimiao( the Supreme Ancestral Temple), where tablets of thedeceased dynastic rulers were kept.
The stream in front of Tian’anmen is called Waijinshuihe( Outer GoldenRiver),with seven marble bridges spanning over it . Of these sevenbridges,historical records say the middle one was for the exclusive use of theemperor and was accordingly called Yuluqiao( Imperial Bridge). The bridgesflanking it on either side were meant for the members of the royal family andwere therefore called Wanggongqiao( Royal’s Bridges). Farther away on each sideof the two were bridges for officials ranking above the third order and werenamed Pinjiqiao( ministerial Bridges). The remaining two bridges were for theuse by the retinue below the third order and wre called Gongshengqiao( commonBridges). They anr the one in front of the Supreme Ancestral Temple to the eastand the one in front of the Altar of land and Grain to the west.
The two stone lions by the Gate of Tian’anmen, one on each side were meantas sentries. They gaze toward the middle axis, guarding the emperor’s walkway.In front of the gate stands a pair of marble columns called Huabiao. They areelaborately cut in bas-relief following the pattern of a legendary dragon.Behind the gate stands another pair of similar columns. The story of Huabiao maybe traced to a couple of sources. One of the versions accredits its invention toone of the Chinese sage kings named Yao, who was said to have set up a woodenpillar in order to allow the ordinary people to expose evil-doers, hence it wasoriginally called a slander pillar. Later it ws reduced to a signpost, and nowit serves as an ornament.
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