“北京故宮”中英雙語導游詞

The Forbidden City was the living place of the emperor, so it was also called the imperial palace. In the feudal society, the common people were forbidden enter the city, hence the name, Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City is rectangular in shape, covers an area of 72 hectares, with 52 meters wide moat and 10 meters high city wall surrounded, each corner of the city wall built a watch tower, which was heavily guarded in the old days.

The Forbidden City was first built in early Ming dynasty that was 1420. When the construction of the Forbidden City was completed, the capital of the Ming dynasty moved from Nanjing to Beijing. From the early Ming dynasty to the end of Qing dynasty, altogether 24 emperors lived in here, 14 emperors in Ming dynasty and 10 emperors in Qing dynasty. In 600 years, the Forbidden City witnessed many changes in the Ming and Qing dynasties. After the 1911 Revolution, the Qing dynasty was overthrown. In 1925, the Forbidden City became the historical museum and opened to the public, so it was also called the palace museum. And in 1987, the Forbidden City listed in World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO.

The Meridian Gate is the main entrance and the front gate of the Forbidden City. In ancient China, the front gate of the large-scale constructions usually is the south gate. The Meridian Gate mainly served as the passage for the emperor only, which want to go to the Temple of Heaven to worship the god of heaven. It was called Meridian Gate because the emperor believe that the Meridian Line went through the Forbidden City and his residence was the cosmic center. A small square located in front of the gate, it was the place to announce the new lunar calendar on the first day of 10th lunar month every year. When a general returned from the battle, his captives would be offered on a ceremony here.

Enter the Meridian Gate; you have come into the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is the largest imperial construction in the world. According to the common people saying, the Forbidden City has 9999.5 rooms. It consists of two parts, which are the outer court and the inner court. The outer court is the political quarter and the inner court is the living quarter.

The Gate of Supreme Harmony is the entrance of the outer court. The inner golden river comes across here, with five marble bridges spinning over it. They were symbolizing the five virtues by Confucius, benevolence, righteousness, rites, intelligence and fidelity. Confucius is the most famous philosopher in China. He born in 7th century BC, at that time it was also called the spring and autumn period. In the five marble bridges, the middle bridge used for emperor only. Its railing carving is dragon, and the other bridges' railing carvings are lotus. The dragon is an imaginary animal. Saying about the word of the dragon, Chinese people definitely think of a gigantic best with the head of ox, the horns of deer, the eyes of shrimp, the claws of hawk, the body of snake and the tail of lion, whose whole body is covered by fish scales. In Chinese tradition, the dragon was the symbol of power, and the phoenix was the symbol of lucky. In the feudal society, the emperor symbolized dragon, and the empress symbolized phoenix. Because the dragon live in the water, can control the flood, so you can see lots of the dragon temple built the place nearby rivers or lakes. Therefore more than one million dragons in the Forbidden City, they are appearing in paintings, carvings, clothing and decorations. You can look for the dragon pattern by yourself in the Forbidden City.

Entering the Gate of Supreme Harmony, there is a sketch map. In ancient China, all of the constructions have central axis. The most beautiful and important buildings are built along the central axis. Today, we will visit along the central axis, including the emperor's hall, office, bedroom and garden.

Go through the Gate of Supreme Harmony, you will see the largest hall in China. It named the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It was the place where hold some important ceremonies, like the ceremony of emperor birthday, the emperor marriage, ceremony about success war, receive foreign country's envoy. When the ceremony began, the civil and military officials all performed the three kowtows and nine prostrations on the square.

In addition, you can see the color of the glazed tiles on the roofs of all buildings is yellow. Saying about the colors of the roof, they can be divided into three rankings: the highest ranking is blue, symbolize sky, you can see it only in the Temple of Heaven; the second ranking is yellow, symbolize power, it used in some imperial constructions, such as the Forbidden City or Ming Tombs; the third ranking is green, symbolize official, the families of high ranking official can be allowed used this color. The common people only allowed use the grayer tiles. If you use another colors of the tiles, you would commit a crime, will be killed.

A large marble terrace beneath the Hall of Supreme Harmony, we called it Xumi Mountain. The name comes from Buddhist scripture. According to scripture, Xumi Mountain is the highest mountain in the cosmic. So, here we called it Xumi Mountain in order to show that the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the place having the highest power. There are 18 incense burners placed on the triple marble terrace. When ceremony began, burning some pine and cypress, to make smoke. The officials on the square find the hall was in the cloud. It can make state atmosphere.

On the marble terrace, you can see the sundial on the eastside, and the imperial grain measure on the west. They placed here to symbolize the emperor's justice and rectitude. The copper tortoise and stork symbolize longevity. In fact, they are all of incense burners.

This is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The wood materials of the building come from the southwest China. Each pillar is single branch. In front of the hall, you can see inside decoration. In the hall, a sandal wood terrace built in the center; the dragon chair on it, some cloisonné incense burners placed front side, a big carpet with dragon pattern in front. So many people jam are there. I will wait for you near the copper tortoise.

Because there are lots of wooden buildings in the Forbidden City, catch fire easily. Therefore, many big vats in the city in order to store water against fire. Some of them were gilded, but in 1860, when the Anglo France allied forces invaded Beijing, they break into the Forbidden City and robbed a lot of treasures. Lastly, some soldiers discovered the gilded vats; they scrape off the gold from the surface of the vats by their bayonets.

The function of the Hall of Complete Harmony actually is the retiring room. Before the emperor held big ceremony, he had a rest in there. And it was also the place where the emperor read the sacrificial scripture before he went to the Temple of Heaven to worship the god and his ancestors. The layout inside of the hall same to that hall, also has dragon chair, incense burners and carpet. You can have a look and take some pictures.

In early time, the function of the Hall of Preserving Harmony likes the banquet hall of the Great Hall of the People in nowadays. Traditionally, the emperor would hold a banquet to the Mongolian nobles and envoys in the spring festival. In the Qing dynasty, there also served as the place to hold the imperial examination. In feudal society, the national exam can be divided into four rankings, which are the county exam, province exam, capital exam and imperial exam. The imperial exam is the highest-ranking examination. If you can pass it, you could be a high-ranking official.

There are big stone carving behind of the hall. It is the largest stone carving in the Forbidden City, with 16 meters long and 3 meters wide, 1.7 meters thick, more than 250 tons. The stores were transported from the southwest Beijing, about 70 kilometers. In early time, we transported the big stone very hardly. Winter is the good time to transportation because we must dig out a well every 500 meters and took the water throw to earth to make it slippery. Used the rolling wood beneath the stone, many people pull and push. So, it is really a very difficult work.

There are two buildings out of the red wall. They used to be the military office. The military officials discussed the military affairs in there before they met emperor. Now, the two buildings have changed another functions, the west one become a souvenir shop, and the east one become the Star Buck coffee.

Ok, later I will guide you to visit the bedroom of the emperor, which called the Hall of Mantel Cultivation. Firstly, everybody look here. Here is a big jade carving placed in front of the gate. This is a single piece jade that comes from the western China, square in shaped with an around hole in the center. In Chinese ancient people's mind, heaven is around and the earth is square. The carving placed here is according to Chinese geomancy. And the jade is also considered can ward off the evil spirits. In China, we called the knowledge is Fengshui, the science of the wind of water in English. This courtyard is not the largest one, but it is really the most important one. The front building is the office of emperor, and the rear yard is the bedrooms of emperor and empress. The west chamber of the front building is the military office; emperor and military officials discussed military affairs in there. Because the military affair is very important in a whole country, built two special walls ward off overhear. The inner chamber is the special room for emperor collected the art about calligraphy, because it very valuable in China. We often called it one-character costs one million dollars. Sir, have you seen any Chinese movie? Maybe you tell me yes, like Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, the Last Emperor, Hero, etc. But what I want to point out is another movie named Power Behind Hinging; it's also very famous in the world. The movie describe that a very powerful woman, Empress Dowager Cixi, she controlled the child emperor and controlled the whole country. Some cases in that movie were took place in the east chamber. Here, you can see the silk hanging. There's a big chair for the Empress Dowager Cixi behind the hanging, and a small chair for the child emperor in front of it. In the chamber, seem as the emperor handle state affairs. But it is really power behind hinging.

The rear yard is the living quarter of emperor and empress. A big crystal placed in the center of the yard, symbolize chastity. The inner yard is the bedroom of emperor, and the north chamber is the bedroom of empress. Today we preserved the inside layout of these chambers from late Qing dynasty. You can see what is emperor's favor, such as clocks, jade carvings, silk, pearl and so on. One of them is special thing that we called it cloisonné， which is beautiful handicraft that is imperial ware only in Beijing. There are five chambers located on the east side; we called them the waiting chambers that each chamber has a concubine wait for emperor in everyday evening. Because of the security problem, all concubines must bare and no clothing on their bodies, a silk carpet around their bodies and sit in the waiting chambers. When the emperor finished his daily affairs, he would like to walk along the corridor and select a concubine. If he find the best one, he would place a jade carving in front of the window of the chamber, which the best one sit inside. This concubine has the right to sleep with the emperor. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, emperor has only on empress, but he has abundance of the concubines. The largest number is more than 3000 concubines; even some concubines haven't one chance to met emperor in their whole life. In early time, you can differentiate the ranking from the small concubine to empress by their pearl earring. The empress has the largest one; we called it the Queen of the Pearl.

After we visited the Hall of Mantel Cultivation, we will go to visit the last attraction, which is the Imperial Garden. The scale of the garden is so small. In early time, the emperor is very busy, which has lots of state affairs to handle. If he has over one day to relax, he would like to go to the summer to enjoy holiday. If he has half day for rest, maybe he would to go to the Beihai imperial garden or the Coal Hill garden to walk. If he has only 2 hours, he hasn't enough time to go out of the Forbidden City, can but go here to play Chinese chess or chat with concubines. There are some rockeries built in the garden that all be man-made. And some fantastic trees in the garden, their name is Dragon Claw Tree. Some cypresses are very longevity, aged over 500 years.

OK, we will go out of the Forbidden City. Please pay attention to the private dealers. We will spend about 5 minutes to arrive the parking lot.

北京故宮導游詞

紫禁城是皇帝的住所，所以又名皇家的宮殿。在封建社會，皇帝的住所是禁止普通人進入的，故名紫禁城。

故宮為長方形，面積為72公頃，52米寬的護城河和10米高的城墻環(huán)繞著，四個角各有一個角樓，在古代為重兵所把守。

故宮始建于明朝初年，也就是1420年。當時建成故宮后，明朝的首都馬上就從南京移動到了北京。從明朝初年到清朝末年，一共有24位皇帝住在這里，其中14個在明朝，10個在清朝。在600年的時光中，故宮見證了許多的變化在明清時期。1911革命之后，清朝被推翻，末代皇帝浦儀也被趕出了故宮。1925年，故宮作為博物館向公眾開放，后來被稱為故宮博物館。

午門是故宮的正門，在中國古代時期，一般的建筑正門都是南門，午門是專門為皇帝通過的門，主要用于皇帝去天壇祭天等。午門的命名是皇帝認為它的宮殿建在子午線上，是宇宙的中心。門前的小廣場是皇帝頒布新年歷法的地方在每年的十月初一，當將軍從戰(zhàn)場回來時候，獻俘大典也在這里舉行。

走進午門就進入了故宮，故宮是世界上最大的皇家宮殿建筑群。據(jù)民間的傳說，故宮有9999.5間房子，它分為外朝和內(nèi)廷兩大部分，外朝為政務(wù)區(qū)，內(nèi)廷為皇帝的生活區(qū)。太和門是外朝的入口，門前內(nèi)金水河流過，它的主要功能是防火，而五座石橋跨于內(nèi)金水河之上，代表著孔子所提倡的五德：仁、義、禮、智、信。孔子就是中國最著名的哲學家，生于春秋時期，也就是公元前7世紀。五座石橋中，中間的是皇帝專用的。它的欄桿雕刻是龍，而其他的石橋的欄桿雕刻是荷花。龍是一種想象中的動物，說到龍這個詞，中國人馬上就可以想到一個巨大的牛頭，鹿角，蝦眼，鷹爪，蛇身和獅尾，整個身子被魚鱗覆蓋的動物。在中國的傳統(tǒng)中，龍被認為是權(quán)力的象征，鳳凰被認為是幸運的象征。在封建社會，皇帝就是龍的化身，而皇后則是鳳凰的化身。因為龍生活在水中，龍可以控制水，所以在中國有水的地方，人們都會修建一座龍王廟來祈求平安。在故宮中你可以看到數(shù)百萬只龍，它們分布在彩繪、雕刻、服裝、裝飾中，你可以自己去尋找它們在故宮內(nèi)。

進了太和門，這里可以看到游覽圖，在古代中國，所有的建筑都有中軸線，最好最重要的建筑都是沿著中軸線而建的。今天我們的主要游覽也是沿著中軸線來參觀的，我們將參觀皇帝的典禮所、辦公室、臥室和花園等。

穿過太和門，你將看到中國最大的宮殿，它叫太和殿，它是用來舉行大的儀式的地方。例如，皇帝生日、皇帝大婚，戰(zhàn)爭勝利，召見外國使節(jié)等。當儀式開始后，所有的文武百官都要跪在地上扮演三拜九叩。

另外，你可以看到屋頂?shù)牧鹆叨际屈S顏色的，在中國，屋頂?shù)念伾腥齻€等級，最高的為藍色，象征藍天，只有在天壇才可以看到;第二等是黃色，象征皇帝，這可以在一些皇家建筑中看到，比如故宮或明陵等;第三等是綠色，象征大臣，是大臣家允許用的顏色。而普通人家的屋頂只允許用灰色瓦，如果使用其他顏色，就是犯罪，會被殺死的。

在太和殿下面的石臺基，我們把它叫做須彌山。這名字來源于佛教，在佛經(jīng)里說，須彌山是宇宙最高的山。所以這里叫須彌山是為了說明上面的太和殿的至高無上的地位。在臺基上拜擺放的是香爐，當大典開始時候，會燒一些松柏，制造出煙霧，下面的人看到太和殿在云霧之中，好象天上的宮殿，給人以莊嚴的感覺。

在臺基上可以看到東邊擺著的是日晷，西邊的是嘉糧，它們放 這里是象征著皇帝的公正與無私。銅龜和銅鶴象征著長壽，它們實際上也是香爐。

大殿就是太和殿，為木結(jié)構(gòu)建筑，所有的木材都是運自于西南中國的，所有的柱子都是單根的木頭。你可以去看看大殿內(nèi)的布局和擺設(shè)，在正中央有個木臺子，上面是龍椅，后面有屏風，前面幾個是景泰藍的香爐，地上鋪著一張有龍圖案的真絲地毯。門口那里很擁擠，我會在銅龜那里等你們。

由于故宮大多數(shù)建筑都是木結(jié)構(gòu)的，很容易著火，因此，故宮內(nèi)有很多大缸，功能是儲水防火，其中有18個為鎦金的，但在1860年英法聯(lián)軍侵入北京，他們在故宮里搶走了很多的珍寶，最后士兵發(fā)現(xiàn)了這水缸上的金子，他們用刺刀把缸表面的金子全部刮掉了，現(xiàn)在你還可以看到刺刀留下的痕跡。

中和殿的作用是作為休息室。當皇帝舉行大典之前，皇帝要在這里休息。在皇帝去天壇祭祀天神之前，他要在這里讀祭祀的文章。里面的擺設(shè)和前面差不多，也都是龍椅、香爐和地毯等。

在古代，保和殿就是人民大會堂的宴會廳，在每年春節(jié)的時候，皇帝要在這里舉行宴會，宴請蒙古王公和外國使節(jié)。在清朝，保和殿也作為皇家考試的場所。在封建社會里，國家的考試分為四等，童試、鄉(xiāng)試、會試和殿試。殿試是當時等級最高的考試，當通過了這種考試，你就可以成為大官了。

在保和殿的后面有一塊石雕，長16米，寬3米，雕有云和龍，是故宮內(nèi)最大的單塊石雕。

下面我要帶你去參觀皇帝的臥室，外紅墻的外面有兩個長方形的房子，在古代，這里是軍事大臣商議軍務(wù)的地方，現(xiàn)在呢，西邊這個是紀念品商店，而東邊那個是星巴克咖啡。

皇帝的臥室叫做養(yǎng)心殿，在門口你會看到一件玉雕，這是由一整塊玉雕刻而成的，外面罩有一個非常精致的龍雕刻的青銅罩，玉是方形的，中間有一個圓孔。在古代中國的意識里，天空是圓形的，而地是方形的。這個東西擺在這里是根據(jù)中國的泥土占卜學而定的，而且玉是自古的權(quán)力象征，可以辟邪，我們中國把這種學問叫做風水學。另外，比如我們要建房子、陵墓等建筑前，都要請一個風水家來看看這塊土地是否可以來建設(shè)，如果不好的話，那么還要重新選擇。即使房子建成了還要請風水家來看，哪里位置不吉利還要再擺放一些東西以辟邪，玉器是最常用的東西，因為它本身具有磁場，可以轉(zhuǎn)變?nèi)说倪\氣。養(yǎng)心殿這個小院子，在故宮中不是最大的，但卻是最有名的，因為這里集中了皇帝的辦公室、臥室和皇后的臥室等。左邊的房子四皇帝和軍事大臣商議軍務(wù)大事的地方，你也知道，軍務(wù)對一個國家來講非常重要，所以在窗外有特別建設(shè)了一道墻來防止外人的偷聽。里面那間房子是皇帝專門收藏書法作品的地方，因為中國的書法是一門藝術(shù)，古代中國的一些書法家留下的書法非常珍貴，一個字超過百萬美圓。不知道你對中國的電影有多少了解，可能你會看過末代皇帝、臥虎藏龍、英雄等影片，還有一部中國電影同樣非常有名，叫做垂簾聽政。電影講述了在清朝末年的一個非常有權(quán)力的女人，叫慈禧太后，她控制著兒童皇帝，處理國家的事務(wù)，電影里描述的這些事件就發(fā)生在東房間。這里有一絲簾子，簾子后是一張大椅子，為慈禧太后的座位，前面的小椅子是兒童皇帝坐的地方?？雌饋硎腔实凵铣?，實際上，真正的權(quán)力是在簾子的后面。

后院是皇帝和皇后居住的地方。院子中央放著一塊水晶，象征潔白無暇。在里院是皇帝的臥室，而外院的這排房子是皇后的臥室，屋內(nèi)的擺設(shè)維持原來的模樣，你可以看到當時皇帝的喜好，包括鐘表、玉雕、絲綢、金銀器、珍珠等，有一種藍色的工藝品叫景泰藍，是北京的獨有的手工藝品，過去僅僅為皇家專用。院子東邊有一排房子，我們把它叫做等候室，在古代，每天晚上會在這里有五個妃子等候皇帝的挑選，每個房子里有一個。為了安全問題，所有的妃子都不許穿衣服，全身赤裸，然后用一條絲毯裹著被送到這里。到傍晚時，皇帝會慢慢走過這條走廊，看見哪個妃子滿意就在窗前放一個玉雕，那么當天晚上這個妃子就可以跟著皇帝就寢了。在明清時期，皇帝只有一個皇后，但卻有很多妃子，數(shù)量最大的時候超過了三千人。她們通常用耳朵上的珍珠來區(qū)分大小，最大的珍珠我們叫做珠王，是專門供皇后佩帶的。

參觀完養(yǎng)心殿后，我們就要去故宮的最后一個景點御花園了。這個花園規(guī)模比較小，皇帝每天都有大量的日常事務(wù)需要處理，非常繁忙。如果他有一天的自由活動時間，他會去頤和園度假;如果他有半天的時間，他會去北海或者景山散步;如果他僅僅有兩個小時的空閑時間的話，他就只能這里活動了，一般就是和妃子聊天、下棋等。這里有許多的山石，都是人工的。這種奇怪的樹我們叫它龍爪槐，是中國特有的品種。另外有一些古樹，年齡都超過了500年。

好了，我們要走出故宮了，出去的時候記住留神那些私人商販，我們要走大約5分鐘到達停車區(qū)域，跟我來。