Palace Museum

The Palace Museum, once known as the Forbidden City, was the imperial palace of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1616-1911) dynasties. Situated at the center of the Central Axis of Beijing, it covers roughly 720,000 square meters with a build- up area of around 150,000 square meters. This magnificent complex boasts over 70 courtyards of varying sizes and more than 9,000 rooms, making it one of the world's largest and most impeccably preserved wooden-structured palace complex.

The Palace Museum consists of two main parts: the outer court and the inner court. The outer court includes the Hall   of Supreme Harmony (taihe dian), Hall of Central Harmony (zhonghe dian), and Hall of Preserving Harmony (baohe dian). They were the venues for the emperor's court and grand audi- ences. The inner court centers around three halls, namely, the Palace of Heavenly Purity (qianqing gong), Hall of Union (ji- aotai dian), and Palace of Earthly Tranquility (kunning gong). They were used as the emperor and empress's private quarters during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Palace Museum is surrounded by 10-metre-high walls and a 52-metre-wide moat, with turret towers on each of the four corners. The elaborate and symmetrical arrangement of the palace's details, coupled with the golden tiles adorning its rooftops and the rusty red clay of its walls, imbue the structure with an air of solemn majesty.

The Palace Museum is not only a masterpiece of ancient Chinese architecture, but also a globally acclaimed museumofancient culture and art. It houses over 1.86 million artefacts, encompassing painting, calligraphy, ceramics, bronze, jade, embroidery, oracle bone scripts, ancient architecture, books and classics, historical archives, and more. A showcase of Chinese civilization during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the museum is an invaluable cultural treasure for all of humanity.

The Palace Museum represents an example illustrating China's cultural concepts of "great enlightenment derived from harmony between heaven and man" and "integration of rites and music". In addition to showcasing national cohesiveness, the museum also highlights what came out of the exchanges between Chinese and foreign cultures after Western learning was introduced to China. It demonstrates the inclusiveness of Chinese civilization, which has contributed to what the Chinese nation has achieved.

北京故宮

北京故宮是明清兩代的皇家宮殿，原稱“紫禁城”，位于北京中軸線的中心，占地面積約72萬平方米，建筑面積約15萬平方米，有大小院落70多座，房屋約9000余間，是世界上現(xiàn)存規(guī)模最大、保存最完整的木結構宮殿建筑群之一。

故宮內(nèi)建筑分為外朝和內(nèi)廷兩部分，外朝的中心為太和殿、中和殿、保和殿，是明清朝廷舉行大典禮的地方；內(nèi)廷的中心是乾清宮、交泰殿、坤寧宮，是明清皇帝和皇后居住的正宮。故宮四面圍有高10米的城墻，四角配以角樓，城外有寬52米的護城河。故宮黃瓦紅墻，莊嚴宏偉，在細節(jié)和整體上講究對稱平衡。

今天的故宮不僅是中國古代建筑技藝的杰出代表，也是享譽世界的古代文化藝術博物館。據(jù)統(tǒng)計，故宮博物院現(xiàn)有藏品達186萬多件，涵蓋繪畫、書法、陶瓷、銅器、玉器、織繡、甲骨文、古建筑、圖書典籍、歷史檔案等眾多門類， 兼具歷史、藝術、建筑、宮廷文化等多重博物館特色，是明清時期中華文明的集中展現(xiàn)，也是全人類的珍貴文化遺產(chǎn)。

故宮將“天人之際”“禮樂復合”的中華優(yōu)秀思想文化發(fā)揚光大，既體現(xiàn)出強烈的民族融合色彩，亦有“西學東漸”以來中外文化交融的特質(zhì)，是中華文明“有容乃大”智慧的生動例證，是中華民族當之無愧的“大成之城”。