Learning objectives

1. Familiarize you with the Chinese palaces
2. Learn about the Forbidden city
3. Get to know how to introduce the imperial palace

content of lecture

1. Chinese palaces
2. The Forbidden City
3. Homework: farewell Speech

Part 1 Chinese palaces

The palace was the place where the emperor held court and the imperial family lived. The Chinese palace represented the highest architectural level of the relevant era.
After the emperors of the past dynasties got the power, they would have new palaces built, which were usually located in the central part of the capital, reflecting the feudualist ideology of taking the emperor as the center. In general, an imperial palace is composed of the outer palace, where the emperors held official audiences, and in the inner palace, which served as the living quarters for the imperial family. All the halls and rooms in the palace are independent, and are linked with each other, to ensure the safety of the emperors. Moreover, tight security and defensice measures were taken, such as building high walls around the palace and digging a wide moat.
Most of the capitals and palaces were destroyed in the war when past dynasties declined and the emperors were changed. The well-preserved palaces in China now include the former Imperial palace in Beijing, the former Imperial Palace in Shenyang, the former Imperial Palace of the puppet state of Manzhoukuo in Changchun and the Potala Palace in Tibet. The former Imperial Palace in Beijing and the Potala Palace in Lhasa are the architectural wonders.

Part2 FORBIDDEN CITY

故宫建筑布局与特色(PPT)
本文选自1998年中国世界语出版社出版的《故宫向导图》（A Sketch Map of the Imperial Palace）。与其它详细的景点介绍不同，导游图上的文字一般比较简短，旨在概括地介绍景点的历史、现状及其重要的文物价值，增强他们的游览兴趣。原文很好地浓缩了故宫的精华，语言朴实，空间和时间逻辑鲜明，是一篇典型的旅游文体文章。翻译成英文，总体风格要与原文一致，应注意故宫里主要建筑物名称的翻译，使用音译加意译的方法，因为这些名称里面包含着独特的中华文化的基本精神，如“天人合一”的理念。原文中有大量描写建筑布局和造型的文字，不可拘泥，要灵活处理，重在实现原文的信息功能。
故宫旧称紫禁城，位于北京城的中心，为明、清两代的皇宫，是中国现存最大最完整的古代木构建筑群。始建于明永乐四年（1406年），历时十四年才竣工。迄今已有500余年历史，有24位皇帝相继在此登基执政。
The Imperial Palace, previously called the Forbidden City and no popularly kno n as the Palace Museum, is located in the center of Beijing. Once the palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, it is the largest and most complete ancient ooden complex extant in China today. Building ork began in 1406, the fourth year of the Ming emperor Yongle’s reign. The complex as finished 14 years later. During its time as Imperial Palace a succession of 24 emperors sat on the throne and administered state affairs.
被称为“殿宇之海”的故宫平面为长方形，占地72万平方米，有殿宇楼阁9000多间，建筑面积达15万平方米。宫墙长达3公里，四面各一门，四角均矗立造型奇特的角楼，
The rectangular palace complex occupies an area of 720,000 square meters and consists of 9000 rooms, ith a floor area of 150,000 square meters. The all surrounding the Imperial Palace is three kilometers long, ith a gate on all four sides and a uniquely shaped atchto er standing at each of the four corners.
墙外环绕宽52米的护城河，构成森严壁垒的城堡。宫殿建筑有外朝、内廷之分。外朝以太和殿、中和殿、保和殿为中心，文华、武英两殿为侧翼。
Around the outside of the all runs the 52-meter- ide moat. The palace grounds are divided into t o main sections, the Front Palace and the Inner Palace. In the center of the Front Palace stand Taihedian (Hall of Supreme Harmony), Zhonghedian (Hall of Complete Harmony) and Baohedian (Hall of Preserving Harmony), ith enhuadian (Hall of Literary Glory) and uyingdian (Hall of Military Proess) as the ings.
内廷分中、东、西三路，中路为乾清宫、交泰殿、坤宁宫，其后是御花园；中路两侧为东、西六宫；东六宫向南至奉先殿、斋宫和诚肃殿；西六宫往南为养心殿。
The Inner Palace consists of three parts, the Middle Road, the Eastern Road and the estern Road. The Middle Road consists of Qianqinggong (Hall of Heavenly Purity), Jiaotandian (Hall of Prosperity) and Kunninggong (Hall of Earthly Peace), behind hich is the Imperial Garden. On the Eastern Road stand the Six Eastern Palaces and on the estern Road the Six estern Palaces. To the south of the Eastern Road is Fengxiandian (Hall of Ancestral orship), Zhaigong (Hall of Abstinence) and Chengsudian (Hall of Sincerity and Solemnity). To the south of the estern Road is Yangxindian (Hall of Mental Cultivation).
内廷外围东有宁寿宫，西有慈宁宫、寿康宫、英华殿等。整体布局严谨有序，体现了“前朝后寝”的格局。
To the east of the Inner Palace is Ningshougong (Palace of Peaceful Longevity), and to the est Cininggong (Hall of Benevolent Peace), Shoukanggong (Hall of Longevity and Health) and Yinghuadian (Hall of Flo ers). The layout of the Imperial Palace is ell organized, a fine example of standard palace construction ith the administrative offices at the fore and living quarters at the rear.
内廷另有三座花园：御花园、宁寿宫（乾隆）花园、慈宁宫花园。1911年辛亥革命爆发，末代皇帝溥仪下台后仍居内廷直至1924年被逐出宫。
There are three gardens in the Inner Palace: the Imperial Garden, the Ningshou Garden (Garden of Peaceful Longevity) and the Cining Garden (Garden of Benevolent Peace). The 1911 Revolution overthre the Qing Dynasty, but the last emperor, Puyi, remained in the Inner Palace till he as driven out in 1924.

故宫建筑气势雄伟、豪华壮丽，是中国古建筑艺术的精华，其规格之巨和独具特色的建筑艺术享誉世界。在这里保存的大量珍贵文物，稀世绝宝，是研究明、清两代历史和历代艺术的重要物证。
The grand and magnificent Imperial Palace embodies the essence of ancient Chinese architecture, thus it enjoys orld ide fame for its scale and unique architectural detailing. A large number of rare and precious relics are preserved here, hich are of great significance to the study of Ming and Qing history and the arts of past dynasties.

1925年改名为故宫博物院，它是世界上最大的博物馆之一。1961年被公布为全国重点文物保护单位。1987年为联合国教科文组织列入“世界人类文化遗产”。
The imperial Palace changed its name to the Palace Museum in 1925 and no is one of the largest historical museums in the orld. It as listed as state-level historical site in 1961 and part of orld cultural heritage by the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1987.

新中国成立后人民政府拨巨款进行保护和修缮，现已成为久负盛名的旅游景观。
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, significant funds have been allocated for the protection and maintenance of the Imperial Palace, hich remains the most famous sight in Beijing.

太和殿、中和殿、保和殿是外朝的主体建筑。三座大殿建在工字形三层汉白玉石的高大台基上，四周廊庑环绕，气势磅礴，为故宫中最壮观的建筑群。
Taihedian (Hall of Supreme Harmony), Zhonghedian (Hall of Complete Harmony) and Baohedian (Hall of Preserving Harmony) are the major buildings in the Front Palace. They ere erected on the I-shaped terraces made of three layers of hite marble, each layer bounded by a lo balustrade. These buildings, of an imposing appearance, are the most stately architectural complex in the Imperial Palace.

主殿太和殿俗称金銮殿，其规模、造型、装饰和陈设均采用了显示皇权至高无上的最高规格，也是中国现存最大的木构殿宇。殿内沥粉金漆柱，蟠龙衔珠藻井，梁枋遍饰和玺彩画，还有金漆雕龙宝座，富丽堂皇。
Taihedian, the main hall popularly kno n as Jinluandian (Hall of the Imperial Throne), boasts the best either in scale, design, decoration or furnishing, demonstrating in itself the sublime authority of the emperor. It is the largest ooden hall extant in China today. Its pillars are painted ith gold po der, its caisson ceiling is decorated ith dragons holding pearls in their mouths, and its beams are covered ith color pictures. But the most eye-catching in the hall is the throne hich is covered ith gold and carved ith dragons.

皇帝即位、诞辰以及出兵征伐等重大庆典和仪式在此举行。中和殿是皇帝举行大典前小憩或演习礼仪的地方。
Here emperors performed grand ceremonies and celebrated grand events such as ascending the throne, celebrating birthdays and issuing decrees of ar. Zhonghedian as the room for taking rests before ceremonies and the place for rehearsing rites.

保和殿是皇帝册封皇后、太子及宴请王公大臣的场所，清乾隆后期曾在此殿试。保和殿后有宫内最大云龙雕石，总长16.75米，宽3.07米，重约250吨。
Baohedian as here emperors conferred titles and gave banquets. It as also used as a place for palace examination during Qing emperor Qianlong’s reign. Behind Baohedian there is the largest Cloud-Dragon Stone Sculpture in the Imperial Palace, hich is 16.75 meters long, 3.07 meters ide and eighs about 250 tons.

外朝东侧的文华殿曾是经筵及讲学场所，文渊阁为收藏《四库全书》之地。
To the east of the Three Front Halls is enhuadian (Hall of Literary Glory) and enyuange (Hall of Literary Erudition). enhuadian as here the sutras ere expounded and lectures given, and enyuange as a library here the famous Complete Library of the Four Branches of Literature as kept.

西侧武英殿为明末农民起义军领袖李自成登极称帝和处理政务之处，清朝为修书印书的地方。
To the est of the Three Front Halls is uyingdian (Hall of Military Pro ess), here Li Zicheng, leader of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, claimed to be the emperor and administered state affairs after he overtook Beijing. During the Qing Dynasty, books ere edited and printed here.

Part 3 traveling on the forbidden city

The Palace Museum, historically and artistically one of the most comprehensive Chinese museums, was established on the foundation of the palace that was the ritual center of two dynasties, the Ming and the Qing, and their collections of treasures. Designated by the State Council as one of China's foremost protected monuments in 1961, the Palace Museum was also made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
Situated at the heart of Beijing, the Palace Museum is approached through Tiananmen Gate. Immediately to the north of the Palace Museum is Prospect Hill (also called Coal Hill), while on the east and west are Wangfujing and Zhongnanhai neighborhoods. It is a location endowed with cosmic significance by ancient China's astronomers. Correlating the emperor's abode, which they onsidered the pivot of the terrestrial world, with the Pole Star Ziweiyuan), which they believed to be at the center of the heavens, they alled the palace The Purple Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third Ming emperor Yongle who, upon surping the throne, determined to move his capital north from
Nanjing to Beijing. In 1911 the Qing dynasty fell to the epublican
revolutionaries. The last emperor, Puyi, continued to live in the palace after his abdication until he was expelled in 1924. Twenty-four emperors lived and ruled from this palace during this 500-year span.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by 10-metre high walls and a 52-metre wide moat. Measuring 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters. Each of the four sides is pierced by a gate, the Meridian Gate (Wu men) on the south and the Gate of Spiritual Valor (Shenwu men) on the north being used as the entrance and exit by tourists today. Once inside, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of an invisible central axis. It is a magnificent sight, the buildings' glowing yellow roofs against vermilion walls, not to mention their painted ridges and carved beams, all contributing to the sumptuous effect.
Known as the Outer Court, the southern portion of the Forbidden City centers on the halls of Supreme Harmony, Central Harmony, and Preserving Harmony. These are flanked by the halls of Literary Glory and Military Eminence. It was here that the emperor held court and conducted his grand audiences.
Mirroring this arrangement is the Inner Court at the northern end of the Forbidden City, with the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility straddling the central axis, surrounded by the Six Palaces of the East and West and the Imperial Garden to the north. Other major buildings include the halls for Worshipping Ancestors and of Imperial Splendor on the east, and the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Pavilion of the Rain of Flowers and the Palace of Benevolent
Tranquility on the west. These contain not only the residences of the emperor and his empress, consorts and concubines but also the venues for religious rites and administrative activities.
In total, the buildings of the two courts account for an area of some 163,000 square meters. These were laid out precisely in accordance with a code of architectural hierarchy, which esignated specific features to reflect the paramount authority and status of the emperor. No ordinary mortal would have been allowed or even dared to come within close proximity of these buildings.
After the republican revolution, this Palace as a whole would have been sequestered by the Nationalist government were it not for the "Articles of Favorable Treatment of the Qing House" which allowed Puyi to live on in the Inner Court after his abdication. Meanwhile, all of the imperial treasures from palaces in Rehe (today's Chengde) and Mukden (today's Shenyang) were moved to the Forbidden City for public display in History Museum established at the Outer Court in 1914. While confined to the Inner Court, Puyi continuously used such vestiges of influence as still remained
to plot his own restoration. He also systematically stole or awned a huge number of cultural relics under the pretext of granting them as rewards to his courtiers and minions or taking them out for repair.
In 1924, during a coup launched by the warlord Feng Yuxiang, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City and the management of the palace fell to the charge of a committee set up to deal with the concerns of the deposed imperial family. The committee began a sorting and counting of the imperial treasures. A year of intense preparations later, its members arranged a grand ceremony on 10 October 1925 in front of the Palace of Heavenly Purity to mark the inception of the Palace Museum. News of the opening flashed across the nation, and such was the scramble of visitors on the first day that traffic jams around Beijing brought the city almost to a standstill.
According to a 28-volume inventory published in 1925, the treasure trove left by the Qing numbered more than 1,170,000 items including sacrificial vessels and ancient jade artifacts from the earliest dynasties; paintings and calligraphy from the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties; porcelain from the Song and Yuan; a variety of enamelware and lacquer ware; gold and silver ornaments; relics in bamboo, wood, horn and gourds; religious statues in gold and bronze; as well as numerous imperial robes and ornaments; textiles; and furniture. In addition, there were countless books, literary works and ancient records. All these were divided into
separate collections of antiquities, library materials and storical documents and placed under teams of staff to sort and collate. Exhibition halls were opened to display some of the treasures, while writers and editors worked away at publishing in book or journal form all the new areas of research and academic inquiry that the establishment of the museum had ushered in. The Palace Museum was soon a hive of activity.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese, having annexed territory in China's northeast, proceeded to march on Beijing. With this looming threat, the museum authorities decided to evacuate its collection rather than let it fall into enemy hands or risk destruction in battle.
For four frantic months between February and May 1933, the most important pieces in the collection were packed into 13,427 crates and 64 bundles and sent to Shanghai in five batches. From there they were dispatched to Nanjing where a depository was built and a branch of the Palace Museum established.
On 7 July 1937 shots fired around Marco Polo Bridge west of Beijing heralded the eruption of the Sino-Japanese War. Within a year, the Japanese had penetrated to most of eastern China. Now the treasures stored in Nanjing had to be moved again, this time by three routes to Sichuan, where they were secreted in three locations, Baxian, Emei and Leshan. Only at the end of the war were they consolidated in Chongqing, whence they were returned to Nanjing in 1947. By then the Nationalists were considerably weakened, and with the imminent takeover by the Communist armies of areas south of the Yangtze, they began their retreat to Taiwan.
Between the end of 1948 and the dawn of 1949, the Nationalists picked relics to fill 2,972 crates for shipping across the Strait. A rival Palace Museum was set up in Taipei to display these antiquities. Most of what were left were gradually returned to Beijing, although to this day 2,221 crates remain in safe-keeping in storag in Nanjing.
During this tumultuous decade of war and revolution, not one item of the treasures was lost or damaged even though the volume involved was enormous. This was largely due to the dedicated energy of the Palace Museum staff, whose achievement in preserving these treasures was nothing short of heroic. But it was also as a result of this long period of upheaval that the treasures have been dispersed. Yet the rationale for keeping the collection together, representative as it is of the motherland's traditional culture, seems so incontestable that most people believe the treasures will be re-united one day.
In the early 1950s, shortly after the establishment of the People's Republic, the Palace Museum staff worked with a new will and enthusiasm to return the Forbidden City to its former glory. Where previously the dirty and dilapidated halls and courts lay under weeds and piles of rubbish, some 250,000 cubic meters of accumulated debris were now cleared out, giving the place a sparkling fresh look. A policy of comprehensive rehabilitation was also launched, and in time the crumbling palace buildings, repaired, and redecorated, looked resplendent once more. All the tall buildings were equipped with lightning conductors, while modern systems of fire protection and security were installed. It has been a priority of the People's Government, particularly since the beginning of the reform era in the early 1980s, to keep the surrounding moat dredged and clean.
As for the collection of antiquities, a systematic inventory was completed during the 1950s and 1960s, redressing the legacy of inaccurate cataloguing. The collection was moreover augmented, for example by the salvage of a number of precious artifacts from a jumble of apparently worthless objects. After more than a decade of painstaking efforts, some 710,000 relics from the Qing palace were retrieved. At the same time, through national allocations, requisitions and private donations, more than 220,000 additional pieces of cultural significance were added, making up for such omissions from the original Qing collection as colored earthenware from the Stone Age, bronzes and jades from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, pottery tomb figurines from the Han Dynasty, stone sculpture from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and tri-color glazed pottery from the Tang Dynasty. The ancient paintings, scrolls and calligraphy added to the collection were particularly spectacular. These included, from the Jin Dynasty, Lu Ji's cursive calligraphy "A consoling letter" (Ping fu tie), Wang Xun's " Letter to Boyuan (Bo yuan tie) and Gu Kaizhi's "Goddess of the Luo River" (Luo shen fu tu); from the Sui Dynasty, Zhan Ziqian's landscape handscroll "Spring Outing" (You chun tu) ; from the Tang Dynasty, Han Huang's "Five Oxen" (Wu niu tu ), Du Mu's running-cursive script handscroll "Song of the Courtesan Zhan Haohao" (Zhang haohao shi) ; from the Five Dynasties, Gu Hongzhong's "The Night Revels of Han Xizai" (Han Xizai yeyan tu) "; from the Song Dynasty, Li Gonglin's "Painting after Wei Yan's Pasturing Horses" (Lin Wei Yan mu fang tu) Guo Xi's "Dry tree and rock, level distance landscape" (Ke shi pingyuan tu), and Zhang Zeduan's "Going up River on Spring Festival" (Qingming shang he tu)--all masterpieces without exception.
Unremitting though this attempt at recovery has been, however, there have been further exertions in recent years to acquire such works as Zhang Xian's "Landscape with Poems (Shi yong tu)" (Song Dynasty), Nai Xian's calligraphy "Ancient poem on south of the city" (Cheng nan yong gu shi) (Yuan Dynasty), Shen Zhou's landscape handscroll "After Huang Gongwang's 'Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains'" (Fang Huang Gongwang fuchun shan ju tu) (Ming Dynasty), Shi Tao's ink bamboo "Calling Wen Yuke" (Gao hu Yu ke tu) (Qing Dynasty). The first two were spirited out of the palace by the last emperor Puyi on the excuse of bestowing them on his brother Pu Jie; they fell into the hands of others and only now have been returned to their rightful place in the Palace Museum collection.
From the 1950s onwards, the museum's existing storehouses were completely overhauled to provide a damp-proof and insect-proof environment for the treasures. In the 1990s a new storehouse with a capacity of over 600,000 items was built, equipped with controls for maintaining constant temperature and humidity, as well as safeguards against fire and theft. A workshop was established in the 1950s and expanded in the 1980s to encompass a scientific Conservation Department. These not only continued traditions of craftsmanship, but also drew upon scientific discoveries to facilitate the restoration of damaged relics. In the past few decades the Conservation Department has treated as many as 110,000 objects from the Palace Museum and other public collections. Besides its continuous refurbishment of the main courts and halls, the museum has opened galleries to display bronzes, porcelain, crafts, paintings and calligraphy, jewelry, and clocks to expand the scope of its exhibitions. A number of thematic shows have been held in galleries devoted to temporary exhibitions; in recent years these have included such acclaimed ones as "A Comparison of Authentic and Counterfeit Paintings and Calligraphy","Genuine and Imitation Examples of Ancient Porcelain and Materials from Ancient Kilns", "The Art of Packaging at the Qing Court" and "Selections from the Finest Acquisitions of the Last Fifty Years". Traveling exhibitions have also graced various provincial museums and broad. In fact, since the beginning of the economic-reform era, an increasing number of exhibitions have been mounted in countries such as Britain, the USA, France, the former Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, Spain, Australia, Japan and Singapore, among others. All of them have aroused great interest and admiration and played a key part in the promotion of international understanding and cultural exchange.
The number of visitors to the Palace Museum has risen along with the growth of tourism, in the last decade reaching six to eight million a year.
General interest has been further stimulated by the Palace Museum's range of publications touching on both the architecture of its buildings and its vast cultural holdings. Published works include Famous Historical Paintings in the Palace Museum Collection, Selected Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, National Treasures, Palaces of the Forbidden City, Daily Life in the Forbidden City, A Collection of National Treasures, and The Complete Palace Museum Collection (in 60 volumes, of which 18 have been published so far). There are also two periodicals, The Palace Museum and The Forbidden City.
Since 1997, the Palace Museum's administration has been significantly reorganized. Where previously there were three departments covering conservation, exhibition and research, these have now been split into the departments of Antiquities; of Painting and Calligraphy; of Palace Arts; and the Exhibition, Promotion and Education Department. With substantial investment, the latest technology has been deployed by the newly established Resources and Information Center to set up the Palace Museum website. The website you are now browsing enables all, even those in distant places, to enjoy a sightseeing tour of this mysterious palace and feast their eyes on its splendid treasures.
The creation of a state-of-the-art virtual Imperial Palace is no longer just a dream.

Reference ：
     英语导游教程纪春裴松青旅游教育出版社 2007
     西安导游技巧与实践姚宝荣西安外语音像教材出版社1997
     英语导游必读朱歧新中国旅游出版社 2006

Homework:
prepare the traits of excellent tour guide(P135-156)