The Imperial City, or Huangcheng in Chinese and literally "the inner city," is a section of the city of Beijing in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It refers to the collection of gardens, shrines, and other service areas between the Forbidden City and the Inner City of ancient Beijing. The Imperial City was surrounded by a wall and accessed through six gates.
Construction
In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Beijing was known as Dadu, and the Imperial City formed the centre of the city. In 1368, the Ming armies conquered Dadu, and changed its name to Beiping (the two characters meaning "north" and "peace"), with the capital moved to Nanjing. Because the Imperial City was untouched by battle, most of the Imperial City survived the war; however, in 1369, the Hongwu Emperor ordered that the Imperial City be demolished.
In 1370, the Hongwu Emperor's fourth son Zhu Di was created Prince of Yan, with seat in Beiping. In 1379 he built a princely palace within the Yuan Imperial City.
In 1399, Zhu Di launched a coup and ascended to the throne to become Yongle Emperor in 1402. In 1403, the name of Beiping was changed to Beijing (literally "the Northern Capital"), and in 1406 a plan was drafted to move the capital to Beijing.
In 1416, construction of the Forbidden City began, copying the layout of the existing palaces in Nanjing. The new imperial palace was placed to the east of the Yuan palace, in order to place the Yuan palace in the "White Tiger" or "Kill" position in fengshui. Also for fenghsui reasons, earth dug up from construction of the moat were used to construct Jingshan Hill to the north of the imperial palace.
On the basis of the Yuan Imperial City, the area was expanded to encompass the lakes of Zhongnanhai and Beihai and a significant area beyond.
Ming Dynasty
The Imperial City centers on the Forbidden City. To the west of the Forbidden City are the Zhongnanhai and Beihai, which were surrounded by imperial gardens and collectively known as the Western Park.
To the south of the forbidden City are the Imperial Shrine of Family (Tai Miao in Chinese) and Shrine of State (Tai She Ji in Chinese). Further to the south was the "Corridor of a Thousand Steps", to either side of which are the offices of the various government ministries.
There are six gates in the walls of the Imperial City. To the south is the Great Ming Gate (later renamed the Great Qing Gate, Gate of China). Behind the Great Ming Gate was the Chengtianmen, (later renamed the Tian'anmen, "Gate of Heavenly Peace"). To either side of the Tiananmen were the Left Chang'an Gate and the Right Chang'an Gate. To the east was Donganmen ("Gate of Eastern Peace"); to the west was the Xi'anmen ("Gate of Western Peace"). To the north was Houzaimen (later renamed the Di'anmen, "Gate of Earthly Peace").
