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Hall of Supreme Harmony

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The Hall of Supreme Harmony, also known as the Hall of Golden Chime, is one of the ‘three main palaces’ in Beijing Forbidden City, and it is China's existing largest wood wood structure palace. It is located in a powerful and influential position of the north-south main axis in the Forbidden City. It was first built in 1420 and through many times destroy by fire and rebuilt.

Historical Function
The Hall of Supreme Harmony was used to hold grand ceremony by the 24 emperors in Ming and Qing dynasties, such as the enthronization of the emperor, the wedding of the emperor, crown empress, etc. What’s more, the emperor would hold a large feast for officials when it was his birthday, New Year's Day, or Winter Solstice Festival. The imperial exams for new scholars were held here during the early time of Qing Dynasty.

Architectural Feature
This hall is the largest mass and chief building inside the Forbidden City. It has 11 rooms outwardly and 5 rooms deeply; it is 64 meters in length, 37 meters in width and 26.92 meters in height, covering a building area of 2377 m². In front of the hall, there is a broad platform with one sundial and grain measure, a pair of copper tortoise and a pair of copper crane as well as 18 bronze tripods. The tortoise and crane are the symbols of longevity; the sundial is an ancient ‘clock’ and grain measure is an ancient measure vessel, they are both the symbols of imperial power. The base is a three layers white marble base which is 8.13 meters in height and surrounded by railing. There were carved dragon heads under the railing, and when rainy days come, it will appears marvellous spectacle ‘thousands of dragons spouting water’.

The high building regulation and perfect decoration method of this hall can be said to be the top in Chinese ancient buildings. Both ends of its roof have large carved beasts which are 3.4 meters in height and 4300 kg in weight. The ridge of Chinese ancient buildings was always decorated with small carved beast which was well arranged strictly and differ in amount according to the grade of the building. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is decorated with 10 carved beasts which is the most and unique in Chinese palace architectural history, showing its sovereign and important position.

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