Meridian Gate

The Meridian Gate, the main entrance of the Forbidden City in Beijing, is located in the north-south axis of the Forbidden City. This door is centered with a sunny exposure where is the meridian, hence the name Meridian Gate. It was first built in the Ming Dynasty Yongle 18 Year (1420), rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty Shunzhi 4 Year (1647), and again repaired in the Qing Dynasty Jiaqing 6 Year (1801).

The Structure of the Meridian Gate

In front of the Meridian Gate, there is Duanmen, Tiananmen, Great Qing Gate, and behind it, there is Gate of Supreme Harmony (Taihe Gate). Inside each gate, there are neat porches arranged on both sides. This layer-layer progressive forms of layout was influenced by the ancient Chinese system " five gates and three dynasties", and is conducive to highlight the majesty of the palace buildings.

Meridian Gate has five door opening, but from the front, seems to be three, in fact, there are Yemen both on the right and left. The main entrance was usually accessible by the emperor; for the emperor's wedding, the empress could go through this door once; the Zhuangyuan (Number One Scholar), Bangyan (the second place at palace examinations), Tanhua (number three in national civil examinations in feudal China) could walk from this door once.

In the Qing Dynasty, the civil and military ministers should go from the left side door, the imperial clan kings should go from the right side door. And the Yemen were usually not opened, unless the emperor ceremony was held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, all the officials could go through the Yemen.

The two pavilions on left and right of the middle gatehouse of the Meridian Gate have bells and drums. There is a rule for the time of using the bells and drums. When the emperor worshiped Altars, the Meridian Gate would ring the bell; when the emperor worshiped the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Meridian Gate would beat the drum; when the emperor held ceremony, the Meridian Gate would have bells and drums sound simultaneously.

Historical Purpose of the Meridian Gate

Issue Imperial Edict
Meridian Gate was the place for the Emperor to issue the imperial edict. Here, the emperor granted spring pancake at the beginning of spring; granted bean paste cake on Dragon Boat Festival; granted rice cake with bean paste on Double Ninth Day. On Lunar October 1, the emperor would issue the calendar of next year. If there was a great war, to celebrate the triumph of the army, there would be a ceremony for presenting prisoners to the emperor at the Meridian Gate.

Criminal Penalty
The punishment to the minister from the Ming Dynasty emperor "Tingzhang" also was held in the Meridian Gate. In Ming Dynasty, if the Minister had violated the dignity of the imperial family, they would be tied to suffer the punishment of spanking buttocks in front of the Meridian Gate, which was named "Tingzhang". Initially it was only symbolic punishment, however, it was developed to beat sb to death, hence, the folk introduced a rumour "Pushout to the Meridian Gate to be beheaded".