The Meridian Gate (simplified Chinese: 午门; traditional Chinese: 午門; pinyin: Wǔmén; Manchu: Julergi dulimbai duka) is the southern (and largest) gate of the Forbidden City. It has five arches. The three central arches are close together; the two flanking arches are farther apart from the three central arches. The center arch was formerly reserved for the Emperor alone; the exceptions were the Empress, who could enter it once on the day of her wedding, and the top three scholars of the triennial civil service examinations, who left the exams through the central arch. All other officials and servants had to use the four side arches.
Above the arches are a series of buildings. The central one is the palace of nine bays wide, with double roofs. In each side, the 13 bays-wide building, single roof, connects the two pavilions on the top. The Emperor of China reviewed his troops from this location during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Its superstructure is also called the "Five Phoenix Turrets" because it is composed of five buildings. Imperial proclamations and almanacs were issued from the gate house. After successful campaigns, the Emperor received prisoners of war here, sometimes followed by mass decapitations.
Although urban myth has it that senior officers were executed here in Imperial China; in reality only corporal punishment was actually carried out.
Behind the viewer is Duanmen Gate, the principal entrance to the imperial palace grounds.
When proceeding northward through the palace grounds, the next major gate encountered is the Gate of Supreme Harmony.
Other articles related to "gate, meridian gate":
... Among other structures, the gate platforms of the Meridian Gate (the southern, front gate of the palace), Donghua Gate (the Gate of Eastern Glory, the eastern ... lie on the main north-south axis just inside and just outside the front gate respectively, survive ... park, while the area around the Meridian Gate is also a park ...
Famous quotes containing the words gate and/or meridian:
“And we, barely recalled from sleep there, sense
Arrivals lowing in a doleful distance
Horny dilemmas at the gate once more.
Come and choose wrong, they cry, come and choose wrong....”
—Philip Larkin (19221986)
“I knew that my vocation was found. I had received the call, and having done so, I was sure my work would be assigned me. Of some things we feel quite certain. Inside there is a click, a kind of bell that strikes, when the hands of our destiny meet at the meridian hour.”
—Amelia E. Barr (18311919)