Meridian Gate, viewed from the south

The Meridian Gate (Traditional Chinese: 午門; Simplified Chinese: 午门; pinyin: Wǔmén) 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. Download high resolution version (940x220, 45 KB)Meridian Gate in the Forbidden City, Bejing. ... Download high resolution version (940x220, 45 KB)Meridian Gate in the Forbidden City, Bejing. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell(ing) and yin means sound(s)). This article describes the most common variant called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... , Overview of the Forbidden City The Forbidden City or Forbidden Palace (Chinese: ; pinyin: Zǐjìn Chéng; literally Purple Forbidden City), located at the exact center of the ancient city of Beijing, was the imperial palace during the mid-Ming and the Qing Dynasties. ...

Above the arches are a collection of nine buildings. The Emperor of China reviewed his troops from this location during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The emperor or huángdì (皇帝) of China was the head of government and head of state of China from the Qin dynasty in 221 BC until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911. ... The Míng Dynasty (Chinese: 明朝; Pinyin: Míng Cháo) was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. ... The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: 清朝; Pinyin: Qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire...

Although urban myth has it that senior officers were executed here in Imperial China; in reality only corporal punishment was actually carried out. Urban Legend is also the name of a 1998 movie. ... China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ...

Behind the viewer is Tiananmen Gate, the principal entrance to the imperial palace grounds. Tiānānmén/Tiananmen (Simplified Chinese: 天安门, Traditional Chinese: 天安門; or the Gate of Heavenly Peace) is the principal entrance to the Imperial Palace Grounds, commonly called the Forbidden City, in Beijing, Peoples Republic of China. ...

When proceeding northward through the palace grounds, the next major gate encountered is the Gate of Supreme Harmony. The Gate of Supreme Harmony (center right). ...