Grand heritage
Archaeological findings suggest early Ming homes in Forbidden City were much bigger than existing ones
Countless visitors to the Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing are quickly enthralled by its architectural splendor. Covering some 720,000 square meters and officially known as the Palace Museum, the imperial city was home to royal families of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.
Since 1420 until the fall of the Chinese monarchy, 24 emperors lived there. Myriad historical legends lie behind its red walls and under the golden roofs.
In 2020, when the 600th anniversary of the venue’s completion was marked with an exhibition, an archaeological project was launched in October that year in the western part of the palace compound.
Behind closed doors and away from the hustle and bustle of visitors, the work has had a relatively low profile, but discoveries may gradually show that the Forbidden City was once even more magnificent than it is today.
Standing in front of the archaeological site, it is easy to form a picture of one of the palaces in the compound based on glimpses of the bricks and stones spread across about 1,000 square meters of the excavated area. The work is the largest archaeological program involving the Forbidden City.
Archaeologists from the Palace Museum have unearthed four square underground foundations made from bricks in the early Ming Dynasty. The foundations were used to support columns.
Wu Wei, an archaeologist working at the site, said the 1.6-meter-high foundations are about 4.4 m wide, making these the biggest brick-made column footings found in archaeological excavations in China. The foundations are known as sangdun in traditional Chinese architecture.
“If a foundation is so huge, just imagine how grand and tall the column above would be,” Wu said at the site late last month. “They may unveil a palatial construction from the early Ming Dynasty that was much bigger than the existing ones in the Forbidden City.”
Taihe Dian (the Hall of Supreme Harmony) in the core of the Forbidden City, which was used exclusively for the most important royal rituals, is the largest and highest construction in the royal compound. Nevertheless, its column cornerstones are only 1.6 m wide.
“We cannot see their underground footings, but we estimate that they could be about 2 meters wide, based on our previous experience of studying other Ming constructions. This is much lower than our new archaeological findings,” Wu said.
After winning a civil war in 1402, Zhu Di, the third ruler of the Ming Dynasty, who was also known as Emperor Yongle, decided to move the national capital from Nanjing, the present-day capital of Jiangsu province, to Beijing, where he lived as a prince.
It took years to collect the best materials nationwide for the new city. In 1417, a three-year huge construction effort was launched in Beijing. It is estimated that this ambitious plan involved 1 million construction workers and artisans.
However, fire proved a major adversary for the emperor and the Forbidden City, the world’s largest wooden architectural complex. Just a few months after Emperor Yongle moved to his new home in Beijing, Taihe Dian, which was then called Fengtian Dian (the Hall of Venerating Heaven), and several other key palace buildings were destroyed in a raging inferno.
In the years that followed, construction in the Forbidden City often fell victim to fire — usually caused by lightning — and had to be constantly renovated or rebuilt. Many buildings in the compound were also doomed in the war of 1644, when rebels seized Beijing and toppled the Ming Dynasty.
Xu Haifeng, director of the archaeology department at the Palace Museum, said: “Although the original format was basically retained, the details changed every time a palace was reconstructed. Most buildings in the Forbidden City today are from the Qing Dynasty or the later period of the Ming Dynasty, and people always wonder what the venue looked like during its earliest days.”
The size of some palace buildings also shrank over time, mainly because it became increasingly difficult to find lumber sufficiently large to use as building material.
For example, after being burned down several times, the current Taihe Dian was rebuilt in 1695. Its 64-m-wide facade may look magnificent to the layman, but many professional researchers consider its size is not proportionate to its status.
Compared with the scale of the outer gates at the Forbidden City and the main ceremonial hall at Emperor Yongle’s mausoleum, Taihe Dian is thought to have been larger than it appears today.
According to Ming Shilu (Veritable Records of the Ming) — comprehensive imperial annuals written by historians during the dynasty — the facade of the hall was originally 95 m wide, or 30 zhang in traditional Chinese measurement, before it was again destroyed by fire in 1557.
Based on Taihe Dian’s current structure, this means that the two columns in the central hall were more than 14 m apart, surpassing all surviving ancient Chinese architecture. Xu, the archaeology department director, said: “We used to think such a super size was hardly possible. Maybe ‘30 zhang’ was just an abstract expression to describe its grandeur, but the ongoing archaeological work has given us second thoughts on just how large the early Ming palaces were.”
For instance, the four unearthed column footings show there was space for a room of about 120 sq m. A later excavation of the outer wall foundations indicated that this room was located at the eastern end of a palace.
Wu, the archaeologist, said: “It may have been even larger in the center. We’ll continue our excavations to look for more columns and thus accurately estimate the size of this ‘underground palace’.”
An exceptionally cautious approach has been adopted to archaeology at the Forbidden City. Once a layer of architectural remains is found, archaeologists immediately stop digging deeper and scrutinize the foundations. However, protecting this heritage and studying its inner structure posed a challenge.
Xu’s team was fortunate. One of the column footings had cracked, providing an opportunity for an in-depth study of how the foundations were constructed.
Along with the column footings, brick-paved ground surfaces from the middle and later periods of the Ming Dynasty have been unearthed at the site, indicating a continuous lineage of evolving construction in this area.
“We can literally trace back 600 years with just a glance,” Xu said.
A lack of surviving first-hand documentation on construction of the Forbidden City makes studies of its infancy difficult.
Yang Xincheng, a researcher of ancient architecture at the Palace Museum, said: “There should be blueprints and detailed construction maps for when this site was first built. Unfortunately, most of them have been lost to history. From the remnants of documents, we can only gain scattered and vague descriptions of these early-stage palaces.
“We only know their approximate locations in the Forbidden City, but their exact position usually remains a mystery. Sometimes, even the names of some constructions are obscure for today’s researchers,” he said.
According to Yang, the layout for buildings within the present-day Forbidden City was basically formed during the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1522-66), who remodeled his home on a large scale, along with many other royal facilities to demonstrate his ambition.
“This left an unclear picture of the Forbidden City before his reign, which can only be redrawn through archaeology,” Yang said.
In early Ming rhyming prose eulogizing the imperial city, two palaces — Dashan (Grand Benevolence) and Renshou (Mercy and Longevity) — are said to have probably existed in the area where the new heritage site was unearthed.
Ming Shilu also stated that Emperor Jiajing once ordered his Cabinet to discuss a proposal to demolish a Buddhist temple at the site and build a new residence for the empress dowager.
However, Xu and Wu think it is too early to connect their discoveries with historical records until more solid evidence emerges.
In 2014, other ancient constructions were unearthed under a square near Cining Gong (the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility), less than 100 m from the current archaeological work site. That area was also thoroughly reconstructed during Emperor Jiajing’s reign, according to historical documents.
Similar but smaller sangdun structures, some 2 m wide, were also found.
Wu said these structures might be from the same impressive architectural complex as the recent discoveries. He asked, “If the bigger columns indicate a main hall, is it possible that the small ones reveal the corridor?”
Xu added that a bigger map of an “underground” Forbidden City is now being drawn up through a detailed study of these scattered architectural relics.
“However, we cannot be hasty in drawing any conclusions in archaeology. It will take an extra three to five years of continuous effort in the ongoing project to comprehensively understand these layers of relics, one after another,” he said.
Comparative studies of other archaeological sites can help form a “big picture” of palatial buildings during the early Ming period.
For example, Wu and several other archaeologists from the Palace Museum joined excavations at the Zhongdu (central capital) site in Fengyang county, Anhui province. In 1369, Zhu Yuanzhang, founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, ordered an 840,000sq-m imperial city to be built in his hometown.
Although the plan was later halted, ruins of this half-completed prototype of the Forbidden City offer a key reference point for researchers to gain an impression of the refined nature of early Ming construction.
Sangdun, equally as large as the new findings in Beijing, were unearthed in Zhongdu, but they were made from gravel and earth, and relatively rougher building techniques were used.
Xu said, “You can see how construction methods evolved and advanced from Zhongdu to Beijing.”
The new archaeological site in the Forbidden City has produced surprises beyond the Ming Dynasty.
Mongol ruler Kublai Khan designated Dadu, present-day Beijing, as
the capital city of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), turning it into an internationally influential metropolis through a massive urban construction plan. Beijing thus became the capital of a united China.
The location of Khan’s royal palace has remained controversial due to vague records in surviving documents.
Some Yuan royal building components were unearthed from an excavation pit at the site. These discoveries may further support the theory that an imperial Yuan Dynasty city lies beneath the Forbidden City.
Xu said: “If this is the case, then the central axis of Beijing may have remained unchanged for nearly 800 years. Our understanding of this key landmark can be further enriched.”
The central axis of Beijing is on a tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage status. Landmarks such as the Forbidden City, the Drum Tower and the Temple of Heaven are situated along the axis, along with Tian’anmen Square and the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest.
Discovery of the early Ming palatial ruins was accidental. When archaeologists began excavations in 2020, they expected to find more clues to a disappearing but well-known royal workshop from centuries before, known in Chinese as Zaobanchu.
More detailed documentation of this area since the late Ming period is available for today’s researchers, giving a better idea of royal life in a number of respects. In 1627, a warehouse for the emperor’s stationery was located in this area, while a kitchen serving the nearby Cining Gong can be seen on a map from 1679.
In 1691, Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty ordered the royal Zaobanchu workshop to be set up, marking the start of a booming century for traditional craftsmanship that lasted until his grandson Qianlong’s reign (1736-95).
The workshop operated until the early 20th century. None of its facilities and artisans’ residences are visible above ground today, but the site is an ideal location for archaeology.
Xu said: “We know that abundant heritage is buried in this palatial compound, but we cannot demolish the palaces and dig up the ground. The current site creates a perfect and rare chance for us to see the Forbidden City’s past within a relatively small area, like minimally invasive surgery.”
Numerous relics have been unearthed from this Qing Dynasty royal workshop. By examining broken pieces of glass and ceramic shards, archaeologists can form a picture of the artisans’ daily work.
Some brass components of timepieces have also been discovered.
Qing Dynasty emperors had a particular interest in European-style timepieces. The Palace Museum’s mechanical clock from the 18th and 19th centuries — with parts mostly from the United Kingdom, France and Switzerland — was one of the best in the world.
Emperors were not satisfied with merely being collectors, and during Qianlong’s reign the Forbidden City began making its own products.
Xu said: “Follow-up studies of the site need interdisciplinary expertise. For example, we can produce many new findings in the laboratory by analyzing the ceramic samples. Even the soil can significantly help us learn about the natural environment.
“Archaeology in the Forbidden City means much more than filling gaps in historical records that center on royal court politics. We can gradually form a full understanding of ancient society from details that are easily neglected.”
Before the ongoing archaeological project began, scholars expected to find clues to enable them to partially restore the Zaobanchu landscape above ground in the future. However, the discovery of the early Ming palaces may change their plan. Once exposed to the air, the underground foundations face the risk of erosion and even falling apart. An iron-framed shield was set up last year to protect the site from rain and snow, but Xu feels that more measures are needed.
Following the discovery of architectural ruins at Cining Gong, experts drafted several plans to showcase the findings to the public. However, after scientific evaluation, they finally decided to refill the pits and keep them undisturbed. Xu felt this was a shame, but added that it was a responsible act for the Forbidden City.
“However, it’s always crucial to promote such important archaeological findings. For the ongoing work at this site, we’re seeking better ideas to exhibit it and well protect it at the same time,” Xu added.