Combination of Courts
1 min readIf we look at the parts of the Forbidden City separately, we will find out that it is composed of many enclosed courts. The court is the basic unit of the Forbidden City. The enclosed courts in Beijing started in the Yuan dynasty. After conquering Dadu(Cambalu, now Beijing), the Yuan rulers commanded that each residence should cover an area of 8 mu(one mu approximately equals 667 square meters), no more nor less, which set up the fundamental layout of Beijing.
The construction of the Forbidden City benefited from this structure but changed it to serve the imperialuse. The courts for the common people had rooms on four sides and the main gate on the side. Most of the courts in the Forbidden City had rooms on three sides and gate in central south. The plazas in the Forbidden City reduced the oppressive feelings brought by the enclosed spaces. The size of the enclosed courts varied according to the function. For example, due to the political nature, the courts in the Outer Court were much larger than those in the Inner Court which were separate residences.
