The Hall of Supreme armony
3 min readLadies and gentlemen，
What we are now approaching is the Meridian Gate.Entering the Meridian Gate，there are five marble bridges on the Inner Golden Water River），shaped like a bow.The five marble bridges just look like five arrows reporting symbolically to heaven.The five bridges were supposed to represent the five virtues preached by Confucius-benevolence，righteousness，rite，intelligence and fidelity.
Across the Inner Golden Water Bridge，we get to the Gate ofSupreme Harmony.During the Ming and early Qing dynasties，this was the place where the emperor gave his audience，accepted documents from his ministers and made decisions.There are two bronze lions guarding in front ofthe Gate ofSupreme Harmony.The male lion was put on the left，playing with an embroidered design ball，which is said to show the emperor’s supreme power.The other one on the right is the female lion，playing with a lioncub with its left paw，symbolizing prosperity of the royal family’s off-springs.
Across the Gate of Supreme Harmony，we come to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.This is the place where the emperor held grand ceremonies such as the mperor’es enthronement ceremony，the wedding ceremony，dispatched generals to the battles，and received the successful candidates of the imperial examination etc.Also，the emperor held grand feasts each year on New Year’s Day，Winter solstice and his own birthday.
The Hall ofSupreme Harmony is35.5 meters high with double layered roofthat represents the highest construction rank of all.Now，let’s ascend the stairs and move on to look at articles in display on two sides ofthe hall.On the top layer ofthe terracestands a sundial on the east and an imperial grain measure on the west.The sundial is an ancient time measure or a time-measuring apparatus used in the old days.The sundial tells the time by the shadow of the metal pin on it，which has an inclination angle of50 degrees with the graduation on it.The grain measure was used as the national standard measure in agriculture in the old days.Both the grain measure and the sundial were symbols of the emperor’s justice and rectitude.
There are two pairs of incense burners in the shape of bronze dragon-headed tortoises and bronze cranes placed on each side.They are both symbols of longevity）.
When you look up the building in the Forbidden City，you can see mythical animal statues on the eaves of each building.Originally，there used to be big wooden nails on the roof to prevent the tiles from sliding down Later they were replaced by glazed tiles，which were shaped into mythical animal statues for better beautification.They are symbols of auspiciousness and peace，and people believed that they are capable of subduing fire and warding off evil spirits.
This hall is supported by 72 giant columns inside.In the old days，the traditional way ofthe Chinese to calculate a”room”is that:a square enclosed by four pillars was treated as one”room”，so the hall can be said to have55 “rooms”in total.The six columns inside are gilded and painted with coiled dragon amidst clouds，and the rest are painted red.
The emperor’s throne is placed on the dais in the center，and carved in cloud and dragon patterns and gilded.On both sides of the throne there are a pair of elephant-shaped incense burners symbolizing universal peace and two incense burners shaped as a mythical animal racing9，000 kilometers per day and speaking all the languages of nearby kingdoms.
That’s all that I would like to introduce about this hall.Now，you can enjoyyour sightseeing in this hall for ten minutes before we move on to another.
