Page 16 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Beijing

14 ❯❯ Top 10 Beijing Highlights

Forbidden City Collections

Jade
Ceramics
1 3
The Hall of Quintessence was
Several halls around the Inner
Court display tomb figurines from once where dowager empresses went
the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–906) to die; it now exhibits jade artifacts.
dynasties. Statues range from six Pieces range from simple cups and
inches to three feet (15 cm to 1 m) in ladles to enormous and intricate
height, and depict overweight court sculptures of Buddhas in traditional
ladies, Buddhas on elephants, and settings. The Chinese considered
floppy-humped camels. A film offers working this hard stone to be a
some background on the pottery finds. metaphor for character development
and the pursuit of perfection.
Jewelry
4
In the Hall of Moral Cultivation
are three of the six halls of “jewelry”
(head north for rooms four through
six), including the only hall to display
traditional jewelry rather than agate
cups or jade sculpture. Hall number
three has thick jade rings, lapis lazuli
court beads, elaborate headdresses
Delicately decorated ceramic vase made of gold filigree phoenixes, and
even jadeite Christian rosary beads.
Scientific Instruments
2 Beijing Opera
Enlightened Qing emperor
The Pavilion of Cheerful
Kangxi (1654–1722) appointed 5
Europeans as court officials, and Melodies sports a three-story stage
instructed his imperial workshops to able to accommodate 1,000 actors. It
re-create Western scientific was once rigged with trapdoors and
instruments. These included astro- pulleys to create dramatic entrances
nomical tools, calculators, sundials, for supernatural characters. The
and a table with measure ments and exhibits include a behind-the-scenes
scientific notations. The instruments model stage, as well as costumes,
are part of the Imperial Treasures of instruments, scripts, and cast lists.
the Ming and Qing dynasties exhibit, Screens show reconstructions of
on the west side of the Inner Court. old court performances.

Dramatic scene unfolding on stage during a Beijing Opera performance

Eyewitness Travel – Top 10 series LAYERS PRINTED:
Two-column, 8.5pt grid “UK” LAYER
(SourceReport v.1.9)
014-015_Top_10_Beijing.indd 14 27/06/2017 14:32
Date 24th June 2015
Size 100mm x 191mm