Shenwu Gate

　　Shenwu Gate is the northern gate of the Forbidden City and also the main entrance to the Palace Museum. It was built in the 18th year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1420) and was called Xuanwu Gate at the time. Xuanwu is one of the Four Divine Beasts in ancient Chinese cosmology. In terms of orientation, the Azure Dragon is on the left, the White Tiger on the right, the Vermilion Bird in front, and the Xuanwu in the back. Xuanwu governs the north, hence many imperial palace north gates were named “Xuanwu.” During the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty, the name was changed to Shenwu Gate to avoid the naming taboo of Emperor Kangxi, whose personal name was Xuanye.

　　Shenwu Gate used to have a bell and a drum, managed by the Imperial Guards of Ceremonial, with the Astronomical Bureau indicating the timekeeping schedule, manned daily. Every evening after dusk, the bell would be struck 108 times, followed by the drum to mark the first watch. Thereafter, the bell and drum would sound at each watch, and the bell would ring again at dawn. When the emperor resided in the palace, the bell was not rung.

　　As the rear gate of the imperial palace, Shenwu Gate was an important passageway for daily access within the palace. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, empresses would enter and exit through this gate for the Silkworm Worship Ceremony. During the Qing Dynasty, every three years when selecting palace maids, candidates would enter the palace through this side gate. In 1924, when the abdicated emperor Puyi was expelled from the palace, he also left through this gate. In 1925, when the Palace Museum was established, the plaque “Palace Museum” was hung here, and Shenwu Gate was designated as the main entrance to the museum.

　　The gate is 31 meters tall in total and has a rectangular layout. Its base is made of white marble Sumeru pedestals, with a gate opening in the wall platform, above which stands the gate tower. The tower is built on a white marble base, spanning five bays in width and one bay in depth, surrounded by corridors enclosed by white marble railings. The front and rear eaves, as well as the left and right secondary bays, have doors—diamond-patterned partition doors. The east and west gables have double-leaf plank doors, along with the city wall and left and right horse paths. Each of the four sides of the gate has steps leading up. The tower features a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof; the lower level has single-curved, single-angled five-step bracket sets, while the upper level has upward-curving hip rafters. The ridge decorations are finely crafted, with large beast figures on the roof. The beams and rafters are adorned with colorful paintings. The upper part of the gate features the Chinese characters “Shen Wu Men” (literally “Gate of Divine Might”). On the second floor, there is a viewing platform facing south, and to the north is a terrace platform.

　　According to records such as *Yangji Zhai Conglu* (Collected Records from the Nourishing Auspicious Studio), in the Qing Dynasty, there were “Three Towers” (bell and drum towers), and the night was divided into five watches, also called five nights or five drumbeats. Each watch was about two hours. At the start of each watch, drummers would beat the drum until dawn, when the 108-bell morning chime would ring. The bell and drum towers north of the gate operated similarly, hence the ancient saying “morning bells and evening drums.” According to *Chen Yuan Shi Lue* (Brief Notes on the Imperial City), during the Ming Dynasty, forty guard posts were set up around the Inner Imperial City, each manned by ten guards who kept watch day and night. There were also twenty-eight bronze bells; at the start of each watch, the first post west of the Meridian Gate, at the right que gate, would begin ringing the bell, which was then passed from guard to guard continuously until it reached the first post at the left que gate. This route went from the northwest to the southeast around the imperial city. At dawn, the bells were returned to the first post at the right que gate for use the next day. After the Qing entered the Pass, the imperial city guard system continued the Ming practice, patrolling from right to left, but replaced the “bell passing” with “token passing.”

　　The commander of the imperial guards stationed inside Shenwu Gate kept watch at night and held the keys to the south Shunzhen Gate. In feudal-era capitals, according to ancient systems, the layout was “front court, rear market,” meaning the front of the capital was for government offices, while the rear was for markets. In the Ming Dynasty, the “rear market” was not only located north of Di’anmen but also had an “Inner Market” in front of Shenwu Gate, open for business on the fourth day of each lunar month. Merchants could trade freely there to supply goods for the palace and high-ranking officials. Along this east-west street, treasures abounded—such as copperware from the Xuande era, porcelain from the Chenghua era, lacquerware from the Yongle Orchard Workshop, and enamelware commissioned by the Jing tai Palace eunuchs. As for the Qing Dynasty, there was also an Inner Market. When Empress Dowager Cixi lived in the Western Garden, she ordered eunuchs to set up a market next to the Round City at Chengguang Hall in Beihai, displaying all kinds of goods. Cixi herself would visit and inquire about prices, even referring to the activity as “observing the sentiments of merchants,” as noted in *Annotations to Qing Palace Poems*.

　　The sources of emperors’ and empresses’ consorts in the Qing Dynasty differed from those of previous dynasties. The Qing created its own distinctive system for selecting palace maidens, and Shenwu Gate was the mandatory imperial city gate through which the selected Eight Banners maidens entered and exited the palace. This strict selection process was overseen by the Ministry of Revenue and occurred once every three years. The day before the selection, captains and clerks from each banner would arrange the order of the carriages, which would then enter one after another in sequence. Each carriage displayed double lanterns with distinct markings. Departure was in the evening, and they would pass through Di’anmen at night to wait outside Shenwu Gate for it to open, after which they would disembark and enter the palace in order. The vehicles would then exit through the corridor of Shenwu Gate, proceed out Donghuamen, continue north along Chongwenmen Street, take a detour, and re-enter Di’anmen to return to Shenwu Gate, arriving around noon the next day. The selected maidens would exit Shenwu Gate in order, board their carriages, and return home. Despite the hundreds of carriages, everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, hence it was called the “carriage parade.” It is said that during the Qianlong reign, the carriages and horses were chaotic and disorganized, with candidates jostling for position. Vehicles couldn’t move forward, and besides Manchu women losing hairpins or earrings, traffic accidents also occurred.

Palace Museum

Bell and Drum Tower (Zhongcui Palace)

Hall of Supreme Harmony

Hall of Preserving Harmony

Hall of Imperial Supremacy

Hall of Military Eminence

Palace of Earthly Tranquility

Palace of Heavenly Purity

Palace of Longevity and Health

Hall of Three Rarities

Hall of Mental Cultivation

Palace of Longevity and Peace

Imperial Garden

Palace of Eternal Longevity

Meridian Gate