In ancient lore, the emperor was said to be the son of heaven and heavens supreme power was bestowed upon him.
China’s most glorious palace sits in the heart of the capital Beijing. The forbidden city was built facing north as an earthly gateway to the heavenly “Purple Palace” which is the north star, thought to be home to the Celestial Emperor.
Originally the forbidden city was named the purple forbidden city.
There are four gates, one to each point of the compass, The Meridian gate on the south, the gate of divine might on the north, to the east is the east glorious gate and to the west, the west glorious gate.
Around the city is a 52 metre wide moat and a ten metre high wall.
The construction started in 1406 and took until 1420 to complete, with a 100,000 workers, including 100,000 craftsmen.
It covers 0.28 square mile and has 980 buildings in over 70 palace compounds with nearly 9000 rooms.
The inner court is separated from the outer court by a oblong courtyard. It was the home of the emperor and his family. The emperor lived and worked in the inner court, with the outer court being used for ceremonial purposes.
At the centre of the inner court are another three halls whose names are, Palace of heavenly purity, Hall of union and the Palace of earthly tranquillity.
The emperor representing Yang and the heavens would occupy the palace of heavenly purity the empress representing Yin and earth would occupy the palace of earthly tranquillity. In between them was the hall of union where the Yin and Yang mixed to produce harmony.
Northern Star Baijiu Cocktail
25ml of V.I.P Jiu 8
50ml of cranberry juice
25ml of grapefruit juice
3 ice cubes
A lemon twist
Put ice into a high-ball glass and add the rest of the ingredients except the lemon, stir to mix, garnish with a lemon twist.
