北京故宫博物院英文导游辞
Hello, everyone,
We are now going to pay a visit to a place of special interest. This
scenic spot is located at the center of Beijing and is characterized by
thousands of palatial architectures and purple walls as well as yellow glazed
tile roofs- it is simply a sea of palaces. This is the world – famous wonder
– the Palace Museum.
The Palace Museum has served as the royal residence during the Ming and
Qing dynasties. It was here that a total of 24 monarchs ascended the throne
and wielded power for some 500 years. The Palace Museum, as the most beautiful
spot of interest throughout Beijing, is unique for its location: to the
northwest is Beihai(North Sea) Park, famous for its white pagoda and rippling
lake; to the west is the Zhongnahai (central and south sea); to the east lies
the the Wangfujing Shopping Street; and to the north id Jinshan Park. Standing
in the Wanchun (Everlasting Spring) Pavilion at the top of Jingshan(Charcoal
Hill) Park, you overlook the skyline of the palace Museum. At the southern end
of the palace is Tian` anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) and the famous square
named after it . This is the symbol of the People` s Republic of China.
A world-famous historical site, the Palace Museum is on the World Heritage
List of UNESCO and is an embodiment of oriental civilization.
The Palace Museum is rectangular in shape, 960 meters long from north to
south and 750 meters wide from east to west, covering a space of 720,000
square meters of which 150,000 is building area . It has 9000-strong rooms in
it . According to legend there are 9999.5 room-units in all .The whole
compound is enclosed by a 10-meter-hign wall and is accessed through four
entrances, namely, the meridian Gate in the south ,the Gate of Military
Prowess in the north, Donghua(Eastern Flowery ) Gate in the north, Donghua
( Eastern Flowery) Gate in the east and Xihua(Western Flowery ) Gate in the
west. On each corner there is a turret consisted of 9 roof beams, 18 pillars
and 72 ridge . Encircling the compound there is a 3,800-meter-long and 52
meter-wide moat, making the Palace Museum a self-defensive city-within-a city.
The Palace Museum was made a center of rule during the Ming Dynasty by
Zhun Di, The fourth son of the founding emperor Zhuyuanzhang. The whole
complex straddles on an 8-kilometers-long central axis that stretches from
Yongding (Forever Stable) Gate in the south to Gulou (Drum Tower) in the
north. Prominence was given to the royal power by putting the “three main
front halls” and “three back halls ”on the axis while arrange other
subsidiary structure around them .The construction of the Palace Museum
involved manpower and resources across China. For example, the bricks laid in
the halls ,known as “gold brick, ” underwent complex, two –dozen processes.