Forbidden City

English

Etymology

Calque of Chinese 紫禁城 (Zǐjìnchéng, literally “Purple Forbidden City”, or “Imperial Forbidden City”).

Proper noun

Forbidden City

1. A palace of the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty located in Dongcheng district, Beijing, China.
   • 1834 February, “Description of the City of Peking.”, in The Chinese Repository‎^[1], volume II, number 10, Canton, →OCLC, page 438:

     The northern division of Peking consists of three inclosures one within another, each surrounded by its own wall. The first contains the imperial palace and the abodes of the different members of the imperial household ;[...]
     The first inclosure, which is called the forbidden city, being the seat of ‘ the dragon’s throne,’ the place from which emanates the authority that governs one-third of mankind, is the most splendid, as well as the most important part of Peking. According to the notions of a Chinese, all within its walls is gold and silver.

   • 1968, “PEKING (PEIPING)”, in Encyclopedia Britannica‎^[2], volume 17, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 532, columns 1, 2:

     And within the Imperial city was the moated Forbidden city, with walls two and one-quarter miles long, plastered with a violet-coloured mortar, whence comes the popular name of the Purple city. The Forbidden city contained the Imperial palaces, which have been converted into a museum.

   • 1979 February 11, “Lantern festival enchantment”, in Free China Weekly‎^[3], Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2:

     During the Tang Dynasty 12 centuries ago, even the Forbidden City in Peiping would stay open for three days to allow ordinary citizens to observe the Lantern Festival.

   • 1983, Roderick MacFarquhar, The Great Leap Forward, 1958-1960 (The Origins of the Cultural Revolution)‎^[4], volume 2, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 235:

     Finally, in October, P'eng was moved from his quarters in the Chungnanhai area of the Forbidden City, where Mao, Liu Shao-ch’i and other Politburo members lived, to a dilapidated house in the Wu Chia Hua Yuan (Wu Family Garden), a compound within the Yuan Ming Park on the northern outskirts of Peking.

   • 1991, Chris Mullin, The Year of the Fire Monkey‎^[5] (Fiction), London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 252:

     The wall surrounding the Chung Nan Hai is high and wide, painted vermilion in keeping with the decor of the Forbidden City. It has a circumference of many miles, intersected at intervals by gates guarded day and night by armed soldiers.

   • 2005, Bill Clinton, My Life‎^[6], volume II, New York: Vintage Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 435:

     After we toured the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, I held a question-and-answer session with students at Beijing University.

   • 2019 February 19, Anna Fifield, “China’s Forbidden City to open to the general public at night for the first time in 94 years”, in The Washington Post‎^[7], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 February 2019, WorldViews‎^[8]:

     Those lucky visitors may be able to discover whether there is any truth to the legend that the Forbidden City, which was the home of China’s emperors between 1420 and 1912, is haunted by ghosts who come out just at night.
     Usually only VIPs — such as President Trump in 2017 — get to venture into the Forbidden City at night.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Forbidden City.

Translations

palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 紫禁城 (zh) (Zǐjìnchéng), 故宮／故宫 (zh) (Gùgōng)

• Danish: Den Forbudte By c (definite form)
• Finnish: Kielletty kaupunki
• French: Cité interdite (fr) f
• German: die Verbotene Stadt
• Greek: Απαγορευμένη Πόλη f (Apagorevméni Póli)
• Hungarian: Tiltott Város
• Irish: An Chathair Thoirmiscthe f
• Japanese: 紫禁城 (しきんじょう ,Shikinjō)
• Korean: 자금성 (Jageumseong)
• Mongolian: Хориотой хот (Xoriotoj xot)
• Portuguese: Cidade Proibida f
• Spanish: Ciudad Prohibida f
• Thai: พระราชวังต้องห้าม (Phra-rat-cha-wang-tong-ham)
• Uyghur: گۇگۇڭ (gugung)
• Vietnamese: Tử Cấm Thành

Further reading

• Saul B. Cohen, editor (2008), “Forbidden City”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[9], 2nd edition, volume 1, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1246, column 2
• “Forbidden City, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Forbidden City”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.