英语风景介绍
(1)万里长城
In the north of China, there lies a 6,700-kilometer-long (4,161-mile-long) ancient wall. Now well-known as the Great Wall of China, it starts at the Jiayuguan Pass of Gansu Province in the west and ends at the Shanhaiguan Pass of Hebei Province in the east. As one of the Eight Wonders in the world, the Great Wall of China has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and its culture.
Lots of beautiful legends and stories about the Great Wall took place following along the construction, and since that time these stories have spread around the country. Those that happened during construction are abundant, such as Meng Jiangnu's story and the legend of the Jiayuguan Pass. Meng Jiangnu's story is the most famous and widely spread of all the legends about the Great Wall. The story happened during the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC). It tells of how Meng Jiangnu's bitter weeping made a section of the Great Wall collapse. Meng Jiangnu's husband Fan Qiliang was caught by federal officials and sent to build the Great Wall. Meng Jiangnu heard nothing from him after his departure, so she set out to look for him. Unfortunately, by the time she reached the great wall, she discovered that her husband had already died. Hearing the bad news, she cried her heart out. Her howl caused the collapse of a part of the Great Wall. This story indicates that the Great Wall is the production of tens of thousands of Chinese commoners.
Another legend about the Jiayuguan Pass tells of a workman named Yi Kaizhan in the Ming Dynasty (1368BC-1644BC) who was proficient in arithmetic. He calculated that it would need 99,999 bricks to build the Jiayuguan Pass. The supervisor did not believe him and said if they miscalculated by even one brick, then all the workmen would be punished to do hard work for three years. After the completion of the project, one brick was left behind the Xiwong city gate. The supervisor was happy at the sight of the brick and ready to punish them. However Yi Kaizhan said with deliberation that the brick was put there by a supernatural being to fix the wall. A tiny move would cause the collapse of the wall. Therefore the brick was kept there and never moved. It can still be found there today on the tower of the Jiayuguan Pass.
In addition to the above-mentioned stories about the construction of the Great Wall, there are also plenty of stories about current scenic spots. A famous one is the legend of the Beacon Tower. This story happened during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC-711 BC). King You had a queen named Bao Si, who was very pretty. King You liked her very much, however Bao Si never smiled. An official gave a suggestion that setting the beacon tower on
fire would frighten the King's subjects, and might make the queen smile. King You liked the idea. The subjects were fooled and Bao Si smiled at the sight of the chaos. Later enemies invaded Western Zhou, Kin
g You set the beacon tower on fire to ask for help. No subjects came to help because they had been fooled once before. Thus, King Zhou was killed by the enemy and Western Zhou came to an end.
Beautiful stories and legends about the Great Wall help to keep alive Chinese history and culture. In each dynasty after the building of the Great Wall, many more stories were created and spread
在中国北方，有一个6700公里长的古城墙（4161千米长）。现在著名的作为中国的长城，它开始在嘉峪关通过甘肃省西部和结束在山海关通过河北省在东。作为一个世界八大奇迹，中国长城已经成为中华民族的象征和文化。
很多美丽的传说和故事关于长城建成，并自那时起这些故事已蔓延全国各地。那些发生在施工期间丰富，如孟姜女的故事和传说中的嘉峪关。孟姜女的故事是最有名的和广泛传播所有传说长城。故事发生在秦朝（221bc-206bc）。它告诉我们孟姜女的痛哭了一段长城崩溃。孟姜女的丈夫范启亮被联邦官员和发送到建立长城。孟姜女听到他的任何他离开后，她出去找他。不幸的是，当她到达长城，她发现她的丈夫已经死了。听到这个坏消息，她悲痛欲绝。她叫冲垮了长城的一部分。这故事说明，长城是生产中国数以万计的平民。
另一个传说关于嘉峪关通过讲述了一个叫伊开展工人在明代（1368bc-1644bc）谁是精通算术。他计算，这将需要99999个砖建嘉峪关通。主管不相信他，说如果他们打错了算盘的一砖，然后所有的工人将被处罚做艰苦的工作了三年。工程竣工后，一块砖头被留下xiwong城门。主管很高兴看到砖和准备惩罚他们。然而伊说，开展审议的砖是放在那里的神仙修墙。一个小小的动作会引发倒塌的墙。因此，砖被关在那里不动。它仍然可以发现有今天的嘉峪关。
除了上述关于长城的建筑，也有很多故事，目前景区。一个著名的是烽火台的传说。这个故事发生在西周（公元前第十一世纪bc-711）。你有一个叫王王后宝斯，谁是非常漂亮的。你很喜欢她，但是宝斯从不微笑。官方建议设置烽火台火会把国王的臣民，并可能使微笑女王。你喜欢这个主意。受试者被愚弄，鲍斯微笑地看着混乱。后来敌人入侵西周，国王将烽火台消防要求帮助。没有人来帮助他们因为被愚弄过一次。因此，周王被敌人杀死，西周结束了。
美丽的故事和传说长城帮助保持中国历史与文化。在每一个王朝建立后的长城，很多故事，创造和传播
（2）
As one of the seventh wonders of this world, the Great Wall is now the top famous historical sites and tourist attractions in China. Millions of tourists from around the world come to visit this great structure each year.
As early as the Warring States Periods (476 BC – 221 BC), the ruling powers began to build walls as a defense against the northern nomadic tribes and other potential enemies. The state of Chu (11th Century BC-223BC) was the first to build a wall, followed by the Qi, Yan, Wei, Zhao and Qin. After Emperor Qin Shihuang unified the six states, he ordered General Meng Tian to connect the existing walls and to extend them further as a front line defense against possible invasion. Thus the Great Wall of China was formed. It extended from Lintao (present Lintao County in Dingxi City in Gansu Province) in the west and ended at Liaodong (present the eastern and southern parts of Liaoning Province) in the east. It was called “Wan Li Chang Cheng” (The Long Wall of 10,000 Li). Three groups of people built the wall. They were soldiers, common people and criminals. Many people died during its construction, due to the heavy work, short time limit and tough condition. An accurate number of those who died is unknown.During subsequent dynasties, the wall was extended, repaired or modified. The section of wall built in Han Dynasty (206BC-220) is the longest. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the wall was substantially repaired on more than twenty occasions. Today, the best known and most visited sections of the wall are at Badaling, Mutianyu, Simatai and Jinshanling and these were built in the Ming Dynasty. They were all built to protect the people and territories south of the wall from a continued threat of invasion by the northern nomadic tribes.
作为一个在这个世界上的第八个奇迹，长城是目前最著名的历史古迹和旅游景点在中国。每一年数百万来自世界各地的游客来参观这个巨大的工程。
早在战国时期（公元前476–公元前221年），统治权力开始建造围墙，为抵御北方游牧部落和其他潜在的敌人。楚国（第十一世纪bc-223bc）是第一个建立一个，其次是齐国，燕，魏，赵、秦。秦始皇统一后的六个国家，他命令蒙恬将军连接现有的墙壁和扩大进一步作为一个前线抵御入侵。因此，中国长城的形成。它从临洮（今临洮县定西市甘肃省）在西部和结束在辽东（今辽宁南部和东部部分地区）的东。它被称为“万里长城”（长墙10000里）。三组的人建造的墙。他们是士兵，百姓和罪犯。许多人死在其建设，由于繁重的工作，工期短和艰苦条件。准确的死亡者是未知的。在随后的朝代，墙壁是延长，修复或修改。这段墙建造在汉代（206bc-220）是最长的。在明代（1368 - 1644年），墙被完全修复，超过二十次。今天，最著名和最访问部分的壁在八达岭，司马台、金山岭慕田峪，和这些建于明代。他们都是保护人民和领土的南墙继续威胁入侵北方游牧部落。
（3）
The Great Wall of China (Wanli Changcheng ; lit
erally "Ten Thousand Leagues Long Fortification") is one of the most outstanding buildings of mankind, sometimes called the eight world wonder and said to be the only human work that can be seen from the moon (which is, of course, not true).
The part of the Great Wall we can admire today north of Beijing, are the reconstructed remnants of the Ming Dynasty wall. But this wall is only the last wall remain in a long tradition of wall building.
The oldest fortification walls of China were erected as an instrument of defense between the kingdoms of the Warring States period from the 5th to the 3rd century BC, that means, to defend Chinese against Chinese, not against "barbarians", like later. Today, it is possible to reconstruct five of these inner-China walls: the walls of Qi (modern Shandong), Chu (modern Hubei), Qin (modern Shaanxi), Yan (modern Hebei), Zhao (modern Shanxi), and Wei (modern Henan).
The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)[3] from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total.[4] It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men.[5] It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall
中国的长城（万里长城；“一万盟长期设防”）是一个最突出的建筑是人类，有时被称为“世界八奇迹，说是人类唯一的工作，从月球上可以看到（这是，当然，不是真的）。
我们可以欣赏长城的一部分，今天的北京北部，是重建残存的明代长城。但这是只有最后墙保持在一个长的传统建筑。
中国最古老的防御墙的建造作为一种防御的王国的战国时期从第五到公元前第三世纪，这意味着，捍卫中国对中国，不是对“野蛮人”，像后来的。今天，它是有可能的重建这五个inner-china墙：墙壁祁（今山东），楚（今湖北），秦（今陕西），燕（今河北），赵（今山西），魏（今河南）。
长城是世界上最长的人造结构，全长约6400公里（4000英里）[ 3]从华东的山海关罗布泊在西，沿弧，大致勾画的南部边缘的内蒙古，但长达6700公里（4160英里）的总额。
[ 4]这也是最大的人造结构建造方面的表面面积和质量。在其高峰期，明城墙是守卫一百万余人。[ 5]据估计有2到3000000中国人死亡的一部分后来修建长城工程
（4）
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups. Sever
al walls have been built since the 5th century BC that are referred to collectively as the Great Wall, which has been rebuilt and maintained from the 5th century BC through the 16th century. One of the most famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains; the majority of the existing wall was built during the Ming Dynasty.
The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. The most comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). This is made up of 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) sections of actual wall, 359.7 km (223.5 mi) of trenches and 2,232.5 km (1,387.2 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.
中国的长城是一系列的石头和防御工事，在中国北方，原建保护北部边界的中华帝国入侵的游牧民族。几堵墙已建自公元前第五世纪，统称为长城，已重建和保持从公元前第五世纪至第十六世纪。其中最有名的是墙之间的220–公元前206年由中国第一个皇帝，秦始皇。小墙的遗迹；大多数现有的墙建于明代。
长城从东山海关，以罗布泊在西，沿弧大致勾画的南部边缘的内蒙古。最全面的考古调查，采用先进技术，得出的结论是，整个长城，它的所有分支，延伸8851.8公里（5500.3英里）。这是由6259.6公里（3889.5英里）路段的实际，359.7公里（223.5英里）的壕沟和2232.5公里（1387.2英里）的天然防御屏障如小山和河流。
（5）
A Brief History of the Palace Museum
The Palace Museum, historically and artistically one of the most comprehensive Chinese museums, was established on the foundation of the palace that was the ritual center of two dynasties, the Ming and the Qing, and their collections of treasures. Designated by the State Council as one of China's foremost protected monuments in 1961, the Palace Museum was also made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
Situated at the heart of Beijing, the Palace Museum is approached through Tiananmen Gate. Immediately to the north of the Palace Museum is Prospect Hill (also called Coal Hill), while on the east and west are Wangfujing and Zhongnanhai neighborhoods. It is a location endowed with cosmic significance by ancient China's astronomers. Correlating the emperor's abode, which they considered the pivot of the terrestrial world, with the Pole Star (Ziweiyuan), which they believed to be at the center of the heavens, they called the palace The Purple Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third Ming emperor Yongle who, upon usurping the throne, determined to move his capital north from Nanjing to Beijing. In 1911 the Qing dynasty fell t
o the republican revolutionaries. The last emperor, Puyi, continued to live in the palace after his abdication until he was expelled in 1924. Twenty-four emperors lived and ruled from this palace during this 500-year span.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by 10-metre high walls and a 52-metre wide moat. Measuring 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters. Each of the four sides is pierced by a gate, the Meridian Gate (Wu men) on the south and the Gate of Spiritual Valor (Shenwu men) on the north being used as the entrance and exit by tourists today. Once inside, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of an invisible central axis. It is a magnificent sight, the buildings' glowing yellow roofs against vermilion walls, not to mention their painted ridges and carved beams, all contributing to the sumptuous effect.
Known as the Outer Court, the southern portion of the Forbidden City centers on the halls of Supreme Harmony, Central Harmony, and Preserving Harmony. These are flanked by the halls of Literary Glory and Military Eminence. It was here that the emperor held court and conducted his grand audiences.
Mirroring this arrangement is the Inner Court at the northern end of the Forbidden City, with the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility straddling the central axis, surrounded by the Six Palaces of the East and West and the Imperial Garden to the north. Other major buildings include the halls for Worshipping Ancestors and of Imperial Splendor on the east, and the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Pavilion of the Rain of Flowers and the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility on the west. These contain not only the residences of the emperor and his empress, consorts and concubines but also the venues for religious rites and administrative activities.
In total, the buildings of the two courts account for an area of some 163,000 square meters. These were laid out precisely in accordance with a code of architectural hierarchy, which designated specific features to reflect the paramount authority and status of the emperor. No ordinary mortal would have been allowed or even dared to come within close proximity of these buildings.
After the republican revolution, this Palace as a whole would have been sequestered by the Nationalist government were it not for the "Articles of Favorable Treatment of the Qing House" which allowed Puyi to live on in the Inner Court after his abdication. Meanwhile, all of the imperial treasures from palaces in Rehe (today's Chengde) and Mukden (today's Shenyang) were moved to the Forbidden City for public display in History Museum established at the Outer Court in 1914. While confined to the Inner Court, Puyi continuously used such vestiges of influence as still remained to plot his own restoration. He also systematically stole or pawned a huge number of cultural r
elics under the pretext of granting them as rewards to his courtiers and minions or taking them out for repair.
In 1924, during a coup launched by the warlord Feng Yuxiang, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City and the management of the palace fell to the charge of a committee set up to deal with the concerns of the deposed imperial family. The committee began a sorting and counting of the imperial treasures. A year of intense preparations later, its members arranged a grand ceremony on 10 October 1925 in front of the Palace of Heavenly Purity to mark the inception of the Palace Museum. News of the opening flashed across the nation, and such was the scramble of visitors on the first day that traffic jams around Beijing brought the city almost to a standstill.
According to a 28-volume inventory published in 1925, the treasure trove left by the Qing numbered more than 1,170,000 items including sacrificial vessels and ancient jade artifacts from the earliest dynasties; paintings and calligraphy from the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties; porcelain from the Song and Yuan; a variety of enamelware and lacquer ware; gold and silver ornaments; relics in bamboo, wood, horn and gourds; religious statues in gold and bronze; as well as numerous imperial robes and ornaments; textiles; and furniture. In addition, there were countless books, literary works and ancient records. All these were divided into separate collections of antiquities, library materials and historical documents and placed under teams of staff to sort and collate. Exhibition halls were opened to display some of the treasures, while writers and editors worked away at publishing in book or journal form all the new areas of research and academic inquiry that the establishment of the museum had ushered in. The Palace Museum was soon a hive of activity.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese, having annexed territory in China's northeast, proceeded to march on Beijing. With this looming threat, the museum authorities decided to evacuate its collection rather than let it fall into enemy hands or risk destruction in battle. For four frantic months between February and May 1933, the most important pieces in the collection were packed into 13,427 crates and 64 bundles and sent to Shanghai in five batches. From there they were dispatched to Nanjing where a depository was built and a branch of the Palace Museum established.
On 7 July 1937 shots fired around Marco Polo Bridge west of Beijing heralded the eruption of the Sino-Japanese War. Within a year, the Japanese had penetrated to most of eastern China. Now the treasures stored in Nanjing had to be moved again, this time by three routes to Sichuan, where they were secreted in three locations, Baxian, Emei and Leshan. Only at the end of the war were they consolidated in Chongqing, whence they were returned to Nanjing in 1947. By then the Nationalists were considerably weakened, and with the imminent takeover b
y the Communist armies of areas south of the Yangtze, they began their retreat to Taiwan. Between the end of 1948 and the dawn of 1949, the Nationalists picked relics to fill 2,972 crates for shipping across the Strait. A rival Palace Museum was set up in Taipei to display these antiquities. Most of what were left were gradually returned to Beijing, although to this day 2,221 crates remain in safe-keeping in storag in Nanjing.
During this tumultuous decade of war and revolution, not one item of the treasures was lost or damaged even though the volume involved was enormous. This was largely due to the dedicated energy of the Palace Museum staff, whose achievement in preserving these treasures was nothing short of heroic. But it was also as a result of this long period of upheaval that the treasures have been dispersed. Yet the rationale for keeping the collection together, representative as it is of the motherland's traditional culture, seems so incontestable that most people believe the treasures will be re-united one day.
In the early 1950s, shortly after the establishment of the People's Republic, the Palace Museum staff worked with a new will and enthusiasm to return the Forbidden City to its former glory. Where previously the dirty and dilapidated halls and courts lay under weeds and piles of rubbish, some 250,000 cubic meters of accumulated debris were now cleared out, giving the place a sparkling fresh look. A policy of comprehensive rehabilitation was also launched, and in time the crumbling palace buildings, repaired, and redecorated, looked resplendent once more. All the tall buildings were equipped with lightning conductors, while modern systems of fire protection and security were installed. It has been a priority of the People's Government, particularly since the beginning of the reform era in the early 1980s, to keep the surrounding moat dredged and clean.
As for the collection of antiquities, a systematic inventory was completed during the 1950s and 1960s, redressing the legacy of inaccurate cataloguing. The collection was moreover augmented, for example by the salvage of a number of precious artifacts from a jumble of apparently worthless objects. After more than a decade of painstaking efforts, some 710,000 relics from the Qing palace were retrieved. At the same time, through national allocations, requisitions and private donations, more than 220,000 additional pieces of cultural significance were added, making up for such omissions from the original Qing collection as colored earthenware from the Stone Age, bronzes and jades from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, pottery tomb figurines from the Han Dynasty, stone sculpture from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and tri-color glazed pottery from the Tang Dynasty. The ancient paintings, scrolls and calligraphy added to the collection were particularly spectacular. These included, from the Jin Dynasty, Lu Ji's cursive calligraphy "A consoling letter" (Ping fu tie), Wang X
un's " Letter to Boyuan (Bo yuan tie) and Gu
Kaizhi's "Goddess of the Luo River" (Luo shen fu tu); from the Sui Dynasty, Zhan Ziqian's landscape handscroll "Spring Outing" (You chun tu) ; from the Tang Dynasty, Han Huang's "Five Oxen" (Wu niu tu ), Du Mu's running-cursive script handscroll "Song of the Courtesan Zhan Haohao" (Zhang haohao shi) ; from the Five Dynasties, Gu Hongzhong's "The Night Revels of Han Xizai" (Han Xizai yeyan tu) "; from the Song Dynasty, Li Gonglin's "Painting after Wei Yan's Pasturing Horses" (Lin Wei Yan mu fang tu) Guo Xi's "Dry tree and rock, level distance landscape" (Ke shi pingyuan tu), and Zhang Zeduan's "Going up River on Spring Festival" (Qingming shang he tu)--all masterpieces without exception.
Unremitting though this attempt at recovery has been, however, there have been further exertions in recent years to acquire such works as Zhang Xian's "Landscape with Poems (Shi yong tu)" (Song Dynasty), Nai Xian's calligraphy "Ancient poem on south of the city" (Cheng nan yong gu shi) (Yuan Dynasty), Shen Zhou's landscape handscroll "After Huang Gongwang's 'Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains'" (Fang Huang Gongwang fuchun shan ju tu) (Ming Dynasty), Shi Tao's ink bamboo "Calling Wen Yuke" (Gao hu Yu ke tu) (Qing Dynasty). The first two were spirited out of the palace by the last emperor Puyi on the excuse of bestowing them on his brother Pu Jie; they fell into the hands of others and only now have been returned to their rightful place in the Palace Museum collection.
From the 1950s onwards, the museum's existing storehouses were completely overhauled to provide a damp-proof and insect-proof environment for the treasures. In the 1990s a new storehouse with a capacity of over 600,000 items was built, equipped with controls for maintaining constant temperature and humidity, as well as safeguards against fire and theft. A workshop was established in the 1950s and expanded in the 1980s to encompass a scientific Conservation Department. These not only continued traditions of craftsmanship, but also drew upon scientific discoveries to facilitate the restoration of damaged relics. In the past few decades the Conservation Department has treated as many as 110,000 objects from the Palace Museum and other public collections. Besides its continuous refurbishment of the main courts and halls, the museum has opened galleries to display bronzes, porcelain, crafts, paintings and calligraphy, jewelry, and clocks to expand the scope of its exhibitions. A number of thematic shows have been held in galleries devoted to temporary exhibitions; in recent years these have included such acclaimed ones as "A Comparison of Authentic and Counterfeit Paintings and Calligraphy", "Genuine and Imitation Examples of Ancient Porcelain and Materials from Ancient Kilns", "The Art of Packaging at the Qing Court" and "Selections from the Finest Acquisitions of the Last Fifty Years". Traveling exhibitions have also graced various provincial museums and
museums abroad. In fact, since the beginning of the
economic-reform era, an increasing number of exhibitions have been mounted in countries such as Britain, the USA, France, the former Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, Spain, Australia, Japan and Singapore, among others. All of them have aroused great interest and admiration and played a key part in the promotion of international understanding and cultural exchange.
The number of visitors to the Palace Museum has risen along with the growth of tourism, in the last decade reaching six to eight million a year.
故宫博物院总说
故宫博物院是在明、清两代皇宫及其收藏的基础上建立起来的中国综合性博物馆。其位于北京市中心，前通天安门，后倚景山，东近王府井街市，西临中南海。1961年，经国务院批准，故宫被定为全国第一批重点文物保护单位。1987年，故宫被联合国教科文组织列入“世界文化遗产”名录。
依照中国古代星象学说，紫微垣（即北极星）位于中天，乃天帝所居，天人对应，是以皇帝的居所又称紫禁城。明代第三位皇帝朱棣在夺取帝位后，决定迁都北京，即开始营造这座宫殿，至明永乐十八年（1420年）落成。1911年，辛亥革命推翻了中国最后的封建帝制--清王朝，1924年逊帝溥仪被逐出宫禁。在这前后五百余年中，共有24位皇帝曾在这里生活居住和对全国实行统治。
紫禁城，四面环有高10m的城墙和宽52m的护城河。城南北长961m，东西宽753m，占地面积达780,000㎡。城墙四面各设城门一座，其中南面的午门和北面的神武门现专供参观者游览出入。城内宫殿建筑布局沿中轴线向东西两侧展开。红墙黄瓦，画栋雕梁，金碧辉煌。殿宇楼台，高低错落，壮观雄伟。朝暾夕曛中，仿若人间仙境。城之南半部以太和、中和、保和三大殿为中心，两侧辅以文华、武英两殿，是皇帝举行朝会的地方，称为“前朝”。北半部则以乾清、交泰、坤宁三宫及东西六宫和御花园为中心，其外东侧有奉先、皇极等殿，西侧有养心殿、雨花阁、慈宁宫等，是皇帝和后妃们居住、举行祭祀和宗教活动以及处理日常政务的地方，称为“后寝”。前后两部分宫殿建筑总面积达163,000㎡。整组宫殿建筑布局谨严，秩序井然，寸砖片瓦皆遵循着封建等级礼制，映现出帝王至高无上的权威。在封建帝制时代，普通的人民群众是不能也不敢靠近它一步的。
辛亥革命后，这座宫殿本应全部收归国有，但按照那时拟定的《清室优待条件》，逊帝溥仪却被允许“暂居宫禁”，即“后寝”部分。当时的政府决定，将热河（承德）行宫和盛京（沈阳）故宫的文物移至故宫的“前朝”部分，于1914年成立了“古物陈列所”。溥仪居宫内，一直与亡清残余势力
勾结，图谋复辟，且以赏赐、典当、修补等名目，从宫中盗窃大量文物，引起了社会各界的严重关注。1924年，冯玉祥发动“北京政变”，将溥仪逐出宫禁，同时成立“清室善后委员会”，接管了故宫，对宫内文物进行清点。又经过一年的紧张筹备，于1925年10月10日在乾清门前广场举行了盛大的建院典礼，并通电全国，宣布故宫博物院正式成立。开放的第一天，人们以争先一睹这座神秘的皇宫及其宝藏为快，北京市内万人空巷，交通为之堵塞，此亦成为当天各大报纸的重大新闻。 经初步清点，清代宫廷遗留下来的文物，据1925年公开出版的二十八册《清室善后委员会点查报告》一书所载，计有一百一十七万余件，包括三代鼎彝、远古玉器、唐宋元
明之法书名画、宋元陶瓷、珐琅、漆器、金银器、竹木牙角匏、金铜宗教造像以及大量的帝后妃嫔服饰、衣料和家具等等。可谓金翠珠玉，奇珍异宝，天下财富，尽聚于此。除此之外，还有大量图书典籍、文献档案。为此故宫博物院下设古物馆、图书馆、文献馆，分别组织人力继续对文物进行整理，并就宫内开辟展室，举办各种陈列，还编辑出版多种刊物，公开资料，进行宣传。各项工作开展得有声有色，人文荟萃，极一时之盛。 第二次世界大战全面爆发前夕，日本帝国主义鲸吞了中国东北领土，步步进逼华北，形势危急。为了保护故宫文物不至遭战火毁灭或被日本帝国主义掠夺，故宫博物院决定采取文物避敌南迁之策。从1933年2月至5月，宫内重要文物被装成13,427箱又64包，分五批先运抵上海，后又运至南京。遂于南京建立文物库房，并成立了故宫博物院南京分院。1937年，“七·七卢沟桥事变”爆发，抗日战争全面展开。南迁文物又沿三路辗转迁徙至四川，分别存于四川省的巴县、峨嵋和乐山。直到抗日战争胜利后，三处文物复集中于重庆，于1947年运回南京。在中国人民解放军即将渡江之际，自1948年底至1949年初，南京国民党政府从南京库房中挑选出2,972箱文物运往台湾，后于台北市士林外双溪建立新馆，公开对外展出。余下的大批文物，在1949年以后陆续运回故宫博物院一万余箱，但至今还有2,221箱仍封存于南京库房，委托南京博物院代为保管。在这场长达十余年的惨烈的战争期间，由于故宫博物院的工作人员不畏艰难险阻，尽职尽责，南迁文物数量虽巨，却没有一件丢失和损伤，故宫人员的精神、事迹，可歌可泣。可又是因为这场战争，致使故宫的文物分处异地。这份祖国传统文化之珍藏应是一个整体，而尤与紫禁城建筑不可分离，人们相信，终有一日，其终将得以完璧。 中华人民共和
国成立后，故宫博物院的职工以崭新的精神面貌投入工作。拔除杂草，疏通河道，清理垃圾。50年代初，从宫内清除出去的上百年的垃圾竟达250,000立方米，自此院容焕然一新。故宫博物院制定了“着重保护、重点修缮、全面规划、逐步实施”的古建维修方针，经过几十年的努力，许多残破、渗漏、濒临倒塌的大小殿堂楼阁得到了修复和油饰，愈显金碧辉煌。院内各处高大宫殿都安装了避雷设施，又以巨额投资建设了防火防盗监控系统和高压消防给水管网，使这座古老的宫殿建筑得到了更加有效的保护。特别是改革开放后，在人民政府的大力支持下，彻底整治了环绕故宫的筒子河，更好地凸现了昔日皇城的风貌。
在文物工作方面，五六十年代的重点是对故宫博物院旧藏的清宫文物重新清点核对，登记造册，进行鉴别、分类和建档，纠正了过去计件不确之处并增补了遗漏的文物，例如从杂物堆中发现了用草帘裹着的象牙席、修复漱芳斋戏台时发现在地板下存放的传为唐代卢棱伽的《六尊者像》册等。通过长达十余年的工作，总计清理出清宫旧藏文物七十一万余件。与此同时，还通过国家调拨、向社会征集和接受私人捐赠等方式，新入藏文物达二十二万余件之多，大幅度地填补了清宫旧藏文物时代、类别的空缺和不足，诸如石器时代的彩陶，商、周时代的青铜器、玉器，汉代的陶俑，南北朝时代的石造像，唐代的三彩等。而新入藏的古代法书名画尤为大宗，为世所注目。如晋代陆机《平复帖》、王珣《伯远帖》、顾恺之《洛神赋图卷》，隋代展子虔《游春图卷》，唐代韩滉《五牛图卷》、杜牧《张好好诗卷》，五代顾闳中《韩熙载夜宴图卷》，宋代李公麟《临韦偃牧放图卷》、郭熙《窠石平远图》、张择端《清明上河图卷》等，均是人间瑰宝。此项工作数十年坚持不懈，近年还从市场上以巨资购回宋代张先《十咏图卷》，元代乃贤《城南咏古诗》，明代沈周《仿黄公望富春山居图卷》，清代石涛《高呼与可图卷》等，尤其前两
件是溥仪以赏溥杰为名从宫中盗出而流散民间的，今日复归宝藏。
为保护好这批数量巨大的古物瑰宝，从五六十年代起对原有库房进行了大规模的修整，采取了防潮、防虫的各种措施。九十年代后又建立了新的文物库房，可入藏文物六十余万件。新库房恒温、恒湿，防火、防盗，并采用现代化技术自动控制，可保文物安全无虞。自1950年开始，组建了文物修复工厂，1980年扩建为文物保护科学技术部，继承、利用传统工艺技术和引进自然科学新成果，对残损的文物进行修复，数十年来为本院及兄弟单位累计修复文
物达十一万余件。
为了使院藏瑰宝和广大观众见面，在陈列展览方面，除了保存和复原三大殿、后三宫和西六宫等处的原状陈列之外，又不定期开辟了青铜、陶瓷、工艺、书画、珍宝、钟表等专馆，供参观者欣赏。还开设有临时展厅，举办各种主题性展览，如近年来的《古书画真伪对比展》、《古陶瓷真仿品对比及古窑址资料展》、《清代宫廷包装艺术展》、《五十年入藏文物精品展》等，都是广受社会各界欢迎的展览。同时也引进国内各兄弟博物馆和国外的收藏文物展。为满足广大群众的要求，故宫博物院还组织小型文物展到各省市博览
英语风景介绍
(1)万里长城
In the north of China, there lies a 6,700-kilometer-long (4,161-mile-long) ancient wall. Now well-known as the Great Wall of China, it starts at the Jiayuguan Pass of Gansu Province in the west and ends at the Shanhaiguan Pass of Hebei Province in the east. As one of the Eight Wonders in the world, the Great Wall of China has become the symbol of the Chinese nation and its culture.
Lots of beautiful legends and stories about the Great Wall took place following along the construction, and since that time these stories have spread around the country. Those that happened during construction are abundant, such as Meng Jiangnu's story and the legend of the Jiayuguan Pass. Meng Jiangnu's story is the most famous and widely spread of all the legends about the Great Wall. The story happened during the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC). It tells of how Meng Jiangnu's bitter weeping made a section of the Great Wall collapse. Meng Jiangnu's husband Fan Qiliang was caught by federal officials and sent to build the Great Wall. Meng Jiangnu heard nothing from him after his departure, so she set out to look for him. Unfortunately, by the time she reached the great wall, she discovered that her husband had already died. Hearing the bad news, she cried her heart out. Her howl caused the collapse of a part of the Great Wall. This story indicates that the Great Wall is the production of tens of thousands of Chinese commoners.
Another legend about the Jiayuguan Pass tells of a workman named Yi Kaizhan in the Ming Dynasty (1368BC-1644BC) who was proficient in arithmetic. He calculated that it would need 99,999 bricks to build the Jiayuguan Pass. The supervisor did not believe him and said if they miscalculated by even one brick, then all the workmen would be punished to do hard work for three years. After the completion of the project, one brick was left behind the Xiwong city gate. The supervisor was happy at the sight of the brick and ready to punish them. However Yi Kaizhan said with deliberation that the brick was put there by a supernatural being to fix the wall. A tiny move would cause the collapse of the wall. Therefore the brick was kept there and never moved. It can still be found there today on the tower of the Jiayuguan Pass.
In addition to the above-mentioned stories about the construction of the Great Wall, there are also plenty of stories about current scenic spots. A famous one is the legend of the Beacon Tower. This story happened during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC-711 BC). King You had a queen named Bao Si, who was very pretty. King You liked her very much, however Bao Si never smiled. An official gave a suggestion that setting the beacon tower on
fire would frighten the King's subjects, and might make the queen smile. King You liked the idea. The subjects were fooled and Bao Si smiled at the sight of the chaos. Later enemies invaded Western Zhou, Kin
g You set the beacon tower on fire to ask for help. No subjects came to help because they had been fooled once before. Thus, King Zhou was killed by the enemy and Western Zhou came to an end.
Beautiful stories and legends about the Great Wall help to keep alive Chinese history and culture. In each dynasty after the building of the Great Wall, many more stories were created and spread
在中国北方，有一个6700公里长的古城墙（4161千米长）。现在著名的作为中国的长城，它开始在嘉峪关通过甘肃省西部和结束在山海关通过河北省在东。作为一个世界八大奇迹，中国长城已经成为中华民族的象征和文化。
很多美丽的传说和故事关于长城建成，并自那时起这些故事已蔓延全国各地。那些发生在施工期间丰富，如孟姜女的故事和传说中的嘉峪关。孟姜女的故事是最有名的和广泛传播所有传说长城。故事发生在秦朝（221bc-206bc）。它告诉我们孟姜女的痛哭了一段长城崩溃。孟姜女的丈夫范启亮被联邦官员和发送到建立长城。孟姜女听到他的任何他离开后，她出去找他。不幸的是，当她到达长城，她发现她的丈夫已经死了。听到这个坏消息，她悲痛欲绝。她叫冲垮了长城的一部分。这故事说明，长城是生产中国数以万计的平民。
另一个传说关于嘉峪关通过讲述了一个叫伊开展工人在明代（1368bc-1644bc）谁是精通算术。他计算，这将需要99999个砖建嘉峪关通。主管不相信他，说如果他们打错了算盘的一砖，然后所有的工人将被处罚做艰苦的工作了三年。工程竣工后，一块砖头被留下xiwong城门。主管很高兴看到砖和准备惩罚他们。然而伊说，开展审议的砖是放在那里的神仙修墙。一个小小的动作会引发倒塌的墙。因此，砖被关在那里不动。它仍然可以发现有今天的嘉峪关。
除了上述关于长城的建筑，也有很多故事，目前景区。一个著名的是烽火台的传说。这个故事发生在西周（公元前第十一世纪bc-711）。你有一个叫王王后宝斯，谁是非常漂亮的。你很喜欢她，但是宝斯从不微笑。官方建议设置烽火台火会把国王的臣民，并可能使微笑女王。你喜欢这个主意。受试者被愚弄，鲍斯微笑地看着混乱。后来敌人入侵西周，国王将烽火台消防要求帮助。没有人来帮助他们因为被愚弄过一次。因此，周王被敌人杀死，西周结束了。
美丽的故事和传说长城帮助保持中国历史与文化。在每一个王朝建立后的长城，很多故事，创造和传播
（2）
As one of the seventh wonders of this world, the Great Wall is now the top famous historical sites and tourist attractions in China. Millions of tourists from around the world come to visit this great structure each year.
As early as the Warring States Periods (476 BC – 221 BC), the ruling powers began to build walls as a defense against the northern nomadic tribes and other potential enemies. The state of Chu (11th Century BC-223BC) was the first to build a wall, followed by the Qi, Yan, Wei, Zhao and Qin. After Emperor Qin Shihuang unified the six states, he ordered General Meng Tian to connect the existing walls and to extend them further as a front line defense against possible invasion. Thus the Great Wall of China was formed. It extended from Lintao (present Lintao County in Dingxi City in Gansu Province) in the west and ended at Liaodong (present the eastern and southern parts of Liaoning Province) in the east. It was called “Wan Li Chang Cheng” (The Long Wall of 10,000 Li). Three groups of people built the wall. They were soldiers, common people and criminals. Many people died during its construction, due to the heavy work, short time limit and tough condition. An accurate number of those who died is unknown.During subsequent dynasties, the wall was extended, repaired or modified. The section of wall built in Han Dynasty (206BC-220) is the longest. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the wall was substantially repaired on more than twenty occasions. Today, the best known and most visited sections of the wall are at Badaling, Mutianyu, Simatai and Jinshanling and these were built in the Ming Dynasty. They were all built to protect the people and territories south of the wall from a continued threat of invasion by the northern nomadic tribes.
作为一个在这个世界上的第八个奇迹，长城是目前最著名的历史古迹和旅游景点在中国。每一年数百万来自世界各地的游客来参观这个巨大的工程。
早在战国时期（公元前476–公元前221年），统治权力开始建造围墙，为抵御北方游牧部落和其他潜在的敌人。楚国（第十一世纪bc-223bc）是第一个建立一个，其次是齐国，燕，魏，赵、秦。秦始皇统一后的六个国家，他命令蒙恬将军连接现有的墙壁和扩大进一步作为一个前线抵御入侵。因此，中国长城的形成。它从临洮（今临洮县定西市甘肃省）在西部和结束在辽东（今辽宁南部和东部部分地区）的东。它被称为“万里长城”（长墙10000里）。三组的人建造的墙。他们是士兵，百姓和罪犯。许多人死在其建设，由于繁重的工作，工期短和艰苦条件。准确的死亡者是未知的。在随后的朝代，墙壁是延长，修复或修改。这段墙建造在汉代（206bc-220）是最长的。在明代（1368 - 1644年），墙被完全修复，超过二十次。今天，最著名和最访问部分的壁在八达岭，司马台、金山岭慕田峪，和这些建于明代。他们都是保护人民和领土的南墙继续威胁入侵北方游牧部落。
（3）
The Great Wall of China (Wanli Changcheng ; lit
erally "Ten Thousand Leagues Long Fortification") is one of the most outstanding buildings of mankind, sometimes called the eight world wonder and said to be the only human work that can be seen from the moon (which is, of course, not true).
The part of the Great Wall we can admire today north of Beijing, are the reconstructed remnants of the Ming Dynasty wall. But this wall is only the last wall remain in a long tradition of wall building.
The oldest fortification walls of China were erected as an instrument of defense between the kingdoms of the Warring States period from the 5th to the 3rd century BC, that means, to defend Chinese against Chinese, not against "barbarians", like later. Today, it is possible to reconstruct five of these inner-China walls: the walls of Qi (modern Shandong), Chu (modern Hubei), Qin (modern Shaanxi), Yan (modern Hebei), Zhao (modern Shanxi), and Wei (modern Henan).
The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles)[3] from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total.[4] It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. At its peak, the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men.[5] It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall
中国的长城（万里长城；“一万盟长期设防”）是一个最突出的建筑是人类，有时被称为“世界八奇迹，说是人类唯一的工作，从月球上可以看到（这是，当然，不是真的）。
我们可以欣赏长城的一部分，今天的北京北部，是重建残存的明代长城。但这是只有最后墙保持在一个长的传统建筑。
中国最古老的防御墙的建造作为一种防御的王国的战国时期从第五到公元前第三世纪，这意味着，捍卫中国对中国，不是对“野蛮人”，像后来的。今天，它是有可能的重建这五个inner-china墙：墙壁祁（今山东），楚（今湖北），秦（今陕西），燕（今河北），赵（今山西），魏（今河南）。
长城是世界上最长的人造结构，全长约6400公里（4000英里）[ 3]从华东的山海关罗布泊在西，沿弧，大致勾画的南部边缘的内蒙古，但长达6700公里（4160英里）的总额。
[ 4]这也是最大的人造结构建造方面的表面面积和质量。在其高峰期，明城墙是守卫一百万余人。[ 5]据估计有2到3000000中国人死亡的一部分后来修建长城工程
（4）
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups. Sever
al walls have been built since the 5th century BC that are referred to collectively as the Great Wall, which has been rebuilt and maintained from the 5th century BC through the 16th century. One of the most famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Little of that wall remains; the majority of the existing wall was built during the Ming Dynasty.
The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. The most comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). This is made up of 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) sections of actual wall, 359.7 km (223.5 mi) of trenches and 2,232.5 km (1,387.2 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.
中国的长城是一系列的石头和防御工事，在中国北方，原建保护北部边界的中华帝国入侵的游牧民族。几堵墙已建自公元前第五世纪，统称为长城，已重建和保持从公元前第五世纪至第十六世纪。其中最有名的是墙之间的220–公元前206年由中国第一个皇帝，秦始皇。小墙的遗迹；大多数现有的墙建于明代。
长城从东山海关，以罗布泊在西，沿弧大致勾画的南部边缘的内蒙古。最全面的考古调查，采用先进技术，得出的结论是，整个长城，它的所有分支，延伸8851.8公里（5500.3英里）。这是由6259.6公里（3889.5英里）路段的实际，359.7公里（223.5英里）的壕沟和2232.5公里（1387.2英里）的天然防御屏障如小山和河流。
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A Brief History of the Palace Museum
The Palace Museum, historically and artistically one of the most comprehensive Chinese museums, was established on the foundation of the palace that was the ritual center of two dynasties, the Ming and the Qing, and their collections of treasures. Designated by the State Council as one of China's foremost protected monuments in 1961, the Palace Museum was also made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
Situated at the heart of Beijing, the Palace Museum is approached through Tiananmen Gate. Immediately to the north of the Palace Museum is Prospect Hill (also called Coal Hill), while on the east and west are Wangfujing and Zhongnanhai neighborhoods. It is a location endowed with cosmic significance by ancient China's astronomers. Correlating the emperor's abode, which they considered the pivot of the terrestrial world, with the Pole Star (Ziweiyuan), which they believed to be at the center of the heavens, they called the palace The Purple Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was built from 1406 to 1420 by the third Ming emperor Yongle who, upon usurping the throne, determined to move his capital north from Nanjing to Beijing. In 1911 the Qing dynasty fell t
o the republican revolutionaries. The last emperor, Puyi, continued to live in the palace after his abdication until he was expelled in 1924. Twenty-four emperors lived and ruled from this palace during this 500-year span.
The Forbidden City is surrounded by 10-metre high walls and a 52-metre wide moat. Measuring 961 meters from north to south and 753 meters from east to west, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters. Each of the four sides is pierced by a gate, the Meridian Gate (Wu men) on the south and the Gate of Spiritual Valor (Shenwu men) on the north being used as the entrance and exit by tourists today. Once inside, visitors will see a succession of halls and palaces spreading out on either side of an invisible central axis. It is a magnificent sight, the buildings' glowing yellow roofs against vermilion walls, not to mention their painted ridges and carved beams, all contributing to the sumptuous effect.
Known as the Outer Court, the southern portion of the Forbidden City centers on the halls of Supreme Harmony, Central Harmony, and Preserving Harmony. These are flanked by the halls of Literary Glory and Military Eminence. It was here that the emperor held court and conducted his grand audiences.
Mirroring this arrangement is the Inner Court at the northern end of the Forbidden City, with the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Hall of Union, and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility straddling the central axis, surrounded by the Six Palaces of the East and West and the Imperial Garden to the north. Other major buildings include the halls for Worshipping Ancestors and of Imperial Splendor on the east, and the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Pavilion of the Rain of Flowers and the Palace of Benevolent Tranquility on the west. These contain not only the residences of the emperor and his empress, consorts and concubines but also the venues for religious rites and administrative activities.
In total, the buildings of the two courts account for an area of some 163,000 square meters. These were laid out precisely in accordance with a code of architectural hierarchy, which designated specific features to reflect the paramount authority and status of the emperor. No ordinary mortal would have been allowed or even dared to come within close proximity of these buildings.
After the republican revolution, this Palace as a whole would have been sequestered by the Nationalist government were it not for the "Articles of Favorable Treatment of the Qing House" which allowed Puyi to live on in the Inner Court after his abdication. Meanwhile, all of the imperial treasures from palaces in Rehe (today's Chengde) and Mukden (today's Shenyang) were moved to the Forbidden City for public display in History Museum established at the Outer Court in 1914. While confined to the Inner Court, Puyi continuously used such vestiges of influence as still remained to plot his own restoration. He also systematically stole or pawned a huge number of cultural r
elics under the pretext of granting them as rewards to his courtiers and minions or taking them out for repair.
In 1924, during a coup launched by the warlord Feng Yuxiang, Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City and the management of the palace fell to the charge of a committee set up to deal with the concerns of the deposed imperial family. The committee began a sorting and counting of the imperial treasures. A year of intense preparations later, its members arranged a grand ceremony on 10 October 1925 in front of the Palace of Heavenly Purity to mark the inception of the Palace Museum. News of the opening flashed across the nation, and such was the scramble of visitors on the first day that traffic jams around Beijing brought the city almost to a standstill.
According to a 28-volume inventory published in 1925, the treasure trove left by the Qing numbered more than 1,170,000 items including sacrificial vessels and ancient jade artifacts from the earliest dynasties; paintings and calligraphy from the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties; porcelain from the Song and Yuan; a variety of enamelware and lacquer ware; gold and silver ornaments; relics in bamboo, wood, horn and gourds; religious statues in gold and bronze; as well as numerous imperial robes and ornaments; textiles; and furniture. In addition, there were countless books, literary works and ancient records. All these were divided into separate collections of antiquities, library materials and historical documents and placed under teams of staff to sort and collate. Exhibition halls were opened to display some of the treasures, while writers and editors worked away at publishing in book or journal form all the new areas of research and academic inquiry that the establishment of the museum had ushered in. The Palace Museum was soon a hive of activity.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese, having annexed territory in China's northeast, proceeded to march on Beijing. With this looming threat, the museum authorities decided to evacuate its collection rather than let it fall into enemy hands or risk destruction in battle. For four frantic months between February and May 1933, the most important pieces in the collection were packed into 13,427 crates and 64 bundles and sent to Shanghai in five batches. From there they were dispatched to Nanjing where a depository was built and a branch of the Palace Museum established.
On 7 July 1937 shots fired around Marco Polo Bridge west of Beijing heralded the eruption of the Sino-Japanese War. Within a year, the Japanese had penetrated to most of eastern China. Now the treasures stored in Nanjing had to be moved again, this time by three routes to Sichuan, where they were secreted in three locations, Baxian, Emei and Leshan. Only at the end of the war were they consolidated in Chongqing, whence they were returned to Nanjing in 1947. By then the Nationalists were considerably weakened, and with the imminent takeover b
y the Communist armies of areas south of the Yangtze, they began their retreat to Taiwan. Between the end of 1948 and the dawn of 1949, the Nationalists picked relics to fill 2,972 crates for shipping across the Strait. A rival Palace Museum was set up in Taipei to display these antiquities. Most of what were left were gradually returned to Beijing, although to this day 2,221 crates remain in safe-keeping in storag in Nanjing.
During this tumultuous decade of war and revolution, not one item of the treasures was lost or damaged even though the volume involved was enormous. This was largely due to the dedicated energy of the Palace Museum staff, whose achievement in preserving these treasures was nothing short of heroic. But it was also as a result of this long period of upheaval that the treasures have been dispersed. Yet the rationale for keeping the collection together, representative as it is of the motherland's traditional culture, seems so incontestable that most people believe the treasures will be re-united one day.
In the early 1950s, shortly after the establishment of the People's Republic, the Palace Museum staff worked with a new will and enthusiasm to return the Forbidden City to its former glory. Where previously the dirty and dilapidated halls and courts lay under weeds and piles of rubbish, some 250,000 cubic meters of accumulated debris were now cleared out, giving the place a sparkling fresh look. A policy of comprehensive rehabilitation was also launched, and in time the crumbling palace buildings, repaired, and redecorated, looked resplendent once more. All the tall buildings were equipped with lightning conductors, while modern systems of fire protection and security were installed. It has been a priority of the People's Government, particularly since the beginning of the reform era in the early 1980s, to keep the surrounding moat dredged and clean.
As for the collection of antiquities, a systematic inventory was completed during the 1950s and 1960s, redressing the legacy of inaccurate cataloguing. The collection was moreover augmented, for example by the salvage of a number of precious artifacts from a jumble of apparently worthless objects. After more than a decade of painstaking efforts, some 710,000 relics from the Qing palace were retrieved. At the same time, through national allocations, requisitions and private donations, more than 220,000 additional pieces of cultural significance were added, making up for such omissions from the original Qing collection as colored earthenware from the Stone Age, bronzes and jades from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, pottery tomb figurines from the Han Dynasty, stone sculpture from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and tri-color glazed pottery from the Tang Dynasty. The ancient paintings, scrolls and calligraphy added to the collection were particularly spectacular. These included, from the Jin Dynasty, Lu Ji's cursive calligraphy "A consoling letter" (Ping fu tie), Wang X
un's " Letter to Boyuan (Bo yuan tie) and Gu
Kaizhi's "Goddess of the Luo River" (Luo shen fu tu); from the Sui Dynasty, Zhan Ziqian's landscape handscroll "Spring Outing" (You chun tu) ; from the Tang Dynasty, Han Huang's "Five Oxen" (Wu niu tu ), Du Mu's running-cursive script handscroll "Song of the Courtesan Zhan Haohao" (Zhang haohao shi) ; from the Five Dynasties, Gu Hongzhong's "The Night Revels of Han Xizai" (Han Xizai yeyan tu) "; from the Song Dynasty, Li Gonglin's "Painting after Wei Yan's Pasturing Horses" (Lin Wei Yan mu fang tu) Guo Xi's "Dry tree and rock, level distance landscape" (Ke shi pingyuan tu), and Zhang Zeduan's "Going up River on Spring Festival" (Qingming shang he tu)--all masterpieces without exception.
Unremitting though this attempt at recovery has been, however, there have been further exertions in recent years to acquire such works as Zhang Xian's "Landscape with Poems (Shi yong tu)" (Song Dynasty), Nai Xian's calligraphy "Ancient poem on south of the city" (Cheng nan yong gu shi) (Yuan Dynasty), Shen Zhou's landscape handscroll "After Huang Gongwang's 'Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains'" (Fang Huang Gongwang fuchun shan ju tu) (Ming Dynasty), Shi Tao's ink bamboo "Calling Wen Yuke" (Gao hu Yu ke tu) (Qing Dynasty). The first two were spirited out of the palace by the last emperor Puyi on the excuse of bestowing them on his brother Pu Jie; they fell into the hands of others and only now have been returned to their rightful place in the Palace Museum collection.
From the 1950s onwards, the museum's existing storehouses were completely overhauled to provide a damp-proof and insect-proof environment for the treasures. In the 1990s a new storehouse with a capacity of over 600,000 items was built, equipped with controls for maintaining constant temperature and humidity, as well as safeguards against fire and theft. A workshop was established in the 1950s and expanded in the 1980s to encompass a scientific Conservation Department. These not only continued traditions of craftsmanship, but also drew upon scientific discoveries to facilitate the restoration of damaged relics. In the past few decades the Conservation Department has treated as many as 110,000 objects from the Palace Museum and other public collections. Besides its continuous refurbishment of the main courts and halls, the museum has opened galleries to display bronzes, porcelain, crafts, paintings and calligraphy, jewelry, and clocks to expand the scope of its exhibitions. A number of thematic shows have been held in galleries devoted to temporary exhibitions; in recent years these have included such acclaimed ones as "A Comparison of Authentic and Counterfeit Paintings and Calligraphy", "Genuine and Imitation Examples of Ancient Porcelain and Materials from Ancient Kilns", "The Art of Packaging at the Qing Court" and "Selections from the Finest Acquisitions of the Last Fifty Years". Traveling exhibitions have also graced various provincial museums and
museums abroad. In fact, since the beginning of the
economic-reform era, an increasing number of exhibitions have been mounted in countries such as Britain, the USA, France, the former Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, Spain, Australia, Japan and Singapore, among others. All of them have aroused great interest and admiration and played a key part in the promotion of international understanding and cultural exchange.
The number of visitors to the Palace Museum has risen along with the growth of tourism, in the last decade reaching six to eight million a year.
故宫博物院总说
故宫博物院是在明、清两代皇宫及其收藏的基础上建立起来的中国综合性博物馆。其位于北京市中心，前通天安门，后倚景山，东近王府井街市，西临中南海。1961年，经国务院批准，故宫被定为全国第一批重点文物保护单位。1987年，故宫被联合国教科文组织列入“世界文化遗产”名录。
依照中国古代星象学说，紫微垣（即北极星）位于中天，乃天帝所居，天人对应，是以皇帝的居所又称紫禁城。明代第三位皇帝朱棣在夺取帝位后，决定迁都北京，即开始营造这座宫殿，至明永乐十八年（1420年）落成。1911年，辛亥革命推翻了中国最后的封建帝制--清王朝，1924年逊帝溥仪被逐出宫禁。在这前后五百余年中，共有24位皇帝曾在这里生活居住和对全国实行统治。
紫禁城，四面环有高10m的城墙和宽52m的护城河。城南北长961m，东西宽753m，占地面积达780,000㎡。城墙四面各设城门一座，其中南面的午门和北面的神武门现专供参观者游览出入。城内宫殿建筑布局沿中轴线向东西两侧展开。红墙黄瓦，画栋雕梁，金碧辉煌。殿宇楼台，高低错落，壮观雄伟。朝暾夕曛中，仿若人间仙境。城之南半部以太和、中和、保和三大殿为中心，两侧辅以文华、武英两殿，是皇帝举行朝会的地方，称为“前朝”。北半部则以乾清、交泰、坤宁三宫及东西六宫和御花园为中心，其外东侧有奉先、皇极等殿，西侧有养心殿、雨花阁、慈宁宫等，是皇帝和后妃们居住、举行祭祀和宗教活动以及处理日常政务的地方，称为“后寝”。前后两部分宫殿建筑总面积达163,000㎡。整组宫殿建筑布局谨严，秩序井然，寸砖片瓦皆遵循着封建等级礼制，映现出帝王至高无上的权威。在封建帝制时代，普通的人民群众是不能也不敢靠近它一步的。
辛亥革命后，这座宫殿本应全部收归国有，但按照那时拟定的《清室优待条件》，逊帝溥仪却被允许“暂居宫禁”，即“后寝”部分。当时的政府决定，将热河（承德）行宫和盛京（沈阳）故宫的文物移至故宫的“前朝”部分，于1914年成立了“古物陈列所”。溥仪居宫内，一直与亡清残余势力
勾结，图谋复辟，且以赏赐、典当、修补等名目，从宫中盗窃大量文物，引起了社会各界的严重关注。1924年，冯玉祥发动“北京政变”，将溥仪逐出宫禁，同时成立“清室善后委员会”，接管了故宫，对宫内文物进行清点。又经过一年的紧张筹备，于1925年10月10日在乾清门前广场举行了盛大的建院典礼，并通电全国，宣布故宫博物院正式成立。开放的第一天，人们以争先一睹这座神秘的皇宫及其宝藏为快，北京市内万人空巷，交通为之堵塞，此亦成为当天各大报纸的重大新闻。 经初步清点，清代宫廷遗留下来的文物，据1925年公开出版的二十八册《清室善后委员会点查报告》一书所载，计有一百一十七万余件，包括三代鼎彝、远古玉器、唐宋元
明之法书名画、宋元陶瓷、珐琅、漆器、金银器、竹木牙角匏、金铜宗教造像以及大量的帝后妃嫔服饰、衣料和家具等等。可谓金翠珠玉，奇珍异宝，天下财富，尽聚于此。除此之外，还有大量图书典籍、文献档案。为此故宫博物院下设古物馆、图书馆、文献馆，分别组织人力继续对文物进行整理，并就宫内开辟展室，举办各种陈列，还编辑出版多种刊物，公开资料，进行宣传。各项工作开展得有声有色，人文荟萃，极一时之盛。 第二次世界大战全面爆发前夕，日本帝国主义鲸吞了中国东北领土，步步进逼华北，形势危急。为了保护故宫文物不至遭战火毁灭或被日本帝国主义掠夺，故宫博物院决定采取文物避敌南迁之策。从1933年2月至5月，宫内重要文物被装成13,427箱又64包，分五批先运抵上海，后又运至南京。遂于南京建立文物库房，并成立了故宫博物院南京分院。1937年，“七·七卢沟桥事变”爆发，抗日战争全面展开。南迁文物又沿三路辗转迁徙至四川，分别存于四川省的巴县、峨嵋和乐山。直到抗日战争胜利后，三处文物复集中于重庆，于1947年运回南京。在中国人民解放军即将渡江之际，自1948年底至1949年初，南京国民党政府从南京库房中挑选出2,972箱文物运往台湾，后于台北市士林外双溪建立新馆，公开对外展出。余下的大批文物，在1949年以后陆续运回故宫博物院一万余箱，但至今还有2,221箱仍封存于南京库房，委托南京博物院代为保管。在这场长达十余年的惨烈的战争期间，由于故宫博物院的工作人员不畏艰难险阻，尽职尽责，南迁文物数量虽巨，却没有一件丢失和损伤，故宫人员的精神、事迹，可歌可泣。可又是因为这场战争，致使故宫的文物分处异地。这份祖国传统文化之珍藏应是一个整体，而尤与紫禁城建筑不可分离，人们相信，终有一日，其终将得以完璧。 中华人民共和
国成立后，故宫博物院的职工以崭新的精神面貌投入工作。拔除杂草，疏通河道，清理垃圾。50年代初，从宫内清除出去的上百年的垃圾竟达250,000立方米，自此院容焕然一新。故宫博物院制定了“着重保护、重点修缮、全面规划、逐步实施”的古建维修方针，经过几十年的努力，许多残破、渗漏、濒临倒塌的大小殿堂楼阁得到了修复和油饰，愈显金碧辉煌。院内各处高大宫殿都安装了避雷设施，又以巨额投资建设了防火防盗监控系统和高压消防给水管网，使这座古老的宫殿建筑得到了更加有效的保护。特别是改革开放后，在人民政府的大力支持下，彻底整治了环绕故宫的筒子河，更好地凸现了昔日皇城的风貌。
在文物工作方面，五六十年代的重点是对故宫博物院旧藏的清宫文物重新清点核对，登记造册，进行鉴别、分类和建档，纠正了过去计件不确之处并增补了遗漏的文物，例如从杂物堆中发现了用草帘裹着的象牙席、修复漱芳斋戏台时发现在地板下存放的传为唐代卢棱伽的《六尊者像》册等。通过长达十余年的工作，总计清理出清宫旧藏文物七十一万余件。与此同时，还通过国家调拨、向社会征集和接受私人捐赠等方式，新入藏文物达二十二万余件之多，大幅度地填补了清宫旧藏文物时代、类别的空缺和不足，诸如石器时代的彩陶，商、周时代的青铜器、玉器，汉代的陶俑，南北朝时代的石造像，唐代的三彩等。而新入藏的古代法书名画尤为大宗，为世所注目。如晋代陆机《平复帖》、王珣《伯远帖》、顾恺之《洛神赋图卷》，隋代展子虔《游春图卷》，唐代韩滉《五牛图卷》、杜牧《张好好诗卷》，五代顾闳中《韩熙载夜宴图卷》，宋代李公麟《临韦偃牧放图卷》、郭熙《窠石平远图》、张择端《清明上河图卷》等，均是人间瑰宝。此项工作数十年坚持不懈，近年还从市场上以巨资购回宋代张先《十咏图卷》，元代乃贤《城南咏古诗》，明代沈周《仿黄公望富春山居图卷》，清代石涛《高呼与可图卷》等，尤其前两
件是溥仪以赏溥杰为名从宫中盗出而流散民间的，今日复归宝藏。
为保护好这批数量巨大的古物瑰宝，从五六十年代起对原有库房进行了大规模的修整，采取了防潮、防虫的各种措施。九十年代后又建立了新的文物库房，可入藏文物六十余万件。新库房恒温、恒湿，防火、防盗，并采用现代化技术自动控制，可保文物安全无虞。自1950年开始，组建了文物修复工厂，1980年扩建为文物保护科学技术部，继承、利用传统工艺技术和引进自然科学新成果，对残损的文物进行修复，数十年来为本院及兄弟单位累计修复文
物达十一万余件。
为了使院藏瑰宝和广大观众见面，在陈列展览方面，除了保存和复原三大殿、后三宫和西六宫等处的原状陈列之外，又不定期开辟了青铜、陶瓷、工艺、书画、珍宝、钟表等专馆，供参观者欣赏。还开设有临时展厅，举办各种主题性展览，如近年来的《古书画真伪对比展》、《古陶瓷真仿品对比及古窑址资料展》、《清代宫廷包装艺术展》、《五十年入藏文物精品展》等，都是广受社会各界欢迎的展览。同时也引进国内各兄弟博物馆和国外的收藏文物展。为满足广大群众的要求，故宫博物院还组织小型文物展到各省市博览