I am pleased to serve as your guide This is the palace museum; also know as the Forbidden C It is the largest and most well reserved imperial residence in China Under Ming Emperor Yongle， construction began in It took 14years to build the Forbidden C The first ruler who actually lived here was Ming Emperor Z For five centuries thereafter， it continued to be the residence of23 successive emperors until 1911 when Qing Emperor Puyi was forced to abdicate the In 1987， the United Nations Educational， Scientific and Cultural Organization recognized the Forbidden City was a world cultural It is believed that the Palace Museum， or Zi Jin Cheng ( Forbidden City)， got its name from astronomy folklore， The ancient astronomers divided the constellations into groups and centered them around the Ziwei Yuan (North Star) The constellation containing the North Star was called the Constellation of Heavenly God and star itself was called the purple Because the emperor was supposedly the son of the heavenly gods， his central and dominant position would be further highlighted the use of the word purple in the name of his In folklore， the term “an eastern purple cloud is drifting” became a metaphor for auspicious events after a purple cloud was seen drifting eastward immediately before the arrival of an ancient philosopher， LaoZi， to the Hanghu P Here， purple is associated with auspicious The word jin (forbidden) is self-explanatory as the imperial palace was heavily guarded and off-explanatory as the imperial palace was heavily guarded and off-limits to ordinary The red and yellow used on the palace walls and roofs are also Red represents happiness， good fortune and Yellow is the color of the earth on the Loess Plateau， the original home of the Chinese
