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00:02The Forbidden City in Beijing.
00:05The biggest palace complex the world has ever seen.
00:09Built by a tyrannical emperor.
00:12It's an entire city within a city.
00:15But why is it so vast?
00:17The sheer scale of this palace is absolutely staggering.
00:21For centuries, the Forbidden City was shut off to the world.
00:25Now, for the first time, archaeologists are uncovering its buried treasures.
00:31They're using ingenious technology to open up hidden corners that no one was ever meant to see.
00:39We were very excited to see these kind of discoveries.
00:44Did this palace bring China into a golden age of imperial rule?
00:52To solve these mysteries, we will unlock the secrets of this incredible construction.
01:00Diving deep into its foundations, we'll uncover staggering feats of engineering.
01:07And reveal what made the Forbidden City the greatest palace on Earth.
01:21China, the land of ancient dynasties, ruled over for 500 years from one remarkable superstructure.
01:31The Forbidden City in Beijing.
01:34The Forbidden City is huge.
01:36It's the largest palatial complex in the world.
01:39And it's contained within this perimeter wall.
01:45This mega palace is the size of 135 football fields.
01:51It was the magnificent home of China's emperors.
01:55Now, archaeologists armed with the latest technology are finally exposing its secrets.
02:03They're discovering the incredible story of the Forbidden City's construction and unveiling one of the most mysterious places on the
02:11planet.
02:13Locked away from the eyes of the world, behind 30-foot-high walls, stands an immense complex of 900 buildings.
02:22At the center are three grand halls.
02:26The ceremonial heart of the city.
02:29Each one is an architectural masterpiece.
02:33Deeper into the heart of the city lies the exclusive inner court.
02:37The home of the emperor.
02:40This vast palatial compound sprawls over 180 acres.
02:45Making it the largest ever constructed.
02:49Why did China's emperors need such a huge and impenetrable residence?
02:53Did it help them hold on to power?
02:58Historian William Lindsay thinks the first clue lies with the man who built it.
03:02One of China's greatest and most notorious rulers.
03:06An emperor called Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.
03:11Yongle started construction on the Forbidden City in 1407.
03:16He intended it to be the control center of his new imperial capital.
03:22Beijing.
03:24It took 14 years to complete.
03:29I think the scale and beauty of Yongle's palace reflects his confidence in his own reign.
03:37He was really ambitious.
03:41This sprawling site contains temples, workshops and rooms for an army of servants.
03:47Everything needed to run an empire.
03:50It was strictly out of bounds to ordinary people.
03:53But William thinks that the city is more than just an extravagant royal dwelling.
03:58The Forbidden City isn't just a palace.
04:01It's also a fortress.
04:04Any attacker would face a series of walls.
04:08There would be the Beijing city wall, the moat and the perimeter wall to overcome.
04:16600 years ago, Beijing lay on the fringes of the empire.
04:20To the north was the Great Wall.
04:24And beyond it, a fierce people.
04:29Called the Mongols.
04:31These formidable warriors were China's sworn enemies.
04:35The Mongols ruled China for more than a century.
04:38Yongle's father was the man that ousted them.
04:41But even though they were fragmented, they still remained a threat.
04:46Why would anyone choose to build such a magnificent palace city so close to hostile territory?
04:52It's one of the Forbidden City's most puzzling questions.
04:57The answer could lie hidden beneath this massive and mysterious complex.
05:05In a courtyard near the center of the Forbidden City,
05:10archaeologists stumbled on an unexpected clue.
05:14The foundations of a now-vanished building from Yongle's reign.
05:20Alternating layers of compacted earth and broken bricks once supported a massive structure.
05:29But further down lies evidence of an even older building.
05:33Fragments of bottles, tiles and bowls dated to the time of Mongol rule.
05:39Could this seemingly random assortment of trash finally reveal why the Forbidden City was built right here?
05:50Archaeologist Mr. Wang Guan Yao investigates these mysterious hidden remains.
05:56He thinks that the foundations under this courtyard belong to another, much more ancient palace.
06:11What is this mysterious structure?
06:16The first Mongol ruler to conquer China built a spectacular palace in Beijing.
06:22His name was Kublai Khan.
06:25According to legend, gold and silver covered his famous imperial home.
06:31Wang Yao thinks that traces of it lie underneath this courtyard.
06:34Now, this is the fact that this is the three-day royal palace.
06:40It is the place that is in this place.
06:44Historians know very little about this older palace.
06:47Excavations in the Forbidden City are incredibly rare.
06:52But whenever they do take place, archaeologists discover that this site has an amazing hidden history.
07:00Investigators believe that most of the Mongol palace lay to the north of this complex.
07:07Today, a strange man-made hill stands where the heart of Kublai Khan's building should be.
07:16William thinks that Yongle built it to bury the heart of the Mongol palace.
07:21Beijing is a pan-flat city.
07:23But just beyond this perimeter wall of the Forbidden City lies a moat, 65 feet wide.
07:30And when they excavated that great trench, they had a huge amount of earth to dispose of.
07:35They put it right there.
07:37And in doing so, they created a hill that buried the former palace on this site,
07:45the palace of the Mongols, the palace of Kublai Khan.
07:50It was a clear and symbolic move.
07:53Yongle raised his enemy's palace to the ground and erected an even better one right on top.
08:01He was determined to end the Mongol threat, once and for all.
08:08As a young prince, Yongle cut his teeth in Beijing, fighting tirelessly against the northern invaders for years.
08:19On becoming ruler, he continued to lead his armies into battle.
08:23With his cavalry, he earned the nickname the Emperor on Horseback.
08:33Yongle designed the Forbidden City not just as a palace, but as a military headquarters.
08:40He saw attack as the best defense, striking deep into the heart of Mongol territory.
08:51He had a military plan, a dream, to wipe out the scourge of the Mongols forever.
08:57And this would be the perfect base for launching his northern military expeditions.
09:04The Forbidden City was the dream of a warrior emperor.
09:08But why did Yongle need such a colossal palace?
09:13Archaeologists hunt for clues beneath its courtyards.
09:17Discoveries are beginning to reveal why the Forbidden City is so big.
09:21Could the answer lie with Yongle's brutal rise to power?
09:27And how has this extraordinary palace managed to survive 500 years of deadly earthquakes?
09:46The Forbidden City, a vast and secretive fortress.
09:52600 years ago, one of China's most powerful emperors built it on the edge of the empire.
09:58From here, he waged war against the Mongols, his country's greatest enemies.
10:04Yongle was ambitious. He was the emperor on horseback.
10:08He laid a foundation for the solidarity of the Ming Empire.
10:16But what could the sheer scale of the palace tell us about the man who built it?
10:22Did Yongle always intend the Forbidden City to be as large as it is today?
10:27Or did later dynasties simply expand on his vision?
10:32No one is entirely sure how much of what we see now is original.
10:37No blueprints for the Forbidden City exist.
10:41Could the colossal boundary walls provide a clue?
10:46Encircling the Forbidden City is one continuous perimeter wall, over two miles in length.
10:54Thirty feet high, with a rock-solid earth core, it's clad with a triple layer of bricks.
11:01But underneath it all lies sophisticated engineering.
11:06A seamlessly integrated drainage channel, lined with stones, runs parallel to the entire length of the wall.
11:19So how did it work?
11:21Could this simple ditch be the key to revealing the Forbidden City's original size?
11:29Digging inside the Forbidden City itself is strictly controlled.
11:35Archaeologist Mr. Wu Wei hunts for answers just beyond its main walls.
11:43Today, he and his team investigate Dagaoxuan.
11:47Although outside the main perimeter, this mini-palace is still considered part of the Forbidden City.
11:56Dagaoxuan is actually a large area.
12:01But there are also many small areas that are built.
12:04It's similar to Dagaoxuan.
12:18Dagaoxuan is built.
12:19And then finally, des taking together.
12:19And Ad aquatic City also seçeneer copy the ones underneath the main palace next door.
12:24Each trench reveals layers of compacted rammed earth.
12:28And this roof buries is what is standing here.
12:35The building is xxxed giraoxxed thaaj4d.
12:37technique to rebuild the Ming Court Yard. A few inches of earth and lime are pounded down at a time.
12:58In the Ming period a layer of broken bricks or pottery could then be rammed down on top to add
13:04strength. Most of the palace was built in this way. It creates rock solid foundations to support huge buildings.
13:25But alongside this substructure the team also discovers the drainage system.
13:32It too looks like a miniature version of its big brother next door.
13:45Beijing is almost completely flat. Archaeologists think the courtyards of both
13:51palaces bulge in the middle to get rid of rainwater. Wei investigates exactly how this works.
14:00We are in the middle of the village. This place is the highest place.
14:09Wei carefully pours out water onto the central path leading to Dagaoxuan's pavilion.
14:15It runs into ditches that drain away on each side.
14:30Archaeologists believe that the Forbidden City's water system works just like this, but on a massive scale.
14:37Concealed ditches under the perimeter wall channel rainwater into the vast moat that circles the city.
14:44It's all perfectly integrated and must have been conceived at the same time.
14:50It suggests that the city's immense size was indeed planned from the very start.
14:57But why did it matter to Yongle? What made him build on such a staggering scale?
15:06Historians think the answer lies in his brutal rise to power.
15:11In 1402, Yongle seized control of the empire in a bloody coup. He deposed his nephew and burnt the old
15:19imperial palace.
15:22Fearing reprisals, the new emperor moved the Chinese capital from the south to Beijing in the north.
15:30Here, he was close to his armies. But he also needed to show that he was the rightful ruler.
15:36So he built a new palace, the biggest in history, to demonstrate his power.
15:43Right from the start, everything about the Forbidden City was like nothing ever seen before.
15:49A statement that Yongle was the most powerful person on earth.
15:54And the fact that Yongle began by staking out the limits of this palace seems to me a clear signal
16:03that he was going to build this on an unprecedented scale. Things are about to change and he's in charge.
16:12Historical accounts often portray Yongle as a ruthless and despotic leader.
16:17How did he use this new city to rule over his entire empire?
16:22And did the construction of this gigantic palace push the people of China too far?
16:39The Forbidden City
16:41The Forbidden City
16:43The astonishing creation of a ruler whose ambition knew no limits.
16:48600 years ago, the Chinese emperor Yongle built this secretive mega palace.
16:55He wanted a grand residence to establish his new regime.
17:00How did Yongle use the Forbidden City to rule over a vast empire?
17:07Historian William Lindsay thinks clues lie within the buildings that housed the dragon throne.
17:14This imperial audience chamber was the biggest in the empire.
17:18This was the most important building in China from the moment Yongle built this imperial palace
17:25until the 1900s. Why? It's the place where many emperors ascended the throne and became the son of heaven.
17:35The emperor had several throne rooms. William thinks they were specifically designed to reinforce his power.
17:44Here, he surrounded himself with symbols of perfection to prove he was chosen by heaven.
17:50What is very clear is the balance of everything in there.
17:55Notice the way the vases, the cranes, the calligraphic boards, they're all in pairs.
18:01Shows us the importance of balance.
18:03So the emperor demanded balance, harmony and perfection in anything.
18:10It's amazing. Everything in this palace was perfect.
18:16Yongle's family saw themselves as reclaiming China from the Mongol invaders and returning it to their people.
18:23Traditional Chinese values were resurrected and reinforced by a code.
18:29Five clawed dragons were reserved for the emperor's use alone.
18:34Four claws for princes and nobles.
18:38Even the doors were covered in symbolism.
18:42The number of heavenly perfection was ten.
18:46But here, for the emperor, we have rows of nine nails.
18:51And nine rose vertically, making 81.
18:58Not just 81 on this door, but every door in the Forbidden City.
19:04Nine was the emperor's number.
19:06Just one below the heavenly perfection of ten.
19:10It was an intentional move, designed to leave his subjects in no doubt that he was the highest ranking human
19:17on earth.
19:19How far was Yongle prepared to go to present himself as the perfect emperor?
19:25Objects that were meant to be hidden from view could provide the answer.
19:31When rebuilding an old storage area, workers uncovered an original paved floor from the emperor's palace.
19:40But digging further down, they made an astonishing discovery.
19:45A shallow pit, containing 10,000 fragments of fine porcelain.
19:52Exquisitely decorated and glazed, yet smashed into tiny pieces.
19:58This would have been the finest imperial porcelain of its time.
20:03What made it so dangerous that it needed to be buried forever?
20:09What does it say about the emperor who ruled here?
20:15Today, workers pave over the pit as part of the Forbidden City's ongoing rebuilding work.
20:22Archaeologist Mr. Wang Guangyao investigates why this broken imperial porcelain appears to have been smashed intentionally.
20:31It has been a long, long, long and long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long,
20:37long.
20:40Although porcelain has been uncovered in other areas of the city, Wang Guang thinks this find is very special.
20:54Investigators bring every single piece of broken imperial porcelain to the restoration workshop.
21:00Here, the team tries to figure out what it looked like, and why it was smashed and buried.
21:06It's a super-sized and super-fragile jigsaw puzzle.
21:24Today, faultless examples of bowls like these could be worth millions of dollars.
21:30But to Guangyao, even broken bits and pieces are priceless.
21:43Why was this beautiful porcelain intentionally shattered and buried?
21:49Guangyao thinks each one has tiny flaws.
22:00The porcelain that was less than perfect could not be placed in front of the emperor.
22:05But it was still considered too good for ordinary people.
22:15The destruction seems like a colossal waste.
22:19To the new Ming dynasty, however, it was vital to their survival.
22:26Everything about this palace was designed to uphold centuries of tradition.
22:32It made the imperial family appear superior to the previous Mongol rulers.
22:39And cemented Yongle's image as a legitimate ruler.
22:45Huge ceremonies performed here did the same.
22:51The Forbidden City's outer court and vast open spaces were the stage for important rituals.
23:00Of the sacred days, the main courtyard would fill with the highest-ranking officials.
23:11When Yongle appeared, his subjects would all kowtow,
23:15knocking their heads on the floor nine times, loud enough to be heard.
23:23These ceremonies reinforced the emperor's authority on a daily basis.
23:28He was seen as the guardian of the empire's values.
23:34All of those taking part would be greeted by the ranks of soldiers and a guard of honor
23:43going down the central axis, leading up the steps and into the hall.
23:49It must have been a fantastic sight full of color, making those attending the ceremonies feel so proud to be
23:58part of this great empire.
24:03From precise rituals to exquisite porcelain, the Forbidden City was meant to reinforce the emperor's divine power.
24:11It turned his family into one of the most famous imperial houses of all time, the Ming dynasty.
24:19But how did Yongle build such an immense city in what was then a remote area on the very fringes
24:25of the empire?
24:26And how has it survived hundreds of years of natural disasters?
24:44Six hundred years ago, China's new emperor sent a clear message to his people.
24:49Here, on the frontier of the empire, he built an elaborate palace metropolis, the Forbidden City.
24:57A mighty statement of his divine right to rule, and a fierce warning to his Mongol enemies.
25:03But Beijing was a remote, landlocked city with limited natural resources.
25:10How did the emperor construct such a colossal masterpiece here?
25:17Lifting up the Hall of Preserved Harmony reveals an array of massive stones.
25:22The emperor's audience chamber sits on a 26-foot marble base.
25:29Inside, 60 stone blocks reinforce packed earth foundations, strengthened by a lattice of stone beams.
25:37Hundreds more slabs form a solid base.
25:40But at the center of the platform is a grand staircase, with a single 50-foot-long 300-ton slab
25:48of marble.
25:50It's the weight of 135 SUVs.
25:53How did builders transport such a massive slab of stone to the center of the city?
26:02The nearest marble quarry is around 43 miles away.
26:07Legend says that the Forbidden City's workers slid the heaviest stones along roads frozen with ice to reach the construction
26:14site.
26:15But could this really be true?
26:18Beijing is famous for its harsh winters.
26:21To this day, the moats surrounding the palace often freeze over.
26:26Did the Forbidden City's builders really turn the weather to their advantage?
26:31Engineering professor Li Jiang searches for answers.
26:35I heard the story about the ice road when I was a kid, about five to six years old.
26:46But I never really took that case seriously before.
26:51Jiang thinks a clue lies with an ancient manuscript.
26:58The main book tells the transport of the stones happened at late December to the next January.
27:09So that's the coldest time during the year.
27:15Records reveal that workers dug wells into the roads.
27:20Investigators assumed that they provided water to make ice.
27:24But the huge number of them is puzzling.
27:29Jiang thinks that the water from these reservoirs had a second crucial function.
27:35Why so many wells are needed?
27:40The water is used for water lubrication for the sliding on the ice.
27:51Jiang calculates that it would have taken 1,000 men to slide giant blocks along a road covered with just
27:58ice.
28:02But with wells dug along the icy route, they could pour water onto the ice and lubricate the surface.
28:11The thin film of lubricating water between the sled and ice reduced the friction
28:17and allowed the blocks to glide easily across the frozen pathway.
28:22By using this method, they could cut the number of men needed from 1,000 to just 150.
28:33This ingenious technique allowed Jiang Liu to transport huge quantities of raw materials across long distances.
28:42But getting them to the city was only half the job.
28:46Today, archaeologist Wu Wei uses innovative scanning technology
28:51to investigate the intricate carvings on these massive marble ramps.
28:55After hundreds of years, the patterns are beginning to fade.
29:15The scanner captures the entire block with extraordinary precision.
29:22Fine details that were once invisible to the naked eye suddenly become clear.
29:41This huge marble block is so perfect, it may have been carved once in place,
29:46which presented Yang Le with a new problem.
29:52Beijing was so remote, it also had a shortage of manpower.
29:57So the emperor forced people from all over the country to work on this 14-year construction project.
30:03The question how all of these blocks came to this palace is an amazing human story.
30:13And look at the carving on this, to carve that would have taken a stonemason many weeks.
30:20It's a water spout, but it had to be beautiful.
30:24To me, this is the wonder of the whole complex, the human efforts,
30:28and the fantastic materials that went into the palace.
30:34Yang Le's all-consuming vision revolutionized China.
30:39But his grand palace became a hugely unpopular scheme among his people.
30:44It's thought hundreds of thousands of them were forced to work on it.
30:51Today, their legacy is a palace that has stood for more than half a millennia.
30:57How has the Forbidden City survived Beijing's many earthquakes?
31:02And why wasn't this mega-palace destroyed when the dynasty who built it fell?
31:22The Forbidden City was one of the largest construction projects China had ever seen.
31:28Built by the forced labor of hundreds of thousands of citizens.
31:35But it sits in one of the country's most dangerous earthquake zones.
31:41Two hundred have struck since it was built.
31:46The Forbidden City is mostly made of timber.
31:50Wooden walls sit below heavy roofs made of clay tiles.
31:54How has this massive palace survived for so long?
32:00Archaeologist Mr. Wu Wei thinks the secret lies with its hidden engineering.
32:05He investigates the tiled roof that crowns one of its temples.
32:09Nobody has ever been able to work out the exact weight of these roofs or the pressure they exert.
32:15Until now.
32:28The section is 10 square feet.
32:31By measuring how heavy it is, the team can work out what it takes to support the entire roof.
32:49How much does it weigh?
32:51The team places it on a specially designed set of scales.
33:01The team expects the section to weigh in about 400 pounds.
33:06The actual result goes far beyond that.
33:27This section of traditional roof comes in at close to half a ton.
33:32It means the entire roof of just this one temple is heavier than a fully loaded 747 jumbo jet.
33:39Weighing in at around 640 tons.
33:57How have these bulky roofs and their supports survived for so long?
34:06The secret is concealed in the elaborate wooden components.
34:10Supporting the immense tiled roof are 72 columns, over 30 feet tall, each made from a single tree trunk.
34:20Connecting them are intricate girders called dogong brackets.
34:25Made from dozens of pieces of beautifully decorated wood,
34:29this complex carpentry is not held together with glue or nails.
34:34Instead, it slots together and nothing but pressure holds it in place.
34:41It may look flimsy, but could this strange design be the secret to its earthquake resistance?
34:52Even today, it's not fully understood how a dogong bracket works.
34:59Wei's temple restoration project gives him a rare chance to deconstruct the secret workings of this puzzling structure.
35:05Wei's team uses 3D scans to digitally rebuild each dogong bracket piece by piece.
35:24The sheer number of parts inside one of these brackets is surprising,
35:29but this makes it extremely flexible.
35:49Engineers think that this flexibility could be the key
35:52to protecting the palace during an earthquake.
35:56So what actually happens inside a dogong bracket when a quake strikes?
36:05Stripping back the Hall of Supreme Harmony reveals that the roof is in fact not supported by the walls,
36:11but by its wooden columns.
36:14Above, rows of flexible dogong brackets take the strain of the tiles,
36:19and spread the load across these strong pillars.
36:24When an earthquake hits,
36:26the loose brackets flex and move, dispersing the energy, keeping the roof in place.
36:34As a final line of defense, the columns are only loosely anchored to the ground.
36:39They roll with the punches to avoid snapping.
36:42It's a marvel of engineering.
36:48Sophisticated technology like this enabled the Forbidden City to survive for over 500 years.
36:56During that time, this mega palace became a symbol of Imperial China.
37:04It was a key tool in the Emperor's ability to hold on to power.
37:09But what would happen to the Forbidden City when the world outside began to change?
37:15Did this iconic palace play an essential role in the downfall of China's mighty rulers?
37:34The Forbidden City in Beijing.
37:37This palace was the foundation stone of a new Emperor's radical regime.
37:43It helped the Ming Dynasty rule China and enter a golden age of Imperial power.
37:53But it holds one last mystery.
37:57How has the Forbidden City survived 600 years of turbulent history?
38:05Today, an army of workers toils around the clock to maintain these extraordinary buildings.
38:11Several have been rebuilt many times over the centuries.
38:15They all look as good as new.
38:19But according to Chinese tradition, they should have been destroyed when a new dynasty took power.
38:27200 years after it was built, a rival family, the Qing Dynasty, conquered the Ming Empire.
38:36Why didn't they pull the Forbidden City down?
38:49The Qing Dynasty was destroyed by the Qing Dynasty's former Chinese.
38:56Yang Le destroyed a Mongol palace to build the Forbidden City.
39:01Today, almost nothing of it remains.
39:04So why didn't these invaders destroy his greatest achievement when they came to power?
39:11Historian William Lindsay thinks that the Forbidden City's extraordinary beauty seduced everyone
39:17who set foot in it.
39:19For the next 300 years, each new Chinese dynasty adopted it as their own.
39:25But Yongle's enduring legacy was also a poisoned chalice.
39:31Many of his successors really were prisoners in their own palace, waiting for reports to
39:39come to them.
39:43The Forbidden City was designed to be exclusive, to present the emperors as above all other
39:49men.
39:50But William believes these high walls also isolated them from their own people.
39:56Some emperors grew up being told they ruled the world, but in fact, they were completely
40:03out of touch with the real situation in the empire.
40:07In the end, China's imperial rulers lost their grip on power.
40:12This incredible palace, once shut off from the outside world, has outlasted them all.
40:18Surviving largely intact, it's a miracle all of this is still standing after 600 years.
40:24And over this period, we've had the natural disasters, like earthquakes, and we've had
40:30human tragedies, famines, rebellions, all kinds of wild weather, lightning strikes, a real
40:38miracle that after 600 years, Yongle's vision, Yongle's palace, is still standing today.
40:46The Forbidden City was built by a visionary and ruthless emperor to establish his new regime.
40:52It was a formidable base from which to attack China's traditional enemies.
40:59Yongle mobilized an entire nation to fill it with the finest materials in the land, creating
41:08a private city within a city that stood as a monument to his power.
41:14war.
41:15The remarkable engineering hidden inside its great walls has allowed it to survive for 6 centuries.
41:25The Forbidden City became such a powerful symbol of China that every new regime left it standing.
41:35But this secluded fortress also meant that later emperors became prisoners in their own home.
41:45The Forbidden City is an enduring icon of Imperial China.
41:49war.
41:51Although the emperors who ruled here are long gone, the greatest palace on earth remains.
41:57War.
42:03War.
42:08Was.
42:11War.
42:17Am thermal.
42:18War.
42:20War.
42:24War.
42:26You
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