OT? Just Learned that the Forbidden City is Actually Northwestern Territory, Literally The Purple Forbidden City

[Alaskawildkat]

With Lou off in Malaysia maybe I can get away with this arguable OT post from my own recent travel to the other side of the globe.


Below, this is the Inner Courtyard of China’s Forbidden City which fronts three primary residential Palace buildings.

On the right is where the Emperor had his bedroom. In the middle is where the Empress resided. It also is the location of the bridal chamber in which an Emperor and his new bride would be locked for 3 days to spend their wedding “night” before the Emperor would move into his own palace building.

The third palace building on the left would house the night’s selected concubine who would be under the supervision of the Empress.

The Chinese term for Forbidden City is Zijincheng literally, “Purple Taboo Fortress”, Zi (Purple) jin (taboo) cheng (fortress).

(The reference to Purple is a reference to Ziwei, the Purple Jade (North) Star in the heaven above. In effect, the Purple [jade]Taboo Fortress on earth is its replication.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oDGEjNHSeo

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Once again, the Purple also made it to the Great Wall of China:

And these from six years ago when climbing the more challenging West Side with its steeper steps and higher heights:

 

[Alaskawildkat]

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Juyongguan Great Wall Pass is the first of three impregnable passes in The Great Wall of China. The below video was filmed last month in conjunction with climbing The Great Wall of China at this north pass to Beijing.

Positioned 37 miles north of Beijing’s center The Great Wall of China at this juncture protected the city from Mongol invasions during the Ming Dynasty when it was built in its present form by the first Ming Emperor who had moved the Capital of China from Nanking a/k/a Nanjing to Peking a/k/a Beijing in the early 1400s prior to Columbus's discovery of America.

Even before China was united by its first Emperor Qin circa 200 BC who is given credit for first building The Great Wall of China by linking together many smaller walls, a form of the wall at this location had been erected centuries prior.

In this below video I am standing at one of the Eastern Wall’s vantage points and looking across to the Western portion of the wall which is the most treacherous to climb. The highest point is on top of the Western Wall and designated as Fortress 13.

(In a companion video filmed 6 years ago I share the view from Fortress 13 looking to the Eastern wall as I viewed it then after climbing to the highest point.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viu4B-0n9Lk

Below is the companion video from 6 years ago.

Standing at Fortress 13 of The Great Wall of China’s challenging Western Section located at Juyongguan Pass, this video records the spectacular view looking across the valley to the Eastern portion of The Great Wall of China.

Fortress 13 is the highest point. Six years ago I climbed to this point. Last month I returned and climbed the Eastern portion of the wall from where in a companion video I filmed the opposite view looking back to the Western portion.

On this prior visit I was motivated to climb the more difficult Western route when my guide advised that it was the route that Michael Jordan and Nicolas Cage chose on their visits to The Great Wall of China when he had guided them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eR1_VodB9I