Original subtitles

Narrator: The forbidden city in beijing --

The biggest palace complex The world has ever seen,

Built by a tyrannical Emperor.

It's an entire city Within a city.

But why is it so vast?

The sheer scale of this palace Is absolutely staggering.

Narrator: for centuries, The forbidden city

Was shut off to the world.

Now for the first time, Archeologists are uncovering

Its buried treasures.

They're using Ingenious technology

To open up hidden corners that No one was ever meant to see.

Did this palace bring china

Into a golden age Of imperial rule?

To solve these mysteries,

We will unlock the secrets of This incredible construction.

Diving deep into Its foundations,

We'll uncover staggering Feats of engineering

And reveal what made The forbidden city

The greatest palace on earth.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

China, the land of Ancient dynasties,

Ruled over for 500 years

From one remarkable Super structure --

The forbidden city in beijing.

The forbidden city is huge.

It's the largest palatial Complex in the world,

And it's contained within This perimeter wall.

Narrator: This mega palace is the size

Of 135 football fields.

It was the magnificent Home of china's emperors.

Now archeologists armed With the latest technology

Are finally exposing Its secrets.

They're discovering The incredible story

Of the forbidden City's construction

And unveiling one of the Most mysterious places

On the planet.

Locked away from The eyes of the world,

Behind 30-foot-high walls Stands an immense complex

Of 900 buildings.

At the center are Three grand halls,

The ceremonial Heart of the city.

Each one is An architectural masterpiece.

Deeper into the heart Of the city

Lies the exclusive inner court,

The home of the emperor.

This vast palatial compound Sprawls over 180 acres,

Making it the largest Ever constructed.

Why did china's emperors Need such a huge

And impenetrable residence?

Did it help them Hold on to power?

Historian william lindesay Thinks the first clue

Lies with the man who built it,

One of china's greatest And most notorious rulers,

An emperor called yongle Of the ming dynasty.

Yongle started construction On the forbidden city in 1407.

He intended it to be The control center

Of his new imperial Capital, beijing.

It took 14 years to complete.

I think the scale and Beauty of yongle's palace

Reflects his confidence In his own reign.

He was really ambitious.

Narrator: this sprawling site Contains temples,

Workshops and rooms For an army of servants,

Everything needed To run an empire.

It was strictly out of Bounds to ordinary people,

But william thinks that the city

Is more than just an Extravagant royal dwelling.

The forbidden city Isn't just a palace,

It's also a fortress.

Any attacker would Face a series of walls

That would be the beijing City wall, the moat,

And the perimeter wall To overcome.

Narrator: 600 years ago, Beijing lay on the fringes

Of the empire.

To the north was the great wall

And beyond it, A fierce people...

Called the mongols.

These formidable warriors Were china's sworn enemies.

Lindesay: the mongols rule china For more than a century.

Yongle's father was The man that ousted them,

But even though they Were fragmented,

They still remained a threat.

Narrator: Why would anyone choose to build

Such a magnificent palace city

So close to hostile territory?

It's one of the forbidden City's most puzzling questions.

The answer could lie Hidden beneath this massive

And mysterious complex.

In a courtyard near the Center of the forbidden city,

Archeologists stumbled On an unexpected clue,

The foundations of A now-vanished building

From yongle's reign.

Alternating layers of compacted Earth and broken bricks

Once supported A massive structure.

But further down lies evidence Of an even older building,

Fragments of bottles, Tiles and bowls

Dated to the time Of mongol rule.

Could this seemingly Random assortment of trash

Finally reveal why the forbidden City was built right here?

Archeologist Mr. Wang guangyao investigates

These mysterious hidden remains.

He thinks that the foundations Under this courtyard

Belong to another, Much more ancient palace.

What is this Mysterious structure?

The first mongol Ruler to conquer china

Built a spectacular Palace in beijing.

His name was kublai khan.

According to legend, Gold and silver

Covered his famous Imperial home.

Guangyao thinks That traces of it

Lie underneath this courtyard.

Historians know very little About this older palace.

Excavations in the forbidden City are incredibly rare,

But whenever they do take place,

Archeologists discovered That this site

Has an amazing hidden history.

Investigators believe that Most of the mongol palace

Lay to the north Of this complex.

Today, a strange Man-made hill stands

Where the heart of kublai khan's Building should be.

William thinks that yongle Built it to bury the heart

Of the mongol palace.

Lindesay: Beijing is a pan-flat city,

But just beyond this perimeter Wall of the forbidden city,

Lies a moat, 65 feet wide.

And when they excavated That great trench,

They had huge amounts Of earth to dispose of.

They put it right There and in doing so,

They created a hill that Buried the former palace

On this site, The palace of the mongols,

The palace of kublai khan.

Narrator: it was a clear And symbolic move.

Yongle razed his enemy's Palace to the ground

And erected an even Better one right on top.

He was determined to end the Mongol threat once and for all.

As a young prince, yongle Cut his teeth in beijing,

Fighting tirelessly against the Northern invaders for years.

On becoming ruler,

He continued to lead His armies into battle.

With his calvary, he Earned the nickname,

The emperor on horseback.

Yongle designed the forbidden City not just as a palace,

But as a military headquarters.

He saw attack as The best defense,

Striking deep into the heart Of mongol territory.

Lindesay: he had a military Plan, a dream to wipe out

The scourge of the mongols Forever,

And this would be The perfect base

For launching his northern Military expeditions.

Narrator: the forbidden city

Was the dream Of a warrior emperor,

But why did yongle need Such a colossal palace?

Archeologists hunt for clues Beneath its courtyards.

Discoveries are beginning to Reveal why the forbidden city

Is so big.

Could the answer lie with Yongle's brutal rise to power?

And how has this Extraordinary palace

Managed to survive 500 years Of deadly earthquakes?

Narrator: the forbidden city, A vast and secretive fortress.

600 years ago, one of china's Most powerful emperors

Built it on the edge Of the empire.

From here, he waged war Against the mongols,

His country's greatest enemies.

Lindesay: yongle was ambitious.

He was The emperor on horseback.

He laid a foundation for the Solidarity of the ming empire.

Narrator: but what could The sheer scale of the palace

Tell us about the man Who built it?

Did yongle always intend The forbidden city

To be as large as it is today?

Or did later dynasties Simply expand on his vision?

No one is entirely sure How much of what we see now

Is original.

No blueprints for the Forbidden city exist.

Could the colossal boundary Walls provide a clue?

And circling the forbidden city

Is one continuous perimeter Wall, over two miles in length.

30 feet high with A rock-solid earth core,

It's clad with A triple layer of bricks.

But underneath it all lies Sophisticated engineering,

A seamlessly integrated drainage Channel, lined with stones,

Runs parallel to the Entire length of the wall.

So how did it work?

Could this simple ditch Be the key to revealing

The forbidden city's Original size?

Digging inside The forbidden city itself

Is strictly controlled.

Archeologist mr. Wu wei hunts For answers

Just beyond its main walls.

Today he and his team Investigate dagaoxuan.

Although outside The main perimeter,

This mini palace Is still considered

Part of the forbidden city.

Excavations like this Are helping archeologists

To reconstruct the forbidden City's original size.

Wei and his team discover The foundations here

Copy the ones underneath The main palace next door.

Each trench reveals layers Of compacted, rammed earth.

The team uses this Ancient technique

To rebuild the main courtyard.

A few inches of earth and lime Are pounded down at a time.

In the ming period, A layer of broken bricks

Or pottery could then be rammed Down on top to add strength.

Most of the palace Was built in this way.

It creates rock-solid Foundations

To support huge buildings.

But alongside this substructure,

The team also discovers The drainage system.

It, too, looks like A miniature version

Of its big brother next door.

Beijing is almost Completely flat.

Archeologists think the Courtyards of both palaces

Bulge in the middle To get rid of rainwater.

Wei investigates Exactly how this works.

Wei carefully pours out water

Onto the central path leading To dagaoxuan's pavilion.

It runs into ditches that Drain away on each side.

Archeologists believe That the forbidden city's

Water system works just like This but on a massive scale.

Concealed ditches under The perimeter wall

Channel rainwater into the vast Moat that circles the city.

It's all perfectly integrated And must have been conceived

At the same time.

It suggests that The city's immense size

Was indeed planned From the very start.

But why did it matter to yongle?

What made him build on Such a staggering scale?

Historians think the answer lies

In his brutal rise to power.

In 1402, yongle seized Control of the empire

In a bloody coup.

He deposed his nephew and Burnt the old imperial palace.

Fearing reprisals,

The new emperor moved The chinese capital

From the south to Beijing in the north.

Here he was close to his armies.

But he also needed to show That he was the rightful ruler,

So he built a new palace, The biggest in history,

To demonstrate his power.

Right from the start, everything About the forbidden city

Was like nothing Ever seen before --

A statement that yongle

Was the most powerful Person on earth.

And the fact that yongle Began by staking out

The limits of this palace,

Seems to me a clear signal That he was gonna build this

On an unprecedented scale.

Things are about to Change and he's in charge.

Narrator: historical accounts Often portray yongle

As a ruthless and Despotic leader.

How did he use this new city To rule over his entire empire?

And did the construction Of this gigantic palace

Push the people Of china too far?

Narrator: the forbidden city -- The astonishing creation

Of a ruler whose Ambition knew no limits.

600 years ago, The chinese emperor yongle

Built this secretive Mega palace.

He wanted a grand residence To establish his new regime.

How did yongle use The forbidden city

To rule over a vast empire?

Historian william lindesay Thinks clues lie within

The buildings that Housed the dragon throne.

This imperial audience chamber

Was the biggest in the empire.

This was the most important Building in china

From the moment yongle Built this imperial palace

Until the 1900s.

Why?

It's the place where many Emperors ascended the throne

And became the son of heaven.

Narrator: the emperor had Several throne rooms.

William thinks they were Specifically designed

To reinforce his power.

Here he surrounded himself With symbols of perfection

To prove he was Chosen by heaven.

Lindesay: what is very clear

Is the balance Of everything in there.

Notice the way the vases, The cranes,

The calligraphic boards, They're all in pairs.

Shows us the importance Of balance.

So the emperor demanded balance,

Harmony and perfection In anything.

It's amazing, everything In this palace was perfect.

Narrator: Yongle's family saw themselves

As reclaiming china From the mongol invaders

And returning it To their people.

Traditional chinese Values were resurrected

And reinforced by a code.

Five-clawed dragons Were reserved

For the emperor's use alone,

Four claws for Princes and nobles.

Even the doors were Covered in symbolism.

The number of heavenly Perfection was 10,

But here, for the emperor, We have rows nine nails

And nine rows vertically, Making 81.

Not just 81 on this door,

But every door in The forbidden city.

Narrator: Nine was the emperor's number,

Just one below the Heavenly perfection of 10.

It was an intentional move,

Designed to leave his Subjects in no doubt

That he was the Highest-ranking human on earth.

How far was yongle Prepared to go

To present himself as The perfect emperor?

Objects that were meant To be hidden from view

Could provide the answer.

When rebuilding An old storage area,

Workers uncovered An original paved floor

From the emperor's palace.

But digging further down,

They made An astonishing discovery --

A shallow pit containing 10,000 Fragments of fine porcelain...

...Exquisitely Decorated and glazed,

Yet smashed into tiny pieces.

This would have been the Finest imperial porcelain

Of its time.

What made it so dangerous

That it needed to Be buried forever?

What does it say about The emperor who ruled here?

Today, workers pave over the pit

As part of the forbidden City's ongoing rebuilding work.

Archeologist mr. Wang guangyao Investigates

Why this broken Imperial porcelain

Appears to have been Smashed intentionally.

Although porcelain Has been uncovered

In other areas of the city,

Guangyao thinks this Find is very special.

Investigators bring Every single piece

Of broken imperial porcelain To the restoration workshop.

Here the team tries to figure Out what it looked like

And why it was Smashed and buried.

It's a super-sized and Super-fragile jigsaw puzzle.

Today, faultless Examples of bowls

Like these could be worth Millions of dollars.

But to guangyao, even broken Bits and pieces are priceless.

Why was this beautiful porcelain

Intentionally Shattered and buried?

Guangyao thinks each One has tiny flaws.

Porcelain that was Less than perfect

Could not be placed in Front of the emperor,

But it was still considered Too good for ordinary people.

The destruction seems Like a colossal waste.

To the new ming dynasty however,

It was vital to their survival.

Everything about this palace

Was designed to uphold Centuries of tradition.

It made the imperial Family appear superior

To the previous mongol rulers

And cemented yongle's image As a legitimate ruler.

Huge ceremonies performed Here did the same.

The forbidden city's outer Court and vast open spaces

Were the stage for Important rituals.

On sacred days, the main Courtyard would fill

With the highest-ranking Officials.

When yongle appeared, his Subjects would all kowtow,

Knocking their heads on The floor nine times,

Loud enough to be heard.

These ceremonies reinforced The emperor's authority

On a daily basis.

He was seen as the guardian Of the empire's values.

Lindesay: all of those taking Part would be greeted

By the ranks of soldiers And a guard of honor

Going down the central Axis, leading up the steps

And into the hall.

It must have been a fantastic Sight full of color,

Making those attending the Ceremonies feel so proud

To be part of this great empire.

Narrator: from precise rituals To exquisite porcelain,

The forbidden city Was meant to reinforce

The emperor's divine power.

It turned his family into One of the most famous

Imperial houses of all Time, the ming dynasty.

But how did yongle build Such an immense city

In what was then a remote area

On the very fringes Of the empire?

And how has it survived Hundreds of years

Of natural disasters?

Narrator: 600 years ago, China's new emperor

Sent a clear message To his people.

Here on the frontier Of the empire,

He built an elaborate palace Metropolis, the forbidden city,

A mighty statement of His divine right to rule

And a fierce warning To his mongol enemies.

But beijing was A remote, landlocked city

With limited natural resources.

How did the emperor construct

Such a colossal Masterpiece here?

Lifting up the hall Of preserved harmony

Reveals an array Of massive stones.

The emperor's audience chamber Sits on a 26-foot marble base.

Inside, 60 stone blocks

Reinforce Packed-earth foundations,

Strengthened by A lattice of stone beams.

Hundreds more slabs Form a solid base.

But at the center of the Platform is a grand staircase

With a single 50-foot-long, 300-ton slab of marble.

It's the weight of 135 s.U.V.S.

How did builders transport Such a massive slab of stone

To the center of the city?

The nearest marble quarry Is around 43 miles away.

Legend says that the Forbidden city's workers

Slid the heaviest stones Along roads frozen with ice

To reach the construction site,

But could this really be true?

Beijing is famous For its harsh winters.

To this day, the moats Surrounding the palace

Often freeze over.

Did the forbidden City's builders

Really turn the weather To their advantage?

Engineering professor Li jeung searches for answers.

Jeung thinks a clue lies With an ancient manuscript.

Records reveal that workers Dug wells into the roads.

Investigators assumed that They provided water to make ice,

But the huge number Of them is puzzling.

Jeung thinks that the water From these reservoirs

Had a second crucial function.

Jeung calculates that It would have taken

1,000 men to slide giant Blocks along a road

Covered with just ice.

But with wells dug Along the icy route,

They could pour Water onto the ice

And lubricate the surface.

The thin film of Lubricating water

Between the sled and Ice reduced the friction

And allowed the blocks To glide easily

Across the frozen pathway.

By using this method, They could cut the number

Of men needed from 1,000 to just 150.

This ingenious technique Allowed yongle

To transport huge Quantities of raw materials

Across long distances.

But getting them to the city Was only half the job.

Today, archeologist wu wei

Uses innovative scanning Technology

To investigate The intricate carvings

On these massive marble ramps.

After hundreds of years, the Patterns are beginning to fade.

The scanner captures The entire block

With extraordinary precision.

Fine details that were once Invisible to the naked eye

Suddenly become clear.

This huge marble block Is so perfect,

It may have been Carved once in place,

Which presented yongle With a new problem.

Beijing was so remote, it also Had a shortage of manpower.

So the emperor forced people From all over the country

To work on this 14-year Construction project.

The question how all of these Blocks came to this palace

Is an amazing human story.

And look at the carving on this.

To carve that would have Taken a stonemason many weeks.

It's a waterspout, but It had to be beautiful.

To me, this is the wonder Of the whole complex,

The human effort and The fantastic materials

That went into the palace.

Narrator: Yongle's all-consuming vision

Revolutionized china, But his grand palace

Became a hugely unpopular Scheme among his people.

It's thought hundreds Of thousands of them

Were forced to work on it.

Today, their legacy is a palace

That has stood for more Than half a millennia.

How has the forbidden city

Survived beijing's Many earthquakes?

And why wasn't this Mega palace destroyed

When the dynasty Who built it fell?

Narrator: the forbidden city Was one of the largest

Construction projects China had ever seen,

Built by the forced labor

Of hundreds of Thousands of citizens.

But it sits in one Of the country's

Most dangerous earthquake zones.

[ rumbling ]

200 have struck Since it was built.

The forbidden city is Mostly made of timber.

Wooden walls sit below heavy Roofs made of clay tiles.

How has this massive palace Survived for so long?

Archeologist mr. Wu wei thinks

The secret lies with Its hidden engineering.

He investigates the tiled roof That crowns one of its temples.

Nobody has ever been Able to work out

The exact weight of these roofs

Or the pressure they exert Until now.

The section is 10 square feet.

By measuring how heavy it is,

The team can work Out what it takes

To support the entire roof.

How much does it weigh?

The team places it

On a specially designed Set of scales.

♪♪

The team expects the section To weigh in about 400 pounds.

The actual result Goes far beyond that.

This section of traditional roof Comes in at close to half a ton.

It means the entire roof Of just this one temple

Is heavier than a fully Loaded 747 jumbo jet,

Weighing in at around 640 tons.

How have these bulky roofs

And their supports Survived for so long?

The secret is concealed in the Elaborate wooden components.

Supporting The immense tiled roof

Are 72 columns Over 30 feet tall,

Each made from A single tree trunk.

Connecting them are Intricate girders

Called dougong brackets.

Made from dozens of pieces of Beautifully decorated wood,

This complex carpentry Is not held together

With glue or nails.

Instead, it slots together,

And nothing but pressure Holds it in place.

It may look flimsy, but Could this strange design

Be the secret to its Earthquake resistance?

Even today it's not Fully understood

How a dougong bracket works.

Wei's temple restoration project

Gives him a rare Chance to deconstruct

The secret workings of This puzzling structure.

His team uses 3-d scans To digitally rebuild

Each dougong bracket Piece by piece.

The sheer number of parts

Inside one of these Brackets is surprising.

But this makes it Extremely flexible.

Engineers think

That this flexibility Could be the key

To protecting the palace During an earthquake.

So what actually happens Inside a dougong bracket

When a quake strikes?

Stripping back the hall of Supreme harmony reveals that

The roof is in fact not Supported by the walls,

But by its wooden columns.

Above, rows of flexible Dougong brackets

Take the strain of the tiles

And spread the load across These strong pillars.

When an earthquake hits, the Loose brackets flex and move,

Dispersing the energy, Keeping the roof in place.

As a final line of defense,

The columns are only loosely Anchored to the ground.

They roll with the punches To avoid snapping.

It's a marvel of engineering.

Sophisticated Technology like this

Enabled the forbidden city to Survive for over 500 years.

During that time, This mega palace

Became a symbol Of imperial china.

It was a key tool in The emperor's ability

To hold onto power.

But what would happen To the forbidden city

When the world outside Began to change?

Did this iconic palace Play an essential role

In the downfall Of china's mighty rulers?

Narrator: The forbidden city in beijing.

This palace was The foundation stone

Of a new emperor's Radical regime.

It helped the ming dynasty Rule china

And enter a golden age Of imperial power.

But it holds one last mystery.

How has the forbidden City survived

600 years of turbulent history?

Today, an army of workers Toils around the clock

To maintain these Extraordinary buildings.

Several have been rebuilt Many times over the centuries.

They all look as good as new.

But according to Chinese tradition,

They should've been destroyed When a new dynasty took power.

200 years after it was Built, a rival family,

The qing dynasty, Conquered the ming empire.

Why didn't they pull The forbidden city down?

Yongle destroyed a mongol palace

To build the forbidden city.

Today, almost nothing Of it remains.

So why didn't these invaders

Destroy his greatest achievement When they came to power?

Historian william lindesay Thinks

That the forbidden city's Extraordinary beauty

Seduced everyone Who set foot in it.

For the next 300 years,

Each new chinese dynasty Adopted it as their own.

But yongle's enduring legacy Was also a poisoned chalice.

Many of his successors Really were prisoners

In their own palace, waiting For reports to come to them.

Narrator: The forbidden city

Was designed to be exclusive,

To present the emperors As above all other men.

But william believes These high walls

Also isolated them From their own people.

Some emperors grew up being Told they ruled the world,

But in fact they were Completely out of touch

With the real situation In the empire.

Narrator: in the end,

China's imperial rulers Lost their grip on power.

This incredible palace,

Once shut off from The outside world,

Has outlasted them all.

Surviving largely Intact, it's a miracle

All of this is still Standing after 600 years.

And over this period, We've had natural disasters

Like earthquakes, and We've had human tragedies,

Famines, rebellions, all Kinds of wild weather,

Lightning strikes, a real Miracle that after 600 years,

Yongle's vision, yongle's Palace is still standing today.

Narrator: the forbidden city was Built by a visionary

And ruthless emperor to Establish his new regime.

It was a formidable base

From which to attack China's traditional enemies.

Yongle mobilized An entire nation

To fill it with the finest Materials in the land,

Creating a private City within a city

That stood as a monument To his power.

The remarkable engineering Hidden inside its great walls

Has allowed it to survive For six centuries.

The forbidden city became such A powerful symbol of china

That every new regime Left it standing.

But this secluded Fortress also meant

That later emperors became Prisoners in their own home.

The forbidden city is an Enduring icon of imperial china.

Although the emperors who Ruled here are long gone,

The greatest palace On earth remains.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪