The Final Gate

This is the Gate of Supreme Harmony. We're now already in the Forbidden City, but the Emperors obviously thought that another gate won't hurt.

This is the end of the "outer courtyard", marked by the gate and by the five marble bridges that span the Golden River. It takes huge leaps of imagination to explain why they called it a "golden" river, or a "river" at all.

Walk on through the Forbidden City

- Thomas Sturm's Homepage - The China Room -