Wumen (The Meridian Gate)Ⅰ

Wumen (The Meridian Gate), the gate of Forbidden City, is located at the south-north axes line of the Forbidden City. This gate is in middle place and faces sunshine directly, it is on the meridian, and hence it was named Wumen.

Duanmen (Southern End Main entrance), Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) and Daqingmen (traditionally called Zhonghuamen in the time of Republic of China, and in 1959, it was dismantled for Tiananmen Square establishment and in 1976, on the former-base of Zhonghuamen, Chairman Mao Memorial Hall was established) are in front of it, and Taihemen (Gate of Supreme Harmony) is at back of it Wumen (The Meridian Gate) was established in 1420, and restored in 1647 and in 1801. The plane graph of Wumen (The Meridian Gate) looks like Chinese Character” 凹”,which was originated from the structure and layout of Hanyuandian of Daminggong (the imperial palace of the Tang Dynasty in Xian) and Danfengmen (Red Phoenix Gate) of Imperial Palace of the Song Dynasty. Wumen was directly changed from the gate structure of the Han Dynasty. Wumen was comprised of upper section and lower section. The lower section is the dais with 12 meters high.