Hall for Ancestry Worship, Forbidden City

Located in the eastside of the Inner Court of the Forbidden City, the Hall for Ancestry Worship (Fengxiandian) was the place for the imperial household of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties to worship their ancestors just as the name indicates. The hall was constructed in the Ming Dynasty, rebuilt in 1657, the fourteenth year of the reign of Qing Shunzhi (1644-1661), and restored many times later. Surrounded by lofty walls, the Hall for Ancestry Worship is a "工-shaped" structure with a white base of Buddhist style. It has both a front and a rear hall connected by a lobby. The front hall is the main hall, 9 bays wide and 4 bays deep, covering an area of 122,500 square meters. It has double-eaved roof and glazed facing tile. The door was opened in the front fifth bay and the back fifth bay meets the lobby. The rear hall is the bed chamber, 9 bays wide and 2 bays deep, covering an area of 75,500 square meters. It has single-eaved roof and glazed facing tile. The front fifth bay of the rear hall connects the lobby. The interior floor was paved with gilded bricks and the ceiling caved with the gilded pattern of canary-creeper and float flower. The Hall for Ancestry Worship has no annex buildings around it. In the south outside the Gate for Ancestry Worship stand a cluster of rooms, serving as Sacred Warehouse and Sacred Kitchen. While in the east outside the Gate for Ancestry Worship is a small part itself, including 3 small halls, set up for the Emperor Jiajing (1522-1566) of the Ming Dynasty to worship his father.

In the Qing Dynasty, on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, the birthday of the emperor, the New Year's Day, the Winter Solstice every year and other grand occasions, hecatombs would be held in the front hall.

Clock Exhibition in Forbidden City

On an ancestor's birthday, deathday, the Lantern Festival, the Tomb-Sweeping Day and the Mid-Autumn Day, the imperial family would worship their ancestors in the rear hall.

Clock and Watch Gallery
Shrines and statues in the hall were eliminated during the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976). The lobby has been expanded and the inner palace is approximately square. The Hall for Ancestry Worship is one of the exhibition rooms in the Palace Museum, namely, the Clock and Watch Gallery, exhibiting more than two hundred timepieces of different kinds from both domestic and abroad in the 18th century. The calculagraph of China has a long history. Before the Qing Dynasty, sundials and clepsydras are the main timepieces. At the end of the Ming Dynasty or the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, mechanical clocks began to be introduced into China. In the eighteenth century, mechanical clocks were widely used in the imperial palaces. While reckoning time, these horologes changed the decoration of static persons, birds, and flowers into motional. Those clocks and watches were not only applicable timekeepers, but also pleasing entertainment tools and exquisite craftwork. To let tourists see how part of the clocks exhibited strike and how the persons, birds, towers act better, videos are available in the hall. On most days a selection of clocks will be "played" at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM

Admission Fee:	CNY 10
Opening Hours:	08:30 to 16:20 (Oct. 16 to Apr.15) 08:30 to 17:00 (Apr. 16 to Oct. 15)

Go east to visit Palace of Tranquil Longevity.