Behind the Hall of Preserved Harmony, in the centre of the stairway, is a huge marble relief of nine dragons playing with pearls. It is the largest stone sculpture in the Forbidden City. Sculpted originally in the Ming dynasty, it was re-sculpted in the Qing dynasty. During these dynasties, anyone who was caught touching this holy stone would receive the death penalty! The huge stone was hauled into the palace all the way from Fangshan, a distance of some 70 kilometers from Beijing. This difficult task took about a month employing twenty thousand men and thousands of mules and horses. Weighing about 250 tons, the marble slab is 16.57 meters long, 3.07 meters wide and 1.7 meters thick. It had to be dragged along the ground and it is said that a well was dug every 500 meters so that water could be pumped onto the road to facilitate transportation! Can you imagine that?

Ready to go into Gate of Celestial Purity (Qianqingmen), the gate of the Inner Court? Go north!