The Forbidden City remains the best-preserved wooden architectural complex in the world.
The Forbidden City, the royal palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties in central Beijing, is the largest and best-preserved ancient wooden architectural complex in the world.
The Forbidden City was constructed by Emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty in 1406. After approximately 13 years of work with the effort of 100,000 laborers, the Forbidden City was completed in 1420, covering a total area of 72 hectares, housing 70 large and small palaces and over 9,000 houses.
The reason the Forbidden City is named as such is that most common people were prohibited from accessing this royal palace complex, surrounded by walls. Ministers and even royal family members were only allowed limited access; only the reigning emperor could move freely throughout the Forbidden City at will.
The year 2020 marked the 600th anniversary of the completion of the Forbidden City. Since then, over the past 604 years, archaeologists and specialists have collected numerous rare treasures.
Currently, the collection at the Palace Museum within the Forbidden City has reached over 1.8 million artifacts, primarily collections of cultural relics, ancient structures, and books from the Ming and Qing dynasties. All the historical relics within the Forbidden City are incomparable. Anyone visiting the Forbidden City today can truly feel the history of hundreds of years.
An image of an ancient well in the Forbidden City.
However, for the past 604 years, the 72 wells within the Forbidden City have never been allowed to be touched, even though experts estimate that there are numerous important treasures inside them. These ancient wells of varying sizes are listed as key cultural relics that need protection.
Why is no one daring to touch the 72 ancient wells in the Forbidden City?
Before discussing this issue, it is necessary to clarify a question: Do the ancient wells in the Forbidden City contain treasures?
In fact, according to archaeologists, there are indeed valuable artifacts in the ancient wells of the Forbidden City. For instance, in 1995, an official kiln from the Ming dynasty was discovered in the West Gate Well of the Forbidden City. One can imagine the value of this official kiln from the Ming dynasty. This discovery plays a significant role in studying the history of the late Ming period.
The wells in the Forbidden City are distributed differently and vary in size. Many wells are not used for drinking water; therefore, to prevent accidents, many wells are designed to be very small. (Photo: Sina).
This example is sufficient to prove that there are many ancient artifacts in the wells of the Forbidden City, many of which contain historical information from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Some were deliberately stored inside, while others accidentally fell in; regardless of how they got there, they hold significant meaning for historical research.
So why is there no large-scale excavation of artifacts from the ancient wells of the Forbidden City? Experts provide the following three explanations.
Point 1: To preserve the integrity of cultural relics
Everyone knows that the Forbidden City is not just a single building complex but rather an “extensive collection of cultural relics.” No matter what, every brick and tile in the Forbidden City is a witness to history.
Dozens of ancient well cultural relics, having undergone over 600 years of time, must certainly contain debris. Cleaning the 72 ancient wells by hand is considered by experts to be a tremendous workload. This is because most ancient wells have small openings.
Moreover, during this process, collisions are bound to occur, which is very detrimental to the preservation of cultural relics.
More importantly, the shapes of the ancient wells in the Forbidden City are beautiful, showcasing the wisdom and craftsmanship of artisans from the Ming dynasty. The ancient wells have varying diameters and irregular shapes, which fully illustrate that they resemble decorative wells.
Even if there are cultural relics inside, they are still very old. The ancient wells are an important part of the Forbidden City, and destroying them merely for the purpose of searching for cultural relics inside would be unreasonable.
Point 2: Hasty excavation is very dangerous
Most of the ancient wells in the Forbidden City are not wells we use for drinking water. The ancient wells in the Forbidden City range in depth from 55 cm to 10 meters.
Diving into ancient wells to search for artifacts without knowing if there are any artifacts to be found only causes more damage to this unique cultural relic.
The purpose of the Palace Museum is to protect cultural relics. Therefore, experts will not undertake such high-risk tasks.
Furthermore, once artifacts from the well (which are being naturally protected) are excavated, they will also be damaged upon exposure to air and sunlight.
The ancient wells in the Forbidden City become a site that needs to be protected. (Photo: Sohu).
Point 3: Folklore
In reality, the ancient wells in the Forbidden City were not intended for drinking but for fire prevention. As the Forbidden City is fundamentally a wooden structure, it is very susceptible to fire, and water from afar cannot extinguish it. Therefore, when constructing the Forbidden City, 72 ancient wells were distributed throughout the palace as a precaution against fires.
Legend has it that no one dares to drink water, wash, cook, or bathe in the ancient wells of the Forbidden City because it is believed that these wells could be the place where the lives of neglected concubines and palace maids ended. Over time, people felt that the bottom of the well was dark and eerie, leading no one to dare approach. Although this may be a fabricated story, it serves as a means to protect the ancient wells, preventing anyone from touching them.
Based on the three points above, experts believe that even if the ancient wells in the Forbidden City contain many treasures, the “cultural relics” must be preserved intact. The Forbidden City and everything related to this historical complex need to be protected rather than modified and developed.
The lack of excavation of artifacts from the 72 ancient wells is aimed at preserving the integrity of the Forbidden City, protecting national cultural heritage, and respecting history.
