In ancient China, who could ride horses in the Forbidden City?

Today's Forbidden City can be visited by tourists, but in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it only belonged to the emperor, and it was the place where the emperor lived and worked. Therefore, every move of other people in the palace must be controlled by the emperor. Even though the Forbidden City is so big, not everyone can ride a horse or take a sedan chair in it. Outside the Wumen Gate, Donghuamen Gate and Xihuamen Gate of the Forbidden City, there is a stone tablet engraved with the words "Dismount here" and "Officials and others dismount here" in many languages. In other words, anyone who wants to enter the palace must dismount here unless there is special permission from the emperor.

The Forbidden City is the former residence of the emperor. At the entrance of the palace, regardless of wealth, people in sedan chairs get off and people on horseback get off. This is the rule and etiquette, or you will be punished. The tradition of "civil servants get off and officers get off" has been going on for thousands of years. Few people in history dared to enter and leave the palace without the permission of the emperor and committed crimes of impunity. I'm afraid this kind of thing will only happen during the split period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

In fact, the East Gate, West Gate, West Gate and Shenwu Gate of the Forbidden City have all been demolished. It can be said that four standing dismount cards occupy all the entrances to the palace. According to these dismounting cards, we can roughly mark the general scope of the Forbidden City. The Grand Palace forbids officials to ride horses in sedan chairs at will, which not only maintains the authority of the emperor, but also maintains the order of the palace. However, for some elderly officials or people with physical inconvenience, this has added a lot of trouble.

Riding in a sedan chair is forbidden in the Forbidden City, so there are exceptions. For example, senior officials can ride horses or sit in sedan chairs after receiving special rewards from the emperor. This is called "horse appreciation". Ye Mengde, a Song Dynasty poet, recorded in Yan language in Stone Forest: "In the early twelfth lunar month, he begged for help due to illness. Injong suspected that he was ill and wanted to see for himself. He rode Lu to the palace gate and took a chair to the palace. "

All civil and military officials in the Ming Dynasty went to the imperial court and "never handed over cavalry to the Forbidden City". It is an honor to sit in a sedan chair in the Forbidden City. It has also become a means for the supreme ruler to win over officials. Empress Dowager Cixi is especially good at this. Cixi's father, Cheng Wai, was only a housekeeper, but he was allowed to ride horses in the Forbidden City. The right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites escorted Cixi westward and rented horses in the Forbidden City, which made great contributions.

1778, Emperor Qianlong invited the Sixth Panchen Lama to Beijing to celebrate his 70th birthday. When the Sixth Panchen Lama went to chengde mountain resort to see Ganlong, Ganlong chartered to take a sedan chair to the front of the temple. After returning to Beijing, Gan Long hosted a banquet for the Sixth Panchen Lama in the Baohe Hall of the Forbidden City, and chartered the Sixth Panchen Lama to take a sedan chair to Danyong, giving the Sixth Panchen Lama the highest treatment.