USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Culture
Home / Culture / Film and TV

BBC documentary reveals secrets of Forbidden City

By Gu Xin | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2017-08-11 14:21

BBC documentary reveals secrets of Forbidden City

The grand staircase (center). [Photo/Screen capture ofSecrets of China's Forbidden City]

Emperor Yongle's grand staircase, a 16-meter-long hand-carved masterpiece that symbolizes his power, weighs more than 300 tons, equivalent to 125 Land Rovers.

The marble used in the staircase had to be transported from a quarry 60 km away, and obviously, no ship could withhold that much weight.

BBC documentary reveals secrets of Forbidden City

A close shot of the grand staircase. [Photo/Screen capture of Secrets of China's Forbidden City]

Modern science suggests that ancient Chinese people used ice.

Each winter, Beijing freezes. Scientists featured in the documentary speculate that workers put the large marble onto the frozen rivers and added a little bit of water as a lubricant to reduce friction. Calculations suggest that only 180 men were necessary to move a rock weighing more than 300 tons.

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US