Is this a cool door knocker, or what? Some of the most amazing artwork is some of the most common place in China. These pictures (immediately above and below), taken at the Forbidden City, show some of the intricate art done on nearly every doorway in temples, the palaces, and so on.

In addition to colorful door decorations, the brass statues were also very interesting. The next two pictures show some dragon statues at the Forbidden City.

There are 10 different dragons - the Dragon king and his 9 sons. 9 is a lucky number in China - it means "forever". Since 10,000 is the number for heaven, the emperor had the Forbidden City built to have 9,999.5 rooms. That's a lot of dusting!

The dragons offered protection from evil and lent the owner some characteristics of the entity depicted - strength, courage, fortitude, and so on.

Back to the Vacation Page | On To The Summer Palace!