On September 10, 2020, a representative team led by Kong Yuhang, Dean of Tianjin University’s School of Architecture were invited to attend the opening ceremony of a grand exhibition to mark the 600th birthday of the Forbidden City as Tianjin University was the onlyco-curator the Palace Museum cooperated in designing the exhibition.

An interior view of the West Wing Tower exhibition hall

Dr.He Beijie introduces the content of the West Wing Tower exhibition hall on CCTV live broadcast.

This exhibition displayed in three halls includes eighteen historical focuses and introduces the Forbidden City’s planning, arrangements, architectures, palace life as well as architecture maintenance and preservation.

The School of Architecture was responsible for the curatorial exhibition of the West Wing Tower under the supervision of Professor Wang Qiheng. Dr. He Beijie served as the curator. After more than one year’s preparation and production, the exhibition was successfully completed in close cooperation with the curatorial team of the Palace Museum.

The popular science film is produced byZhang Mao's from the Virtual Reality Experimental Teaching Technology Center at Tianjin University’s College of Intelligence and Computing.

The West Wing Tower gallery illustrates the theme “Unity of Palace and City” and presents the whole process of how the imperial construction came into being and developed over centuries, from three historic events, namely, the year 1406 when Emperor Yongle of Ming Dynasty ordered the establishment of the North Capital, the year 1420 when the Forbidden City was completed, and the year 1535 that witnessed the construction of the Hall of Imperial Peace (Qin’an dian).

The abundant explanations with relics and a showcase of video and illustrations elucidate the concepts behind Ming-dynasty palace and city construction and the techniques used by architectural engineers.

By the School of Architecture

Editor: Eva Yin