The 'treasure' on the Forbidden City gate has money that cannot be changed: No one touches it for posterity!

Those who have been to the Forbidden City or known through movies and TV shows know that which door of this building has many protruding "pimples". Many people are curious to know what these bumps on the door are? How are they useful? In addition, the thing that people are most concerned about is the ban on no-one touching. After all, what's the "wrong thing" here?

The Origin of the "Nodules"

Nowadays, due to changing life, most of the houses in China no longer have the gate style like the Forbidden City. However, in ancient times, this detail was very common, they were not only on palace gates but also appeared on the gates of the houses of the rich. The ancients called this "door nail".

Contrary to the imagination of many people, these nails were originally born not because of aesthetics, but from a practical meaning. In ancient times, raw materials for building materials were limited, and the doors of every household were made of wood.

At that time there were no boards and no big trees, so people could only use the way of joining pieces of wood together to create a large plank. As was the case with the gate of the Forbidden City, due to its large size, many pieces of wood were needed to be put together.

In this process, the carpenter must use wooden nails. In some cases, a rope must be used to thread the door through to make the door stronger and more beautiful.

The ancients used an object with a round tip to cover the protruding nail, so that no one would get hurt.

However, this joining method also has a limitation that is the tip of the wooden dowel will be exposed. Because the latch is very sharp, when opening the door accidentally, everyone's hands will be scratched. The exposed wooden nails are not beautiful, so the ancients devised a method to solve this problem.

They used an object with a round tip to cover the protruding nail, so that no one would get hurt. Initially, it was Lu Ban who came up with this idea and put it into practice. As a result, "door nails" were born. They were originally made of wood, which did not withstand the wear and tear of the years and was very susceptible to damage.

After that, Mac Tu improved and upgraded the wooden door nails to copper door nails. Later, copper door studs gradually became popular. The nails on the gate of the Forbidden City that we see today are also copper nails.

Door nail - symbol of authority

Originally, the door nail was just a very ordinary item, representing the wisdom of the ancient working people. Later, in the Qing Dynasty, this nail took on a different meaning and became a symbol of the "feudal caste".

In ancient times, the hierarchy was very strict, the Emperor was the most respected person in the world, having the highest position, followed by the mandarins, then the common people, the status decreased in order. . The emperor of the Qing dynasty considered this nail a symbol of authority and established regulations on the use of door nails.

The emperor of the Qing dynasty considered this nail a symbol of authority.

For example, the Qing Dynasty stipulates that only the Emperor's gate can use 81 door nails, of which 9 are horizontal and 9 are vertical. The royal gate can only use 49 door nails, of which 7 are horizontal and 7 vertical. According to the level of rank, the number will in turn decrease. If anyone dares to violate, they will be severely punished.

Besides, the door nail not only has the effect of showing rank, but also means prosperity. In the folk concept, the door nails on the Forbidden City are even more special because they carry the aura of the emperor and have the effect of exorcising evil spirits.

In the records of some Qing Dynasty writers, it is mentioned: During the annual lantern festival, people will gather at the palace gate to touch the nail on the door of the Forbidden City for the purpose of praying for good luck and banishing bad luck. unlucky.

This was the only occasion the Emperor allowed people to touch the door nails, so some people even traveled thousands of miles just to touch the nails on the gate of the Forbidden City.

In those days, commoners only had the chance to touch it once a year, so it didn't matter much. In addition, these nails are also renewed every year to ensure aesthetics.

Today no one can touch

However, according to the development and change of history and society, the regulations have been very different. Many tourists have heard about the nails on the gate bringing good luck and want to be touched when visiting the Forbidden City.

Due to the large number of guests, the Management Board was forced to use measures to protect.

Judging by the time, the nails on the gate have undergone more than 600 years of changes to the Forbidden City. They are now a national cultural relic and are strictly protected. Therefore, visitors cannot comfortably touch as before.

In addition, the Forbidden City is a place with an extremely large number of people. As long as each person lightly touches it once, these nails are difficult to hold. Some people think that damaged can be replaced, but when it is a historical site, how can it be replaced?

Therefore, to prevent damage to the door nails, the managers of the Forbidden City had to devise a method to protect all these door nails with a cover glass. Since then, neither visitors nor anyone else is allowed to touch these nails.