Corner Tower
About the Corner Tower
Corner Tower (角楼, Jiao Lou in Chinese), or the Turret of The Forbidden City is famous for its unique shape and its beautiful style. The Corner Towers are located in the four corners of the Forbidden City. It was first built in 1420 (Yongle 18, Ming Dynasty) and was rebuilt and renovated in Qing Dynasty.
The Corner Tower is is a kind of auxiliary building which is often seen in building groups. This type of building is often seen in the corners of the defensive building, so it is called the corner tower. And combined with the walls, turrets, tower, forts and other defensive facilities, the Corner Tower play a defensive role.
Corner Tower is part of the palace's defence facilities, along with the City Walls, the Gate Tower and the Moat. Each corner tower has 9 girders, 18 columns and 72 ridges. The corner tower is L-shaped with two cross stacked, and is surrounded by marble pillars as base. The design of the Corner Tower is in harmony along with the other buildings in the Forbidden City; the size and the complex structure of the tower shows the tremendous design and engineering ability, fully shows the ancient Chinese working class people's wisdom and talents.
Tale of the Corner Tower
Zhu Di, as known as Yong Le Emperor, decided to move the capital city of Ming Dynasty from Nanjing to Beijing, since Beijing is the place he stayed before becoming the Emperor. So he sent a trusted Minister to build a palace in Beijing for him. The Emperor told the Minister to build four extremely beautiful corner towers on the four corners of the outer walls of the palace. Each corner tower has to use 9 girders, 18 columns and 72 ridges. And he appointed the minister to oversee the build of the corner tower, and threatens that if the corner tower is not built in three months as he told, he would kill the minister.
The minister became very nervous and afraid about being killed, so he called the best craftsman around Beijing together and gave them the same order: if they failed to build the corner tower as the emperor ordered, he will kill the them before the emperor kill him. Since the requirements are very high, it is not easy for the craftsman to think up a way to finish the design. Summer came, and one month pasted quickly, however, they still doesn't have a clue.
One day, a craftsman was upset after failing to design the corner tower and decides to take a walk around since it's very hot. He then found a old man selling crickets in cages. The cage is beautifully designed and the tweets of the crickets sounds very pleasing. He bought the cricket and took it back to the construction site. His co-workers are annoyed by the cricket and asked him to throw it away. The craftsman was about to comfort the other craftsman when he found that the design of the cage looks exactly like a tower. 'Shut up', he said, 'Come and see if this meets the requirements'. His co-workers were very surprised to find out that the design of the cage meets the requirements of the emperor exactly. A problem that troubled them for a month was finally solved. They don't need to worry about being killed anymore. The cage inspired them, to build the beautifully designed corner tower.
Not A Real ‘Building’
The Corner Tower means the building in the corner, however it is not a building. If you look from inside the the corner tower, you will find out thatThe inside is clean and neat, there no one root ground pillars, no staircase, floor, it is called a 'building' in Chinese probably because it was built on the wall.
References:
http://www.dpm.org.cn/shtml/116/@/17804.html
http://baike.baidu.com/view/96039.htm
http://baike.baidu.com/view/290467.htm
