英文导游词

Tian‘anmen and Tian‘anmen Square Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to the Tian‘an men Rostrum. We‘ll spend one hour to visit the rostrum and the Tian‘anmen Square, which is the largest city central square in the world. On the north of Chang‘an Avenue, stands the Tian‘anmen Rostrum. Before we center it, we can see a glittering river, called the Outer Golden River, since there is another river called the Inner Golden River in the Forbidden City. There are five bridges on the Outer Golden River .The widest bridges on the center was used only by the emperor ,so is called the Bridge of the Imperial Way .The neighboring two bridges are Royal Bridges, used by the royal family members . The two even farther out are Ranking Bridges , In Ming and Qing Dyansties, the officials above the third rank could enter the Forbidden City through the two bridges, Those below fourth rank must go over the two bridges at the east and west end. Now, please look at the two pairs of stone lions in front of the Tian‘anmen Rostrum. There is a male and a female lion in each pair. You can guess which one is male. Yes, the one playing with a ball is male, because ball represents imperial power, and the one playing with a cub is female , representing the everlasting power, Indeed, the stone lions are gatekeepers, They can ward off evil spirits, That‘s why we can usually see a pair of stone lions in front of a building . Here is ―huabiao‖, the marble sculpted column, There are two pairs of ―huabiao‖,one is in front of Tian‘anmen ,the other at the back, On the top of each ―huabiao‘ is a ―hou‖, an imagined animal, The pair in front of Tian‘anmen are facing south, Waiting for the emperor coming back from inspection, that‘s why they are called ―wangjungui‘ , which means awaiting for the emperor‘s return, The other pair are called ‗wangjunchu‘ ,facing north, They warn the emperor not to spend too much time with his concubines and to be diligent on his work. Next, we‘ll go through the underground way to the Tian‘anmen Square, which is the largest city central square in the world. The first thing we‘ll see is the national flag, It was first raised on Oct.1,1949 by Chairman Mao Zedong, who proclaimed at that very time the founding of P.R.C. Now it is raised by the National Flag Guards every day. On the south is the Monument to People‘s Heroes. It was built in ththe 1950s to mark the 10 anniversary of the founding of New China. On the north side of the monument, is Chairman Mao‘s word, reading ―Immortal to the people‘s heroes‖. On the south, are the words written by Premier Zhou Enlai, manuscripted by chairman Mao Zedong, ―Immortal to the people‘s heroes during the last 3 years , the last 3 decades, and since the Opium War.‖ On each side of the monument, there are 8 sculptures, memorizing 8 historical events. On our left, is the National museum of China. It covers the history from 1,700,000 years ago to 1949. Our right, is the Great Hall of the people, where the National People‘s Congress holds meeting every tear, like the Capital Hill in America and Westminster Palace in England. On our south, this the memorial Hall of Chairman Mao. He died on Sept 9, 1976. The Chinese people built the hall in November in honor of him. Now, we have reached the southern end. The Zhengyang Gate, or the South Facing Gate. This used to be the south gate of the inner city, Next I‘ll explain what it was like in the past. On the north is the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao. It used to be Daming Gate in Ming Dyansty, and Daqing Gate in Qing Dynasty, both were the southern gates of the Imperial City. Since 1912, it was called the National Gate or Zhonghua Gate, let‘s walk northward. The Tian‘anmen square used to be in T-shape, encircled by walls separating the imperial square from the central ministries like the Ministry of Rite, Ministry of personnel, ministry of works on the east of the square, and military headquarters on the west, In the direction of the emperor, the civil officials are on left, and military officials on the right, Left was better than right in traditional Chinese mind. In the T-shape Square, the emperor inspected his royal army, since it was the central place Summer Palace Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to the Summer Palace, It is the best preserved imperial garden, and one of world cultural Heritages. Since Empress Dowager Cixi often came to the garden in summer, it was known as Summer Palace. It became a beautiful scenic spot 1000 years ago. But it wasn‘t until Emperor Qianlong that the garden was given its scale. In order to celebrate his mother‘s 60-year birthday, Emperor Qianlong had the Garden of Clear Ripples built, during which time, he enlarged the lake and named it the hill Longevity Hill. But 100 years later, the Anglo-French Allied Troops destroyed the garden and stole the treasures. And Chinese emperors rebuilt the garden, Emperor Guangxu gave it the present name – Garden of Nurtured Harmony. In 1900, the Eight Allied Invading Troops destroyed the garden for the second time. According to Empress Dowager Cixi‘s will, the garden was rebuilt again, but couldn‘t resume its original scale. Now, let‘s enter the East Palace Gate. In front of us is the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. It means the person who shows benevolence in running the government can live a long life. This is the emperor‘s office, like the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. In front of the hall are two pairs of dragons and phoenixes, representing emperor and empress respectively. But in other places, dragon is placed in the center, because emperor is most powerful. And here the phoenixes are in the center, because Emperor Guangxu. Now look into the hall, we can see the nine-dragon mirror screen. On the mirror, the Chinese character 寿, meaning ―longevity‖ is written in 226 different styles,. Next, we‘ll visit the Hall of Jade Ripples. This is the residence of Emperor Guangxu, or the place where Emperor Guangxu was under house arrest. In 1898, helped by some reformers like Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, the young emperor carried out the 103-day reform. But it was strangled by the conservatives led by Empress Dowager Cixi, since them Emperor Guangxu was house arrested until he died in 1908 one day before Empress Dowager Cixi died. Now we have arrived at the Hall of Happiness and longevity, the residence Dowager Cixi. You can see magnolia, crabapple and peonies are planted in this compound. Here are two reasons: one, they are symbol of wealth; two, magnolia is Cixi‘s nickname, and she loved it. In front of the hall are deer, storks and bronze vats. They have the homophone of 六和太平 in Chinese, meaning the country is in peace. In the hall are a screen, a throne, two porcelains and two incense burners. The blue flower porcelain plates deserve special mention, because it is an excellent example of the Qing Dynasty arts and crafts. The big plates are used for keeping/holding fruits, esp. peach. Empress Dowager Cixi enjoyed the small of peach. Going westward, we‘ll see the Long Corridor. The corridor and consists of 273 section is 728 meters long, and the longest painted corridor in the world, according to Guinness Book of World Records. There are over 14,000 Suzhou style paintings. In the midpoint of the corridor is the Hall of Dispelling clouds. So it is the center for birthday celebrations. At the west end of the long Corridor is the Marble boat. It was built by Emperor Qianlong to show that his rule of the Qing Dynasty was as firm as the Marble Boat and there was no fear of overturning it. And 150 years later, Emperor Guangxu changed its Chinese styles into western styles. This is what we see today. In this place, people are close to the nature, and Qing royal families used to free captive animals, like releasing the birds into the sky, or putting fish into the lake. This is the end of the tour. Thank you for your attention. I‘m looking forward to your next visit. Good luck and see you! The temple of Heaven Ladies and gentlemen: Welcome to visit the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is the largest building complex for worshipping Heaven in the world, and one of the World Cultured Heritages. The Temple of Heaven, located to the southeast of the Forbidden City was built in 1420. At that time, it was called the Altar of Earth and Heaven, because earth and heaven were worshipped there. One hundred years later, people believed that they must worship earth and heaven respectively, so the Altar of Earth was built in another place, and the original alter was expanded and renamed the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is composed of 3 main buildings the Circular Mound Altar, the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. We‘ll visit them respectively and leave the complex at the east gate. The whole visit will take us 90 minutes. The Circular Mound Altar was built in 1530. It was used for worshipping heaven on winter solstice by the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Since Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty, the altar was also used for praying for rainfall in the first month of summer. The Circular Mound Altar has three terraces. On each terrace is a 9-step flight, because 9 is a good number in Chinese. We‘ll discover this on the top of the Altar. In the center of the altar, is a Heavenly Heart Stone. It is said the emperor used to stand on the stone to worship heaven. When he delivered the speech, he could hear louder than he said. The 1st ring of the Heavenly Heart Stone are composed of 9 slabs, the 2nd ring, 18 slabs; 3rd, 27 slabs. And you can guess how many slabs are there in the outer ring-that is the 9th ring. Yes 81 (Indeed, most emperors were diligent. Before each winter Solstice, the emperor must be on abstinence for three days. On the very day of Winter Solstice, the emperor had to come here at 4:15, very early and still dark in Beijing. So they had to use lanterns. Now look at the southwest. There is a huge pole standing. It‘s used for hanging a big lantern that could last 12 hours) People believed that the God dealt with routine work on the top of the Altar. But where did they live after work? Let‘s visit their bedrooms: the Imperial Vault of Heaven where the tablets of Gods are placed. By now, we have discovered 3 acoustic phenomena of the Temple of Heaven one is the Heavenly Heart Stone, the other two are the Echo Wall and Triple Sound Stone in the courtyard. The Echo Wall is made of very smooth bricks. If you speak at one point, another person can hear at the opposite side. The Triple Sound Stone is the 3rd stone in front of the vault. Later, the Triple Sound stone is called the stone of Heaven Earth and Man. You can hear the echo of clap on the stone for three times. If you clap on the 2ne stone, you can hear sttwice. If you clap on the 1 stone, you can hear only once. We have visited the places of worshipping heaven. If an emperor wanted to pray for good harvest, he must go from the Red Stairway Bridge and to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Why this road is called a bridge? One reason is that the north part, near the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, is higher than the south part, At that time, people believed it was a bridge connecting the human and God. Another reason is that there is a tunnel under the bridge where the cattle went through. The Red Stairway Bridge is 360 meters long and 29.4 meters wide. Covering the 360 meters, we‘ll reach the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Look at the tiers of the roof tiles. They are blue, representing the heaven. But they used to be blue, tallow and green in Ming and Early Qing Dynasties representing the heaven, the emperor and the people respectively. Inner the hall are 28 pillars, the 4 pillars in the center represent 4 seasons, the middle ring of 12 pillars represent 12months, the outer most 12 pillars represent the 12 shichens (Shichen is a Chinese time unit, composed of 2 hours), the out 24 pillars together represent the 24 solar terms of a year. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is the symbol of The Temple of Heaven. It Ming and Qing Dynasties, emperors come here on the eighth of the eighth of the first lunar rear to pray for good harvest. When an emperor prayed, offerings and sacrifices were needed. They were transported through the long corridor on the east of the hall. To the southeast of the long corridor, are the Seven Star Stones, representing 7 peaks of mount Tai in Shandong province. But they are 8 stones now. The Qing Dynasty rulers were Manchu minorities and wanted to be recognized as born rules of China. So Emperor Qianlong of Qing dynasty added a small stone, representing Changbai Mountain, where the Manchu rulers became powerful and they said mount was a branch mountain of Changbai Mountain, In fact, it was not true. They two mountains are distant and have nothing to do with each other Going eastward and we‘ll arrive at the parking lot, and the tour is coming to an end. Thank you for you attention. I‘m looking forward to your next visit. Good luck. Great Wall ((((((((( Good morning, Ladies and gentlemen; (((( Today we are gong to visit the Great Wall. The Great Wall is the longest defensive wall in the world, and is one of the World Cultural Heritages. It is also the sybol of China‘s defense, because it was used to protect China inner land against invasions. In order to prevent the invasions, many people contributed to constructing the Great Wall. 3000 years ago, a united slavery country declined, and may kingdoms fought against each other for their own interests. In order to protect their own interests, the kingdoms began to build the wall. In 221BC Emperor QinShi huang, the first emperor united China and sent his general Meng Tian to combine the walls in different kingdoms against the Huns, a tribe at that time, Dozens years later, emperor Hanwu sent an army of people to guard the Great Wall, and enlarged it. In han Dynasty, the Great Wall was 10,000km, from Pyongyang to Xinjiang. In 1400s, the Han people estallished Ming Dynasty, but the Mongolians were still trying to attack us, so the emperors had the Great Wall rebuilt. This Great Wall was 6,350km, from Liaoning to Jiayuguan pass in Gansu province. This is the Great Wall we can see today. The Great Wall played an important role, it not only protected the China‘s inland, but also advanced the economy of China proper and the frontier areas, in addition, it helped the communication between the Chinese and the western people an evidence, the Silk Rode. Here is Juyongguanpass. In Chinese, Juyongguan Pass means a strategic pass held by slaves. We can find its orgin in the history of Qin Dynasty, when thousands of slaves and warprisoners were sent to station there . This pass is very important in geography. If invaders conquer this pass, they can enter Beijing proper quietly easily. So we can say this is the ‗north gate‘ of Beijng. To the north of us, likes a high platform with marble bas-relieves, called Cloud Terrace, here used to be 3 Dagobas on top of the terrace. So it is also called Crossing-street Dagoba to the north of the terrace, there used to be a temple but is was destroyed in Qing Dynasty. The Cloud Terrace covers an area of 310 square metres, carved with the images of lions, elephants and birds, which could be used by the budda as vehicles. On the surface of the terrace are texts of Dharani sutras written in 6 languages; Chinese Mongolian Tibetan Xixia Uygur and Sanskrit. They are valuable for the study of ancient written languages in China. Now, Let‘s climb the Great Wall. Walk along the wall. Generally speaking the wall is wide . In some parts, it is even wide enough of 10 people to walk abreast. But in this section, it‘s only 2 meters wide. On the left of us is called the battlement wall. In the past, soldiers could shoot at the enemies here. On the right is the parapet, in front of us is a watch tower, composed of 2 stories. On the first floor, soldiers could abserve and shoot the enemies, on the second soldiers could sleep and store their weapons, platforms are build on the surface of the wall and wicle enough for soldiers to train and stand on guard. To the north of us, is a beacon tower, In Ming Dynasty, if 100 enemies came soldiers would light one smoke and fire one cannon ,if 500came, 2 smokes and 2 cannons . If 1000came , 3smokes and 3cannons. If 5000came? Flow many? Yes, 4smokes and 4 cannons. If more than 10,000 came, 5 bonfires and 5 cannons, In the day time, smoke is used, in night bonfire. There is a story about the bonfire 3000 years ago. A king boved his concubine but this concubine didn‘t laugh at all. In order to make her hoppy , he asked his men to light bonfires along the Great Wall. Then the concubine was very glad and laughed, But the bonfires also called ministers and princes to gather azound Beijing to rescue the endangezed king—or at least they thought so. They came to discovered they were tricked and went back angrily. But when the enemies wally came the bonfires were not as effective as before, and the king was killed , his concubine captured. Forbidden City Ladies and Gentlemen; Welcome to visit the Forbidden City. Forbidden, City or Palace Museum, used to be imperial palace of Ming and Qing Dynasties, It is the largest best preserved pa;ace complex remaining in the word today, and one of the World Cultural Heritages. TheForbidden City was built in 1406 and completed in 1420,At the beginning f Ming Dynasty. Nanjing was its capital. Soon after Emperor Yongle‘s enthronement, he decided to set Beijing as capital, because ha had more confidants in Beijing, and that Beijing was a strategic place. So the Forbidden City was constructed under his order. In order to show highly exalted status of the emperor, all main buildings are on the great central line that extends from Yongding Gate in the south to the Bell Towe in the north, covering 8.5kilometers. The first building we are approaching is the Meridian Gate. It is the front gate of the Forbidden City. In Ming and Qing Dynastees, the emperor accepted prisoners of war and announced new calendars in this gate. In Ming Dynasty, high officials are punished hers. The central big gate is used for the emperor only, but some exceptions. When the emperor was married, the empress went through the gate. Entering the gate, we‘ll see another gate: Gate of Supreme Harmon. In Ming and early Qing dynasties, emperors often gave audience to government official here. And then is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, where guand ceremonies were held there. Look at the base carefully. It is a Chinese character 土，meaning earth. In Yin Yang and Five Elements, earth is in the center on the east, south west and north are wood, fire, gold and water respectively, so the Hall of Supreme Harmony represents earth, the Meridian Gate represents the fire and back gate, that is the Gate of Dibine Pride represents the water. The Eastern Palace represents wood and western plac, gold. In December 1908, the last emperor Puyi was enthroned at the age of four, H didn‘t want to attend the ceremony at the hall and cried. His father persuaded him, saying: Don‘t cry, It will be finished soon. And 3 years later, the Qing Dynasty was finished. Now please look into the building. In the center are the throne, a screenm two inscence burners called LuDuan deserves special mention here. It is an imagined animal that can travel 40,000 kilometers each day and can speak 4 foreign languages, The Hall of complete Harmony is emperor‘s rest place. In the Hall of Preserving Harmony, the emperor held banquets to entertain military and civil officials. On the north of the hall, lies a huge cloud and dragon carving. It is 1657 meters long.3.07 meters wide and 1.7 meters thick, weighing over 200 tons. The three halls compose the court yard. Next we are going to visit the imperial residential area. The firat one is the Palace of Heavenly Purity. It used to be the residence of the emperor. But Emperor Yongzheng moved his chamber to another place, and this palace is used to give audience to government officials. In side the middle of the palace is a gold painted throne and screen. Over the throne is a board, reading ‗Be open and aboveboard‘. Since Emperor Yongzheng, the emperor wrote two imperial edicts to the crown prince. One was with the emperor, the other in a box behind the board. When the emperor died, his ministers would open the box of edict and declare the next emperor. Emperor Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng were designated in this way. The Hall of Union is a small palace, symbolizing the harmonious life of the emperor and empress, The Palace of Earthly Tuanqulity is the empress‘ residence, emperor‘s wedding chamber is here too. At back of the Palace is the Gate of Earthly Tranauility, which connects the residential area with the imperial garden. Next, we‘ll go back and visit the western route, because may famous people lived there. This is the Hall of Mental Cultivation, meaning ‗rest‘. It became emperor‘s residence since Emperor Yongzheng moved his chamber of the palace of Heavenly Purity. This hall played a decisive role in recent China‘s history. Empress Dowager Cixi, collded with Prince Gong staged the ‗xinyou Coup Detat‘ in 1861,and since then, she handled the state affairs behind a curtain with another Empress Dowager Cixi. Who died 7 years later a sudden disease. In 1908 before she died, Cixi crowned the last emperor Puyi. In 1912, Empress Dowager Longyu declared the abdiction of the emperor, ending the 2000-year fudual society. After the abdidition, the Qing emperor and his family still could live in the Forbidden City until 1925, during this time, Puyi lived in the Palace of Collecting Excellence. In 1925, a general forced Puyi to leave the Forbidden City. The frightened Puyi had to escape with his wife in a hurry. When the Forbidden City was open to public, people still could see the half remaining apple, and some biscuits left by them. Next we‘ll visit the Imperial Garden. After it, we‘ll go out through the Gate of Divine Pride. Ming Tombs Ladies and gentlemen; Today we are going to visit the Ming Tombs. Ming Tombs is the place where 13 emperors of Ming Dynasty are buried. They are completely best preserved, and this area has the greatest number of emperors‘ buried. In 2003 the Ming Tombs was listed on the world Cultural Heritage. The 13 Ming Tombs are sltuated at the foot of Heavenly Longevity Hill, Changping, northwest of Beijing, covering an area of 40 square kilometers to the north of the tombs is the Heavenly Longevity Hill, to the east, the Dragon Hill, and Tiger Hill to the west. The Wenyu River meanders through the tomb area. A cording to Fengshui and Book of Changes, this place is the best for imperial tombs. The Tombs were first built in 1407, in 1402, Emperor Yongle got the throne in Nanjing ,but the officials in Nanjing didn‘t support him. And Mongolians offen invaded the northern area, like Beijng which was Emperor Yongle‘s base. So he decided to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing in 1406, one year later, his empress died. In order to show his determination to move the capital to Beijing, he ordered people to select a good place around Beijing suburb as the burial ground. The tomb was completed 9 later, So Express Xu and Emperor Yongle are the first to be buried in the bomb area, and their tomb is called Changling. Since then, Ming emperors were most buried in this place. The first thing we are going to see is the stone memorid arch, which is located at the south tip of Ming Tomb area, it is 14m high and 28.86 m wide, It has 5 arches, supported by 6 pillars, It is the biggest and most exquisite stone arch presewed in the county today . One kilometer north of the stone Memorial Arch, is the Big Red Gate, or Big Palace Gate, which is the front gate of the Ming Tombs, So everyone has to dismount from their horses or wagons including the emperors, because they are going to visit their late ancestors, Entering the gate, we can find a tablet house. The stone tablet is carved with articles written by Emperor Renzong of Ming Dynasty, and Emperor Qianlong and Jiaqing of Qing Dynasty but other tablets of this are wordless. There are two sayings; 1, other emperors of Ming Dynasty were too lazy to write anything for their ancestors; 2, the late emperors didn‘t want their successors to comment anything. On the north of the table thouse, is the sacred way, with stone animals and statues, standing along. The sacred way is 7 kilometers long, with 36 stone carving. Two pairs of horses, lions, elephants, camels, Qilin, and Xiezhi. Representing transportation, power, peace, luck and justice. One pair are standing, and the other kneeling, the standing pair is called on-duty pair, the kneeling, off-duty pair. So everyday, there must be at least one pair on duty. Still on the north are the statues of military officers, civil officials and officials of merit, They represent that the late emperors still deal with state affairs with the help of the ministers. Of the 13 Ming Tombs, only one-Dingling Tomb has been excavated. And we can visit it. Before entering it, I‘d like to give you some brief information about the master of this Tomb: Emperor Wanli. He was on the throne for 48 years, the longest one in Ming Dynasty. But he didn‘t deal with state affairs for 28 years. It was from him that Ming Dynasty began to decline. He is a cruel bad emperor. He drank at every meal and got drunk every time. Whenever he was drunk, he would be angry and punish his offenders to death. Generally speaking, in each tomb, there are one emperor and one empress. But in this bomb, there are one emperor and two empresses. Why? I will explain it in detail. Wanli‘s empress Xiaoduan died 3 months before Wanli, and she is the first person buried in this tomb, 3 months later, Wanli joined her, but years before their death, one of Wanli‘s concubines---Now Empress Xiaojing died and was buried in another place. Xiaojing gave birth to their son, later another emperor. But Wanli didn‘t love her and didn‘t confer the title of empress to her. In spite of this, their off springs gave her the name and moved her body to this tomb. Please go with me to visit the underground palace. The whole underground palace was made of marble. The palace 2is 27 meters deep. Covering an area of 1.195m, composed of the front chamber, middle chamber, two annex chambers and back chamber. In the middle chamber, are 3 white marble thrones, for the emperor and two empresses. Originally, they were in triangle shape. Since the bomb was opened to the public, the thrones were placed in a straight line, for the convenience of the tourists. ?