□陈保君（马来西亚） 邓琳娜（罗马尼亚）

一天，我走在街上，听到一个孩子和他父亲说话。他兴致勃勃地说：“我想去参观故宫。“

父亲很惊讶，回答道：“你怎么知道这个地方的？”

孩子的眼睛里充满了热情。他说：“我是在学校的书上看到的，我觉得故宫是世界上最美丽的宫殿。”

爸爸说：“但你还没有见过世界上所有的宫殿。”

孩子很快回答道：“我看过世界上最大宫殿的照片，没有一张让我想去参观，但我想去中国参观故宫。”

多年后，当我第一次参观故宫时，我想起那个时候那孩子说的话，我对这座宏伟宫殿的美丽和完美感到惊讶。故宫长961米，宽753米，由90多座大小院落组成，四周有一条宽达52米的护城河。

“金水河”流经第一院。在宫殿里，水应该循环用于排水和灭火。太和殿是故宫中最高的建筑，高35米多。它的瓷砖上釉呈皇家色调黄色，与宫殿中的大多数结构相同。重要场合和仪式，如仪式、贵宾访问、皇室宴会、庆典和特殊日子，都在大厅举行。

乾清宫是清朝顺治、康熙两位皇帝和明朝十四位皇帝的主要居所。中和殿，则位于乾清宫的后面。后花园蜿蜒而奇幻的建筑与故宫的严谨完美形成了鲜明的对比。这里到处都是假山、古树、雕像和亭台楼阁，被石头小径连在一起。

故宫的设计师出于建筑和文化的原因选择了鲜艳生动的色调。中国人在古代创造了五行的想法，通过几个因素的相互作用来理解具体的事件。它被用于各种行业，包括医学、天文学、设计和健身运动。

故宫充斥着红色，中国人将红色与责任、欢乐、财富和荣耀联系在一起。在大门、偏门、窗框、外部木材和室内柱子上可以清楚地观察到红色。

黄色被视为大地之色，万物生机之源，古代中国人认为这是最重要的组成部分。正因为如此，黄色被高度重视，并被保存供皇帝专用。它的意义是为了展示皇帝作为天子的地位，以及上天赋予他统治的权利。明清时明文规定，黄色只允许在皇帝的宫室、陵墓以及奉旨建造的寺庙中使用。

命理在中国受到高度重视，并被纳入到故宫的布局中。例如，因为九是最大的单一数字，皇帝被赋予了黄色和九的专属使用权。九意味着长久或永恒。听说故宫有九千九百九十九间房间，因为一万，是永恒的数字，或者任何人都会在永恒的故宫中发现的房间数量。

皇帝使用的任何一扇门都会被涂上醒目的红色，并饰有九行九列金钉装饰。例如，九尊雕塑都代表了一种特定的美德或守护着这座建筑群，这都能在皇帝的官邸中发现。骑凤仙人象征要化祸为福，龙象征着力量，狮子象征着力量和勇气、辟邪，天马象征着能量，海马象征着大运，二狮象征着控制雨和避灾，鱼象征着召唤风和风暴，山羊象征着勇敢，公牛象征抵御邪恶的保护机制。

故宫的英文名称是“Forbidden Palace”，因为它只供皇帝和宫廷使用。 此外，这个名字暗示了一个隐藏的世界，一个并非所有人都可以进入的完美和谐的世界。 当我告诉我的朋友我去过故宫时，他们还在想一个凡人无法进入的神奇之地。

宫殿是和谐与完美的建筑象征。建筑的核心是对其周围环境做出反应。它不一定需要伪装才能融入其中，尤其是与自然环境融为一体。但是，必须有和谐。与音乐相似，建筑物的建筑结合了和谐与不和谐的方面。然而，随着时间的推移，这些组成部分可以被视为和谐的增长，只是在不同的环境感知水平上。该结构的建筑设计呈现出对称性，这使其具有完整、有节奏的外观。尽管如此，节奏是一种创造建筑构图的技术，可以采用垂直和水平的形式。

在世界其他地方，宫殿也展示出力量、优雅和各种美丽的建筑细节。然而，这些宫殿都没有激发游客对和谐的思考。它们的建造是为了向人们展示这个国家是多么富有，并没有传递出完美的线条、完美的数字或任何精心选择的颜色来象征某事的信息。

例如，马来西亚的宫殿结合了传统的马来和伊斯兰建筑，皇家博物馆大多是金色的，屋顶也涂上了金色，展示了一座美丽宫殿的丰富性。金色还覆盖了墙壁、家具和许多其他小细节的颜色。墙壁上也装饰着各种形状的物品，游客可能会花上一整天的时间来观看它们。但是，整体上没有平衡，因为我们的眼睛充斥了太多的细节。另一个美丽宫殿的例子是 Istana Negara，一座位于小山上的巨大宫殿，可以俯瞰城市，这座宫殿与伊斯兰特色完美地融合在一起，让任何人都惊叹不已。

在欧洲，宫殿具有展示富贵和权力的作用，其中大部分如今也对游客开放。虽然城堡是起保护作用的，但宫殿却可以装饰得很漂亮，以便任何来自其他国家的游客都可以看到那个时期国家的美丽。例如，在玛丽亚·特蕾莎女皇统治时期的维也纳，许多宫殿都进行了重新装修，以便向世界展示哈布斯堡帝国是欧洲最强大的帝国之一。美泉宫周围环绕着充满迷宫、鲜花和喷泉的花园。宫殿有1441间房间，但颜色却大相径庭，因为有的房间完全涂成红色，有的则涂成蓝色或绿色。大多数宫殿都没有遵循设计，因为每个国王、王后或皇帝对美的含义都有不同的看法。游客可以探索宫殿并发现不同的图案，甚至猜测它们所代表的时间。

另一个以宫殿闻名的地方是法国巴黎，这座爱情之城有许多美妙的宫殿。在凡尔赛城稍远一点，最著名的宫殿是凡尔赛宫。凡尔赛宫曾是法国政府所在地和王宫，如今已成为公认的象征。宫殿及其周围是由无数代建筑师、雕塑家、画家和规划师装饰而成，对整个欧洲的许多其他宏伟花园产生了重大影响，并成为有品味和时尚的顶峰。法国一些有才华的艺术家共同创作了人物雕像和喷泉。所有的项目都提交给国王路易十四授权。如果有人想看著名的绘画和雕塑，这是一个完美的地方，但缺乏和谐，会让眼睛感到困扰。

总之，和谐需要空间中非对称分布的组件统一，必须具有组成的平衡性和对整个结构的整体理解，而对称性的特点是更大结构部件的几何均衡原则。在他们的工作中，建筑师寻求创造独一无二的和谐结构。故宫是唯一一个和谐与完美结合，完美缔造杰作的地方。

The culture exchange stall- Bilingual column-Harmony in one building- The Forbidden City

One day I was walking on the street and I heard a child talking with his father.He happily said:” I want to go to visit the Forbidden City.“

The father was surprised and replied:

“How do you know about this place?”

The child eyes were filled with enthusiasm. He said:” I saw it in my book at school and I think this palace is the most beautiful in the world”

The father told her: “But you have not seen all the palaces in the world.”

The child then replied quickly: “I have seen pictures with biggest palaces in the world and none of them made me think that I need to visit it. I want to go to China and visit Forbidden City”

Years later when I first visit Forbidden City,I remembered the kids’ words and I was surprised by the beauty and the perfection of this magnificent palace. Measuring 961 meters in length and 753 meters in width, the Forbidden City is composed of more than 90 palace compounds and surrounded by a moat as wide as 52 meters.

The "River of Golden Water" flows through the first courtyard. In the Palace, water should be circulating for both drains and fire suppression purposes. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is the tallest structure in the Forbidden City, standing over 35 meters high. It has porcelain tiles that are glazed in the imperial hue yellow, same as the majority of the structures in the Palace. Important occasions and rituals, such as ceremonies, dignitary visits, imperial banquets, celebrations, and special days, were held in the hall.

The Qianqing Palace was the main residence of the first two emperors of the Qing Dynasty and the fourteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The Hall of Zhonghe is located behind the Qianqing Palace. The winding and fantastical architecture of the back garden is in strong contrast to the rigorous perfection of the Forbidden City. It is full of rockeries, ancient trees, statues and temples, and trails lined with mosaics.

Designers of the Forbidden City chose vivid hues for both architectural and cultural reasons. The Chinese created the idea of Wu Xing in antiquity to understand specific incidents through the interactions of several factors. It was used in a variety of industries, including medicine, astronomy, design, and tai chi.

The Forbidden City is awash in the favorable color red, which the Chinese connect with responsibility, joy, fortune, and glory. Red can be observed clearly on gates, doors, window frames, outside timbers, and indoor pillars. 

Yellow was seen as the hue of the earth, the source of all vitality, which the ancient Chinese believed to be the most crucial component. Because of this, yellow was valued highly and saved for the emperor's sole usage. Its significance in the way itwas intended to demonstrate how the emperor's status as the son of heaven gave him a unique link to the planet and gave him the right to rule. The color yellow was actually only permitted to be used in Imperial palaces, tombsaccording to Ming rule, and it even became traditional for emperors to dress yellow robes with a decorated dragon.

Numerology is highly valued in China, and it was implemented into the layout of the Forbidden City. For example, because nine is the biggest single number, the emperor was given exclusive usage of both yellow and nine. Nine means long or eternal. It's common to hear that there are 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden City, because10,000, the number for eternity, or the number of rooms anybody would discover in the Forbidden City in eternity.

Any door that the emperor used would be colored a striking shade of red and adorned with nine lines of nine golden nails. The nine sculptures, all of which personified a specific virtue or guarded the complex, might be found in an emperor's residence, for instance. The phoenix-riding eternal stood for having to turn bad luck into great fortune, the dragon for strength, the lion for strength and courage and warding off evil forces, the Pegasus for energy, the sea horse for great fortune, the second lion for controlling the rain and averting catastrophes, the fish for summoning the wind and storms, the goat-bull for acts of bravery, and the bull for a protection mechanism against evil.

The English name for the Forbidden Cityis “the Forbidden City”, because it was only used by emperors and the royal court. Moreover, this name suggests a world that is hidden, a piece of perfect harmony where not everyone can enter. When I told my friends that I have been to the Forbidden Palace they were still thinking at a magical place, where mortals cannot enter.

The palace is the architectural symbol of harmony and perfection. Architecture, at its core, reacts to its surroundings. It doesn't necessarily need to be disguised in order to blend in, especially with natural surroundings. Nevertheless, there must be harmony. Similar to music, a building's architecture combines aspects of harmony and discord. Over time, though, these components can be seen as the growth of harmony—just on a different level of how the environment is perceived. The architectural design of the structure exhibits symmetry, which gives it a finished, rhythmic appearance. Nonetheless, rhythm is a technique for creating architectural composition that can take both vertical and horizontal forms.

In other parts of the world, palaces also exhibit power, elegance and all kinds of beautiful architectural details. However, none of these palaces inspires the visitors to think of harmony. They were built to show the people how rich and wealthy the nation is, but they do not send the message of perfect lines, a perfect number or any colors carefully choose to symbolize something.

For example, palaces in Malaysia are combining traditional Malay and Islamic architecture and rooftops are also painted in gold. The Royal Museum is mostly golden and show the richness of a beautiful palace. The walls are decorated in various shapes and decorations and visitors may spend all day watching them. However, there is no balance because our eyes get tired of too many details. Golden is the color that covers the walls, the furniture and many other small details. And another example of a beautiful palace is The Istana Negara, a huge palace on one hill beautifully overlooking the city, where Islamic features are beautifully mixed in order to amaze anyone.

In Europe, palaces have the role of showing richness and power and most of them are open now to visitors as well. While castles were used for protection, palaces were just wonderfully decorated so that any important visitor from other country could see the beauty of that specific country. For example, in Vienna during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa many palaces have been redecorated so they can show the world that the Habsburg Empire is one of the most powerful in Europe. The Schönbrunn Palace is surrounded by garden filled with labyrinths, flowers and fountains. The palace has 1,441 rooms, but the colors are very different, because there are rooms totally painted in red, other in blue or in green. Most palaces are not following a design but each king, queen or emperor had a different view of what beauty means. Visitors can explore the palace and discover different patterns and even guess the time they represent.

Another place famous for palaces is France and Paris, the town of love has many wonderful palaces. A little further in the city of Versailles, the most famous palace is Palace of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles, a former seat of government and royal palace for France, is today a recognized symbol. The palace and its surroundings, which were decorated by numerous generations of architects, sculptors, painters, and planners, had a significant impact on many other magnificent gardens throughout Europe and served as the pinnacle of taste and fashion. Together, some of France's most talented artists created each figure and fountain. All the projects were presented to King Louis XIV for his authorization. If anyone wants to see famous paintings and sculptures this is the perfect place, but there is the lack of harmony that bothers the eye.

In conclusion, harmony demands the unity of components that are asymmetrically situated in space, but possess the balance of composition and an overall understanding of the entire structure, whereas symmetry is distinguished by the principles of geometric equalization of components of a larger structure. In their work, architects seek to create harmonious structures that are one of a kind. The Forbidden Cityis the only place where harmony and perfection combines and perfectly create a masterpiece.

指导老师：刘海明，王小杨