This is the gateway leading to the inner court. It was erected in1429 and rebuilt in 1655. The Qing emperors sometimes gave audience to government officials here.On the east were study rooms for the emperor’s children. On the west were offices for guards and eunuchs.
In front of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, there are two small miniature temples, one standing on each side of the courtyard, and is surmounted by a sort of gilded tabernacle. The one on the east was called Jiangshan Pavilion representing territorial integrity.The one on the west in Sheji, the God of Land and Grain, a symbol of bumper harvest.
