Did you know? Today, the Palace Museum welcomes tens of thousands of visitors daily, but in the past, this palace was truly a "Forbidden City" reserved exclusively for the royal family. Starting from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), without an imperial summons, not even ministers, let alone commoners, could enter freely. This delayed delivering urgent messages from outside the palace to the emperor. Learning from these issues, the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) allowed officials of all ranks to present memorials and request an audience with the emperor at any time. However, crossing the strictly guarded gates of the Forbidden City was still no easy feat. What were the protocols for entering?

Perhaps you’ve noticed the tall stone tablets at the East Prosperity Gate (Donghua men) and the West Prosperity Gate (Xihua men) of today’s Palace Museum, inscribed with the words "Officials Dismount Here". Originally, such steles were placed outside the north, south, east, and west gates of the Forbidden City. In the Qing dynasty, it was required that when seeing a “dismounting stele” on their way to court, civil officials would get off their sedans, and military officials would dismount their horses before proceeding into the palace on foot. Only the imperial kinsmen of the beizi rank (Prince of the Fourth Rank) or higher and elderly officials with special permission from the emperor were allowed to ride on horseback or sit in a sedan, but only as far as the Arrow Pavilion (Jian ting) from the East Prosperity Gate or the Office of Imperial Household Department (Neiwu fu) from the West Prosperity Gate. Beyond that, all had to proceed on foot to enter the inner court.

After passing the Dismounting Stele, officials would approach the gates themselves. During the day, each gate of the Forbidden City was guarded by over a dozen young, robust guards in shifts. Armed with weapons such as waist swords, they presented a formidable sight, deterring any unauthorised entry. At the major gates, guards wielded two red rods. Sitting like gate gods with these rods in hand, they were not required to stand even for high-ranking officials below the rank of prince. If anyone dared to approach without announcing themselves, the guards had full authority to punish them with these rods.

Once entering the city gates, officials had to pass through various inner gates to reach the emperor. Officials of different ranks and types used specific gates, with the Gate of Good Fortune (Jingyun men) or the Gate of Thriving Imperial Clan (Longzong men) for those submitting memorials. Here, these “civil servants” had to present their identity badges, marked with their name and title, much like today’s employee ID cards. Guards on duty would meticulously check each badge, and if there was any discrepancy, immediate investigation would be in order.

For palace workers, including craftsmen, cooks, and cleaners, there was a different type of identification—a wooden waist tag. Branded with the individual’s name, banner division, and identifying features, these tags were checked against a register at each gate, much like a modern name tag.

The palace gates typically opened between 4 and 5 AM and closed around 5 or 6 PM. But what if an emergency required someone to enter or exit at night? For that, there was a special permit known as the "matching tally" (Hefu). This permit was split into two halves, carved with the characters for “imperial edict” in yin and yang scripts (the embossed script was called yang while the engraved one was yin), respectively. The yin half was held by the gatekeepers, while the yang half was kept within the inner palace. If someone needed to enter or exit for an urgent matter, they would carry the yang half to the gate, where it would be matched with the yin half before passage was allowed.

Despite the strict gate protocols, incidents such as the Chen De Assassination, the Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813, and even the occupation of the Forbidden City by the Eight-Power Allied Forces in the period of Emperor Guangxu (r. 1875–1908) demonstrate that security based solely on protocol is not absolute. The true fortress lies in the strength of a nation and the unity of its people.