The Imperial Palace

　　What strikes one first in a bird' s-eye view of Beijing proper is a vast tract of golden roofs flashing bril-liantly in the sun with purple walls occasionally emerging amid them and a stretch of luxuriant tree leaves flanking oneach side. That is the former Imperial Palace, popularly known as the Forbidden City, from which twenty-four em-perors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties ruled China for some 500 years--from 1420 to 1911. The Ming Emperor Yong Le, who usurped the throne from his nephew and made Beijing the capital, ordered its construction, on whichapproximately I0,000 artists and a million workmen toiled for 14 years from 1406 to 1420. At present, the Palaceis an elaborate museum that presents the largest and most complete ensemble of traditional architecture complex andmore than 900, 000 pieces of court treasures in all dynasties in China.

　　Located in the center of Beijing, the entire palace area, rectangular in shape and72 hectares in size, is surroun-ded by walls ten meters high and a moat 52 meters wide. At each comer of the wall stands a watchtower with adouble-eave roof covered with yellow glazed tiles.

　　The main buildings, the six great halls, one following the other, are set facing south along the central north-south axis from the Meridian Gate, the south entrance, to Shenwumen, the great gate piercing in the north wall. Oneither side of the palace are many comparatively small buildings. Symmetrically in the northeastern section lie the sixEastern Palaces and in the northwestern section the six Western Palaces. The Palace area is divided into two parts:the Outer Court and the Inner Palace. The former consists of the first three main hails, where the emperor receivedhis courtiers and conducted grand ceremonies, while the latter was the living quarters for the imperial residence. Atthe rear of the Inner Palace is the Imperial Garden where the emperor and his family sought recreation.

　　The Temple of Heaven

　　The Temple of Heaven was initially built in Yongle Year 18 of the Ming Dynasty ( in 1420). Situatedin the southern part of the city, it covers the total area of 273 hectares. With the additions and rebuilding during theMing, Qing and other Dynasties, this grand set of structures look magnificent and glorious; the dignified environ-ment appears solemn and respectful. It is the place for both Ming and Qing Dynasty' s Emperors to worship Heavenand pray for good harvest. The northern part of the Temple is circular while the southern part is square, implying"sky is round and earth is square" to better symbolize heaven and earth. The whole compound is enclosed by twowalls, dividing the whole Temple into inner and outer areas, with the main structures enclosed in the inner area. Themost important constructions are the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, the Circular Mound Altar, Imperial Heaven,The Imperial Vault of Heaven, Heaven Kitchen, Long Corridor and so on, as well as the Echo Wall, the Triple-Sound Stone, the Seven-Star Stone and others of historic interest and scenic beauty. The Temple of Heaven is acomprehensive expression of the unique construction techniques from Ming and Qing Dynasties; it is China' s mosttreasured ancient architecture; it is also the world' s largest architectural complex for worshipping heaven. In 1998,it was included in the "list of the world heritages" by the United Nation' s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Or-ganization.

　　Potala Palace

　　In 641, after marrying Princess Wencheng, Songtsen Gampo decided to build a grand palace to accom-modate her and let his descendants remember the event. However, the original palace was destroyed due to a lighte-ning strike and succeeding warfare during Landama' s reign. In the seventeenth century under the reign of the FifthDalai Lama, Potala was rebuilt. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama expanded it to today' s scale. The monastery-like pal-ace, reclining against and capping Red Hill, was the religious and political center of old Tibet and the winter palaceof Dalai Lamas. The palace is more than 117 meters (384 feet) in height and 360 ( 1,180 feet) in width, occupyinga building space of 90 thonsand square meters. Potala is composed of White Palace and Red Palace. The former isfor secular use while the latter is for religious.

　　The White Palace consists of offices, dormitories, a Buddhist official seminary and a printing house. From theeast entrance of the palace, painted with images of Four Heaveniy Kings, a broad corridor upwards leads to DeyangShar .courtyard, which used to be where Dalai Lamas watched operas. Afoot the large and open courtyard, there usedto be a seminary dormitories. West of the courtyard is the White Palace. There are three ladder stairs reaching in-side of it, liowever, tbe central one was reserved for only Dalai Lamas and central government magistrates dispatched

　　to Tibet. In the first hallway, there are huge murals describing the construction of Potala Palace and Jokhang Templeand the procession of Princess Wencheng reaching Tibet. On the south wall, visitors will see an edict signed with theGreat Fifth' s handprint. The White Palace mainly serves as the political headquarter and Dalai Lamas' living quarters.The West Chamber of Sunshine and the East Chamber of Sunshine lie as the roof of the White Palace. They belongedto the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the Fourteenth Dalai Lama respectively. Beneath the East Chamber of Sunshine is thelargest hall in the White Palace, where Dalai Lamas ascended throne and ruled Tibet.

　　Jokhang Temple

　　Jokhang Temple is the spiritual center of Tibet. Everyday pilgrims from every comer of Tibet trek along distance to the temple. Some of them even progress prostrate by body length to the threshold of the temple. Pil-grims fuel myriad of flickering butter lamps with yak butter, or honor their deities with white scarves ( Kha-btags orHada) while murmuring sacred mantras to show their pieties to the Buddha.

　　It lies at the center of the old Lhasa. Built in 647 by Songtsen Gampo and his two foreign wives, it has ahistory of more than 1,300. It was said that Nepal Princess Tritsun decided to build a temple to house the JowoSakyamuni aged 12 brought by Chinese Princess Wencheng. Princess Wencheng reckoned according to Chinese as-trology that the temple should be built on the pool where the Jokhang now locates. She contended that the pool wasa witch' s heart, so the temple should be built on the pool to get dd of evils. The pool still exists under the temple.Then goats were used as the main pack animals, as is the reason the city is called Lhasa. The construction took 12months. However it was originally small and had been expanded to today' s scale in later dynasties. When the FifthDalai Lama took reign, large-scale reconstruction and renovation had been done. The temple is a combination ofHan, Tibetan and Nepalese architectural techniques. Visitors will see sphinx and other weird and sacred sculptures.

　　Section IV Writing

　　(40 minutes )

　　It is often said that the subjects taught in schools are too academic in orientation and that it would be more use-ful for children to learn about practical matters such as home management, work and interpersonal skills. To whatextent do you agree or disagree?

　　You should write no less than 250 words. Write your article on ANSWER SHEET 2.

　　THE END OF THE TEST