In 1406, the fourth year of the Yongle reign, Emperor Zhu Di ordered that a palace be built in Beijing and Beijing city be reconstructed. Fourteen years later, the Forbidden City was built up.

In 1421, the 19th year of the Yongle reign, the Forbidden City was hit by a thunderstorm. The Fengtian Hall, built up less than six month earlier, was struck by lightning and burned down. The three main halls of the Forbidden City were not rebuilt until 1440, the fifth year of the Zhengtong reign, caught fire during the Jiajing and Wanli reigns of the Ming dynasty, were burned down by Li Zicheng’s troops in the late Ming dynasty, and caught fire again during the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty.

The Taihe Hall, rebuilt in 1695, the 34th year of the Kangxi reign, has been conserved until today, and its size has been increasingly reduced compared with that of the initial Fengtian Hall, whose magnificence could only be found in poetry or be imaged.