Men Hai
Detail of a bronze vat, called "men hai" in Chinese, or "sea in front of doors". Strategically positioned throughout the Forbidden City’s court yard, altogether 308 water bronze and iron vats were placed to prevent fire to destroy the 9,999 wooden buildings that make up the Imperial Palace. When the Japanese invaded China, they melted many vats and used the iron to make bullets. Eightteen bronze vats were actually guilded. The scratches you see here are caused by "Eight-Nation Alliance" soldiers, in an attempt to scrape off the gold with their bayonet rifles during the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.