Beijing’s Forbidden City is a place full of wonder. From its thousands of rooms to its many beautiful artifacts, there’s no wonder it’s one of China’s most popular tourist destinations.

北京的故宫是个神奇之地，从成千上万间房间到无数精美的工艺品，它成为中国最受欢迎的旅游景点之一也不足为奇了。

But even more than 600 years after it was built, it’s still managing to serve up surprises.

但就在故宫建成600多年后的今天，它依然在不断地给人们带来惊喜。

Since it was built during the Ming Dynasty, it’s estimated¹ that the Forbidden City has survived more than 200 earthquakes.

故宫初建于明代，据估算，故宫至今已经历了200多次地震。

And while most structures aren’t made to survive natural disasters, let alone ones built hundreds of years ago, it seems that the Forbidden City was built to withstand² anything.

大多数建筑都无法抵御天灾，更不必说那些百年老建筑了，然而故宫却似乎能经受住一切考验。

A recent television documentary³ by UK broadcaster Channel 4 explored the skills of the ancient building’s designers. A group of Chinese carpenters and engineers were shown building a scale model of one of the Forbidden City’s palaces, at one fifth of the size.

英国广播公司第4频道近日推出的一部电视记录片就探索了这一古建筑的设计师们所采用的技巧。在片中，一群中国工匠们按照1:5的比例制作了故宫一处宫殿的模型。

To show how strong ancient Chinese architecture really is, the model was put to the test. It was subjected to a simulated⁴ earthquake of 9.5 on the Richter scale – equivalent⁵ to the largest ever recorded quake – and survived. Instead of falling apart, the model was just moved gently during the test.

为了展示中国古建筑有多么坚固，人们还对该模型进行了测试。它经受了一场里氏9.5级的模拟地震——相当于有记载以来的最强地震强度——却依然屹立不倒。在测试过程中，模型并没有坍塌，只是发生了些许位移而已。

According to experts, the answer to the Forbidden City’s strength, as well as other ancient Chinese structures’, lies in dougong– a centuries-old building method invented in China.

专家表示，故宫以及其他中国古建筑屹立不倒的答案就在于斗拱——一种流传数百年的中式建筑方法。

This is the name for special brackets⁶ on buildings. Despite being held together without any nails or glue, the brackets are perfect at keeping structures together when the weather gets rough.

斗拱指的是建筑中的一种特殊构件。它既没有使用钉子，也不用粘合剂，却依然能在恶劣天气中牢牢地组装在一起。

“Dougong design is an important earthquake-resistant feature of classical Chinese structures because the frameworkchanges in shape when under pressure, much like the shock absorbers of a car,” according to Chinese National Geography.

据《中国国家地理》报道，“斗拱设计是中国古典建筑结构中一大重要的抗震特点，其原理在于，遇到压力时，该框架将会改变形状，就像汽车的减震器一样。”

“Ancient Chinese craftsmen⁷ created structures that were both enduring⁸ and aestheticallypleasing [using dougong], revealing⁹ their advanced understanding of mathematics, architecture, materials, and structural¹⁰ science.”

“中国古代工匠创造了斗拱这一既坚固又美观的结构，体现了他们在数学、建筑、材料以及结构科学方面的深入理解。”

The Forbidden City draws visitors because of its rich history and cultural significance, but perhaps it should add one more thing to its list of attractions: earthquake shelter.

故宫因其悠久的历史以及文化意蕴吸引了无数游客，但或许它的魅力还得再加上这一点:地震庇护所。