The Meridian Gate or Wumen (simplified Chinese: 午门; traditional Chinese: 午門; pinyin: Wǔmén; Manchu: ᠵᡠᠯᡝᡵᡤᡳᡩᡠᠯᡳᠮᠪᠠᡳᡩᡠᡴᠠ; Möllendorff: julergi dulimbai duka) is the southern and largest gate of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China.
On each of the protruding side, a 13 bays-long building with a single eave, connects the two pyramidal-roofed pavilions that represented the que towers.
After successful campaigns, the Emperor received prisoners of war here, sometimes followed by mass decapitations.
[2] Although urban myth has it that senior officers were executed here in Imperial China; in reality only corporal punishment was actually carried out.
Behind the viewer is Upright Gate, the principal entrance to the imperial palace grounds.