Interior, Hall of Middle Harmony. Forbidden City, Beijing Its modest throne, set on a low platform, proves that this hall would not have been used for grand public ceremonies. But nor could it have been purely "private," given its formal presentation of the throne and incense burners. The hall's formal yet modest arrangement reinforces the idea of a "staging area" introduced on the previous page. Here the emperor, although fully embedded in his public role, would not have been "on show" to his subjects.