Our Family Blog: Spring Break Beijing Trip

Next day Wednesday we were off to the Forbidden City! It is so called because it was off limits to commoners for 500 years. The place stems from a rather dark pre-revolutionary age in Chinese history and at the same time is a place spun from the very pinnacle of Chinese civilization. Yes, it is a contradictory symbol to the Han Chinese. It was almost trashed during the Cultural Revolution but someone high up in the government had visions of tourist sponsorship dollars down the line and it was protected. It served two dynasties, the Ming and the Qing, who almost never strayed out of the gargantuan palace complex. From here the emperors governed China, often erratically and haphazardly. It wasn't until 1911 that revolution eventually came knocking at the huge doors, bringing with it the last orders for the Manchu Qing and dynastic rule.

The basic layout of the place was established betweem 1406 and 1420 during the rule of Ming emperor Yongle. There could have been up to a million laborers involved to build it. The palace lays at the heart of the Imperial City, a much larger, walled enclosure reserved for the the use of the emperor and his personnel. The wall surrounding it contains 12 milion bricks and is the last surviving wall in Beijing. Most of the buildings now are post 18th century; the place was a tinderbox and went up in flames frequently. Over the years, many rare books, paintings and calligraphy were also lost to fires. In the 20th century, there were two major lootings of the palace by Japanese forces and the Kuomintang. Thousands of crates of relics were removed and carted off to Taiwan, where they remain on display in Taipei's National Palace Museum.

The palace is unspeakably big (over 1 million sq meters, with 800 buildings and 9000 rooms). Less than half of the palace is open to visitors.

Outside the Meridian Gate again. It was restored in the 17th century and it was reserved for use of the emperor and it was from where he passed judgement on prisoners, announced the new year's calendar and oversaw the flogging of troublesome ministers:

Just inside the Meridian Gate now:-)

this tree is old!

wow, what a ceiling!

I think this is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the most important and the largest structure in the Forbidden City.

Every open building to tourists in the complex is brought to you by American Express...That still has left us speechless!

I think this is the Dragon Throne

This is either the Hall of Middle Harmony or the Hall of Preserving Harmony...after a while they all started to look the same:-)

The building was not open to see this 4 star rated toilet...To this day I am not sure if this was intended as a joke:-)

Some amazing clocks on an astonishing array of elaborate clocks on display at the Clock Exhibition Hall, a highlight of the Forbidden City. Most were gifts to the Qing emperors from overseas.