Seat of supreme power for over five centuries, the Forbidden City, with its landscaped gardens and many buildings whose 9,000 rooms contain furniture and works of art, constitutes a priceless testimony to Chinese civilization during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Forbidden City, also named the Palace Museum, shares the honor of being one of five world-famous palaces with the Palace of Versailles in France, Buckingham Palace in England, the White House in the U.S. and the Kremlin in Russia. The palace, the most magnificent and splendid palace complex in China, was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Building in 1987. It was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the construction of this group of buildings took fourteen years from 1406 to 1420. In the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), it was the imperial palace where twenty-four emperors ascended the throne and exercised their power to the nation.

The incomparable palace occupies an area of 720,000 square meters (177.9 acres) and has approximately 8,700 rooms. An over 10-meter high rampart and a 52-meter wide moat with a total length of 3,400 meters (3,718 yards) encases the palace. It is called the "Forbidden City" because civilians were prohibited to enter for 500 years. There are four gates in each side, with Meridian Gate (Wu Men) as the main entrance. Four exquisite watchtowers sit at the corners of the wall. With roofs covered with golden glazed tile, red painted walls and grey-white bases, the rectangular palace appears extremely luxurious and grand. Spectacular halls in it are neatly arranged in bilateral symmetry along a central axis that conforms to the axis of Beijing City.

The palace has two primary parts: the Outer Court and the Inner Court. Some halls are converted into art galleries to exhibit paintings, clocks, bronze wares, pottery and other invaluable treasures. It is said that there are over 1,000,000 articles in this museum that account for one-sixth of such national treasures. Tourists can enter into the palace from the Wu Men (Meridian Gate) or the Shenwu Men (Gate of Divine Might). It is impossible for visitors to see every corner of the palace in a single day.

In the old days inside the Forbidden City, not only the royal family lived in it. All the eunuchs, maids, factotums and guards in service to the royal family lived in the Forbidden City. By the end of Ming dynasty, there were 2,600 eunuchs and 300 maids. The eunuchs were the men on call who served and ran the errands for the royal family. They all came from the rural areas around Beijing. Boys between 6-10 years old were emasculated after they were recruited in order to prevent them from doing anything immoral.

The maids were serving girls for the royal family. There were 12 maids for an empress, 10 for a queen and 6 for a concubine. All maids came from the underclass families. They were chosen at the age of 13 to enter service to the royal family. The rules for the maids were very harsh and strict: They were not permitted to return home, and their parents were not permitted to visit them. They had no personal freedom. They were not permitted to speak loudly, walk with their backs to royalty, grin, or burp (so no maid dared eat her fill)! When they slept, they were required to cuddle up so as not to face upward (that was considered as despising God). When the maids turned 25, they would leave the palace and receive a little tael.

Standing in the very center of Beijing for more than five centuries, Forbidden City witnessed the ups and downs, turns and twists of the last two feudalist dynasties as well the modern and contemporary China. There were endless stories happened about the Imperial Palace, if you are interested in them, with our tour guide to dip into the depth of what is really Forbidden City will be an absolutely necessary part of your Beijing trip.


Hours: 08:30-16:00
Admission: 60 Yuan ($7.5)

Ticket office will stop at 4pm. All palaces will close at 5pm. There are two gates, south (Tian'anmen Square)and north (opposite of Jingshan Park) gate.