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Forbidden City

The Palace Museum, known as the Forbidden City in the West, was the imperial palaces of the Ming and Qing dynasties. In early 15th century, large-scale construction involved 100, 000 artisans and one million civilians. The construction took 14 years and was finished in 1420. In the following year, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. Twenty-four emperors- Sons of Heaven of the Ming and Qing dynasties ruled from the Forbidden City. The last dynasty fell in 1911, but Emperor Puyi still lived in the inner court. It was not until 1925 that the complex was converted into a museum. Since then the palace has been opened to the public. The Forbidden City is a national architectural treasure. forbidden city

The Palace Museum is located in the centre of Beijing, covering an area of 72 hectares (720, 000 square meters) with more than 90 courtyards of various sizes. It is rectangular in shape, 960 meters long from north to south and 760 meters wide from east to west. There is a 3, 400-metre-long and 10-metre-high wall, encircled by a 3, 800-metre-long and 52-metre wide moat. In the Ming Dynasty, the timber needed for building the palace was brought mostly from Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou provinces; while in the Qing Dynasty, it was cut from northeast China. Most of the stones were quarried from the suburban district of Fangshan and other districts. Construction of the Forbidden City brought tremendous hardship to the laboring people.

The palace is the largest piece of ancient Chinese architecture still standing. Some of the buildings were damaged by lightning and rebuilt in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The palace had been expanded several times, but the original layout was preserved.

After 1949, some costly renovations were done and the Palace Museum has been listed by the Chinese Government as one of the important historical monuments under special preservation.

Each year the Forbidden City receives about 7 million visitors both from home and abroad. According to 30 Yuan per ticket for average, the income of tickets of the Forbidden City would reach US$25.4 million annually.

The largest restoration project of the Forbidden City began on April 3, 2002. The ground will be renovated to their original look once the project is finished in 2008. It will remain open to tourists during construction. The renovation project will cost l billion Yuan (US$120. 8 million).

A future target of the Forbidden City, as inscribed in the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1987, is to make the visit as convenient as possible for tourists both at home and abroad. It is the museum s long-term goal for visitors to receive telecommunications service in every part of the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City will increase the number of telephones for visitors, and will invite experts to design the telephone booths using transparent material. These booths will be installed in the corners, so they can stand in harmony with the ancient style of the Forbidden City. From the website, publications, tapes and volunteers, visitors will be well-informed in the Forbidden City. Foreign visitors will meet few language barriers, as brochures will be printed in multi-languages. All toilets will be rebuilt to meet three-star grade that has facilities to wash hands, tissues, hand-dryers and bathrooms specially designed for disabled and elderly people. As a world-class museum, the Forbidden City attracts an average of 25, 000 tourists everyday. Some visitors may, unavoidably, fall ill during their tour. To solve this problem, the museum has two medical teams of five to six full-time doctors to provide medical services. The museum will temporarily invite doctors from other hospitals in the holiday seasons. Therefore, the museum will guarantee a healthier visit to tourists, even if as many as 80,000 people (the largest number of visitors the museum can accommodate) visit the museum in one single day. For the sake of the security of the historical and cultural treasures, and also for visitors to see the treasures, the museum has to control the number of visitors.

China now boasts 750 key cultural relics protection units.

There are four ancient government offices in feudal China. They are the Forbidden City in Beijing, Governor-general Office in Baoding, Hebei Province, Huozhou Office built in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) in Shanxi Province, and Neixiang County Office in Henan Province.

Kuai Xiang(1377-1461), a native of Wu County, Jiangsu Province, . was an outstanding architect in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In 1417 he was in charge of building the imperial palace. In the period 1436 to 1149 he rebuilt the three main halls in the Forbidden City and other key buildings. He was credited as Master Craftsman Kuai. Lu Ban-a master craftsman of the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC), since deified as the patron saint of carpenters.