General Information of the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, also called the Palace Museum at present, was the royal palace of the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Here, a total of 24 emperors resided and exerted reigns of power nationwide. It was initially set up in 1420 by the 3rd emperor of Ming Dynasty.
In the following 480 years, the Forbidden City has been under continuous re-construction and extension. Now the palace covers an area of 720,000 square meters, with a total of 8700 rooms. Located in the heart of Beijing, it is the largest and most complete existing palace in China and the whole world. It is ranked No.1 of the Top 5 Palaces in the world. In 1987, UNESCO ranked the Forbidden City into World Cultural Heritage list.
It is nearly 3 kilometers from Tiananmen to the North gate of the Forbidden City. The scale is beyond many people’s imagination. No wonder some foreign guests comment admirably, “How can a person use such a big house?”

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As a masterpiece of ancient China construction complex, the Forbidden City combines political, economic, philosophical, aesthetic and religion elements at the same time, boasting of abundant cultural connotations. The Forbidden City consists of two parts--- Outer Court and Inner Court. Outer Court is the place where the emperor met with his officials and tackled with nationwide affairs. Inner Court was the place where the emperor, empress and other imperial concubines lived in.

Welcome to the one-stop tourism portal of the Forbidden City

A large collection of invaluable historical relics (1.17 million pieces in all) are hosted in the palace. You can indulge your eyes with all kinds of precious ancient jade articles, porcelains, gold/silver wares, lacquer work, enamel, calligraphy, paintings, religious statues, imperial apparel, furniture, etc. The Forbidden City also owns large quantities of document files and classic books. By walking in the palace, you can subtly feel the pulse of the 5,000 Chinese history, and touch the profound wisdom of the Chinese people.