Beijing Forbidden City
By Anna Lynn Sibal
Though nearly a century has passed since Puyi, the last emperor of China, was expelled from the Forbidden City in Beijing, life in China’s imperial era continues to fascinate people. Life as it may have been during China’s imperial past remains to be a subject of many stories, both in written form and in film. In fact, the remnants of Imperial China to this date are still some of the major selling points of Beijing when it comes to promoting tourism.
If we are to speak of the remnants of China’s imperial past, the first thing that would naturally come to mind would be none else than the Forbidden City. For almost 500 years, the Forbidden City served as the heart of the Chinese Empire, the residence of the imperial family. Power radiated from this walled city towards the borders of the empire’s vast territories.
Today, the Forbidden City is now the Palace Museum. The Palace Museum is steward to more than a million pieces of treasure that were found inside the palace complex after the expulsion of Puyi. Some of these pieces are on display at the palace complex, though some were taken by the Kuomintang to Taiwan.
Among the most notable collections of these treasures of the Forbidden City is the imperial ceramic collection. A visitor can trace the history of the production of Chinese ceramics by merely looking at the imperial ceramic collection, as some pieces date back to nearly eight thousand years ago. This collection is the largest existing collection of ceramics in the whole world.
Another noteworthy collection in the Palace Museum is its collection of clocks. Again, it is the largest of its kind, with around 1,000 pieces. Some of these pieces were manufactured in the palace workshops, while some were gifts from foreign dignitaries, coming from France, Britain and Switzerland, among others.
Aside from the Forbidden City, another remnant of China’s imperial past that is worth a visit is the Temple of Heaven. Built around the same time as the Forbidden City itself, the Temple of Heaven is where the emperor of China would pay homage to the heavenly authority which he represents on earth and from which he got his power. When the emperor went on procession across Beijing from the Forbidden City to the Temple of Heaven, ordinary Chinese were not allowed to witness it.
The Summer Palace is also a popular destination among tourists in Beijing. The Summer Palace was the summer retreat of the Empress Dowager Cixi, one of the most prominent and fascinating female figures in recent Chinese history. The Summer Palace is an expanse of gardens dominated by the manmade Kunming Lake and the Longevity Hill.
And of course, there is the Great Wall of China, the longest manmade structure in the whole world. The Great Wall was originally built to protect the empire’s northern borders, with its oldest portion commissioned by the founding emperor of the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty in China’s history. Three portions of this wall can be explored on a day trip from Beijing, namely the Badaling, the Jinshanling and the Mutianyu.
If you are fascinated with China’s imperial past and are planning to go on a trip to Beijing to indulge your fascination, these are the four places that you should not miss in your visit to Beijing.
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