Forbidden City/Imperial Palace - March 11, 2005

Imperial Palace

After visiting Tianenmen Square for about ½ hour, we crossed the street to the Imperial Palace. If Tianenmen Square is large, then the Imperial Palace is enormous. It consists of many (MANY!) buildings dispersed over quite a large area. I believe there were 999 rooms in all (not actually buildings but rooms). The China dynasties had a thing about the number 9.

Imperial Palace

While we were there on that very cold day, extensive renovations were taking place. The Olympics are coming to Beijing in 2008, and the city (and probably national) government are sprucing up their city for all of the expected tourists. Plus, given the materials which the buildings are made from (wood mainly) and the weather they get every year (same as Philadelphia or New York City), the Imperial Palace buildings do degrade very quickly.

Imperial Palace (the buildings on the left have had their roofs restored)

I remember when we first got thru the entrance, we went over to the restrooms. The restrooms were housed in a snack bar that had a radiator for a heater. I basically put my hands right on the radiator - was the warmest they had been for about an hour. After that, back out into the elements!

Until recently, outsiders of any sort were not allowed into the Imperial Palace. Which is why it got the nickname "Forbidden City". This was especially true while there was an emperor. The last emperor was overthrown at the beginning of the 20th Century, although he was allowed to live at the Palace.

Sometime after the Communist Revolution, the Palace was opened up. First, I believe, to the Chinese and then to the tourists. While we were there our group received a lot of stares from Chinese citizens who lived on farms or in the country. This according to our guide, Frank. These citizens do not see foreigners that frequently, so we were the objects of great curiousity. (In Shanghai, I was actually stopped as I was exiting the Shanghai museum and asked to pose for a picture with a Chinese woman!)

Getting back to the Palace, each building contains either one room or a small number of rooms. There are no closed hallways or corridors between most of the buildings. I imagine in the winter it would have been really cold when one went outside to visit a different room. In the summer, although the weather would have been hot and humid, that situation would have been much improved.

I'd planned on going back to visit the Palace and Tianenmen Square on my free day when the weather was much better. However, because of my illness I spent that day at the hotel.

Imperial Palace