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The Wonders of the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City, located in the center of Beijing, was the imperial palace and home of Chinese emperors as well as their households from the Ming Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty–nearly 500 years–as well as the political and ceremonial center of Chinese government. It is now a national museum and tourist attraction. It is possible to get lost inside this museum, with its large collection of over one million pieces of art and 1.8 million cultural artifacts. The scope and beauty is truly mesmerizing.

Notable in the museum’s collection is their large array of ceramics and porcelain, including imperial collections from the Song and Tang Dynasties, pieces commissioned by the Palace and sometimes by the Emperor personally. It is impossible to describe the intricate beauty of these masterpieces; one is better served to see them with one’s own eyes. The Palace Museum of the Forbidden City holds around 320,000 pieces of porcelain alone.

The Forbidden City also boasts nearly 50,000 paintings, with over 400 dating before the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). This large, beautiful collection is literally a window into the personal aesthetic tastes and interests of the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties–a truly fascinating sight. Additionally, one of the world’s largest collections of mechanical timepieces dating to the 18th and 19th centuries can be found within the walls of the Forbidden City. While the collection contains both foreign-made and Chinese time pieces, the Chinese pieces were actually crafted in the palace’s own workshops!

Of course, no collection of Chinese art and artifacts would be complete without a large selection of Jade wonders. Most of the Jade in the Forbidden City was from the Chinese imperial collection, including individual 30,000 pieces, the earliest of which date back to the Neolithic period! Most of them are from the Ming and Quing Dynasty, and art intricate works of beauty, breathtaking to behold. The Forbidden City and the amazing wonders it houses is an experience that should not be absent from any vacation in China. These amazing works of art and artifacts will burn into your mind, never to be forgotten. But, make sure you plan an entire day for the Forbidden City–you will wish you had more time to soak it all in!

Click here to see all tours featuring the Forbidden City.