Forbidden City

On Saturday I was able to go to the Forbidden City. Thankfully, it is no longer forbidden, as long as I pay 60 yuan. The Forbidden City was a palace for the emperor of China for more than 500 years. Then in the 1920’s the emperor was kicked out and the public were allowed into the inner and outer cities.

One thing that is so impressive about the Forbidden City is its size. From the north to south gate is over 300 yards, and the east to west gate is almost 250 yards. Inside the gates are thousands of buildings, artifacts, and statues.

The Forbidden City is across the street from Tiananmen Square. When you first enter, you are in the Outer City, and there is no charge to go inside. The Outer City is home to vendors selling trinkets, food, and (because it was sprinkling) umbrellas. There was a Starbucks opened in 2000, but it closed last year, which seems appropriate to me. Starbucks is good, but they don't always need to be everywhere. However, the vendors were selling lots of bottled water to fill in the void Starbucks left.

One guy there tried to convince me that he was a professor at “Washingtown D.C.” and that he was teaching Americans how to speak Chinese. All I needed to do was go have some tea with him and we could teach each other Chinese and English. I declined. In China, especially Beijing and Shanghai, people offering to teach you Chinese over tea is common. When you are done with the lesson and tea, the big strong waiter will give you the bill and it is 1000 yuan (almost $200). Then you’re strong armed into paying this exorbitant bill, which goes straight into the waiter and Wahingtown D.C. professor’s pockets.

So after being harassed, I paid the entrance fee to get into the Inner City. Inside there weren’t any vendors. The buildings lining the walls had rooms with old artifacts like swords, guns, military decorative clothes, old bronze pots and jade statues.

There were also several buildings with names like the Hall of Supreme Harmony or the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Most of these buildings looked similar because the walls were all red and the ceiling tiles were painted yellow. They were still quite striking. Here is the Hall of Supreme Harmony:

Another impressive aspect of the city was the wall. These tall red walls are built with bricks made of rice and white lime, and the mortar is made of rice and egg whites. It’s pretty amazing that they are still standing after 600 years.

There were lots of people repainting the walls and decorative tiles on the roofs. It is part of a restoration project, which I assume is to make the Forbidden City look great by the Olympics. This was amazing to see because the walls were all bright red, and the decorations were vibrant.

Go see the Forbidden City if you happen to find yourself in Beijing.