The Forbidden City, a must-see attraction when coming to Beijing

The Forbidden City: Also known as the Imperial Palace, this vast complex was home to Chinese emperors for nearly 500 years. It showcases traditional Chinese palatial architecture and houses numerous artifacts from the Ming and Qing dynasties

The roof forms of Chinese architecture are diverse, and there are more than 10 different roof types. Taking the three main halls as an example, the roofs are different from each other. The roofs of there buildings are covered with various colored glazed tiles. The main seats are mainly yellow. Green is used for buildings in the prince's residential area. Other colorful glass materials, such as blue, purple, black, emerald, peacock green, and sapphire blue, are often used in gardens or on glass walls. At both ends of the main ridge in the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, there are glazed kissing beasts that steadily and powerfully swallow the ridge. The shape of the kissing beast is beautiful; it is both a component and a decoration. Some of the tiles are shaped with three-dimensional animal images such as dragons, phoenixes, lions, and seahorses, symbolizing auspiciousness and majesty. These components play a decorative role in the building.

In the fourth year of Yongle (1406), Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty issued an edict to build the Beijing Imperial Palace and city walls based on the Nanjing Imperial Palace (Nanjing Palace Museum). Zhu Di first dispatched personnel to various parts of the country to mine precious wood and stone materials and then transported them to Beijing. Just the preparation work lasted for 11 years.

In 1987, the Forbidden City was listed as a "World Cultural Heritage" by UNESCO.

Since the 21st century, the Palace Museum has received an average of 6-8 million visitors from China and abroad each year. With the development of the tourism industry, visitor numbers have fluctuated, indicating that people's interest in it has remained strong over the long term.

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