Forbidden City

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November 6th, 2009 by Travel

During the Ming and Qing Dynasty a city was built in the middle of Beijing China, which is called the Forbidden City – although it was originally an imperial palace city and is a cultural landmark for the Chinese. It took only fifteen years to complete, however there were a hundred thousand employed or more during the construction between 1406 and 1421. In 1925 the city was established as the Palace Museum, after a fire had destroyed many parts of it including the massive garden, which was not rebuilt.

Forbidden City

When the Japanese invaded China during the Second World War the Forbidden City was threatened, and all of the exhibits and artifacts were moved in a daring action to prevent the obliteration of them – and they were often just hours ahead of bombings during the movement of the lots. During Communist Rule various proposals involved obliterating the Forbidden City, Razing it to make way for public parks, transportation infrastructure, or even auditoriums. Luckily it survived the early Communist rule with some damage, including some artifacts being destroyed until Premier Zhou Enlai sent the army to protect the site, and seal it until 1971 when the threats passed.

Forbidden City