One cannot go to Beijing without visiting the Forbidden City. It was the imperial palace and the political heart of China during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 - 1911). ... In the past, commoners were prohibited from entering the Forbidden City without permission and only imperial families and invited high officials can enter. Hence the name. You may notice a few people in the photos, this is the slow time of year for tourism. Boy howdy, would sure not like to be here when it would be considered crowded. Yikes. The Forbidden City is in the exact center of Beijing. It is quite a huge complex. Not possible to see it all in one day. There are nearly 1000 rooms of which only 28% are open to the public. The story of the last emperor was depicted in the movie with this title. All based on what really happened in the late 1800's and early to mid 1900's. Now I want to watch it... Beijing covers so much territory that it has 6 highway rings. The Twin Cities have 1 over 72 miles. You could drive the first ring around Beijing in about 25 minutes, the 6th ring would take 14 hours. That's big! Population is about 23 million or so. New York City is only 7 million. That's a LOT of people. China is the most populous country in the world.
Sent from my iPad
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