f you were only to visit one sight in Beijing, make it the Forbidden City.

The place is just

mesmerizing: courtyard after courtyard of palaces with floating eaves, pavilions, and opulent rooms,
where the Chinese emperors resided for centuries. Walking around the Forbidden City will take up
the best part of a day, and most of the complex is actually closed to visitors. If you were able to visit
it all, it would take days, probably weeks.
The Forbidden City is the largest collection of ancient wooden structures in the world.
The Forbidden in its name comes from the fact that traditionally, no one was allowed in or out
unless the Emperor said otherwise. The Emperors life and that of his concubines was always
enveloped in mystery.
t was home to 24 emperors over a period of five centuries, and up to 10,000 people lived there at
one time. Many of them were concubines. Emperors had hundreds of concubines, and their social
rank was determined on how many times they were called by the Emperor to spend the night with
him.
Mao Tse Tung refused to live in the Forbidden City, as it had been the scene of countless murders
and plots over the centuries, and so he believed the place was cursed.
Ninety percent of buildings have roofs covered in yellow tiles, because yellow was the Emperors
colour. There are 9,999 rooms in the complex

The Forbidden City is home to one of the biggest museums in the world the Palace Museum - that boasts imperial collection spanning the Ming
and Qing Dynasties.