The Forbidden City is located in the
heart of Beijing and served as home to the emperors in the Ming and Qing
Dynasties. It was built over 13 years, starting in 1407 and is the
world's largest palace complex, covering over 180 acres.
Some interesting tidbits about our visit
to the Imperial Palace.
1. In addition to housing the
emperor and his immediate family, the Imperial Palace was also the home
to 3,000 concubines, there to serve the emperor's "every
need." Often the oldest son of the emperor who succeeded his
father was actually a son of one of the concubines, not the empress.
2. The entire complex was designed
in accord with all of the Chinese traditional beliefs. Nine is a
lucky number, so there are 9,999 rooms. The color yellow stands
for earth and all of the roofs were painted yellow. The red walls
represent fire, luck and happiness. The blue and green of the
floors and designs around the roof represent spring and
rebirth.
3. While the FC is made up of
buildings that are almost 600 years old, there were several traces of
the beginning of capitalism in China. First, there was a Starbucks
in the middle of the Forbidden City serving all of your favorite coffee
and tea drinks (see it to believe
it). Second, all of the plaques detailing the history
behind the different buildings for tourists (both in Chinese and
English) had the same logo on the bottom - "Sponsored by American
Express."