Wednesday, November 2, 2011

once upon a time…

this city was forbidden. But now it is open to all for a small fee. Actually it is a palace, like Versailles or Buckingham, but its 720,000 square meters, 980 buildings, and over 8,700 rooms make it easily mistakable for a small city rather than a palace in the middle of Beijing. After fourteen years of construction the palace was complete in 1420, the Ming Dynasty. It was in use through the Qing Dynasty, 1911. It was home to 24 emperors and not just anyone could enter. It was usually just the emperor, his concubines and advisors. 

You might also recognize the Forbidden City from the Disney movie Mulan. It was home of the emperor, where Mulan came to save China.

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Can you see why all the commoners and anyone who wasn’t the emperor were a little PO?

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