I have been to the Forbidden City in Beijing several times. The above picture was taken on a crisp, January morning several years ago.
I have always preferred the Beijing winter to the Shanghai winter. The Shanghai winter is damp, gloomy and oppressive. You always feel as if the clouds are bearing down on you and are about to choke you. The damp can send a chill into your bones.
In Beijing, while it can be gloomy, and is really very cold, is often sunny, and you have lovely, blue skies. On this particular morning, I was fortunate enough to have been blessed with a wonderful, blue sky.
What I have always particularly felt about the Forbidden City, is the sense of living history. It is almost as if the Ming and Qing emperors are still living there in spirit. It's about 600, or more, years old, and has probably seen much history pass through it's halls. It has witnessed the fall of the Qing Dynasty, and the passing of the torch to the Communist Party.
As you enter the Forbidden City from TianMen Square, you see a huge portrait of Chairman Mao on the front wall. Was he the founder of the Empire of the Communist Party? Time will tell. However, from my perspective, while the late Chairman changed the course of Chinese history, his portrait seems a bit incongruous out there, on the external walls of the Forbidden City.
I did read somewhere, that the common people were not allowed to approach the Forbidden City, that the sight of the Forbidden City was forbidden to them. If this is true, then the Emperors of old really did lead isolated lives, alone amongst their eunuchs and courtiers.
Today, of course, the Forbidden City is populated by the Museum curators and by tourists. What else would anyone expect to see there.
Still, it is a place definitely worth seeing. It is impossible to see it one visit. It is huge. There are 980 buildings, and 8,700 odd rooms. You can walk, and you can walk, and you can walk. Then, in exhaustion, you say to yourself, "Another time"
The magic of The Forbidden City does pull you back. The promise to return is not an empty promise.
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