Forbidden City - Palace Museum  

The Forbidden City ,located at the exact center of the ancient city of Beijing, was the imperial palace during Mid-Ming and the Qing Dynasties. Known as now Palace Museum,its extensive grounds cover 720,000 square meters,800 building & 9,999 rooms.it is listed by UNESCO as the largest cellection of perserved ancient wooden structrues in the world, as was declared as a World Heritage Site in 1987 as the "Imperial Palace of the Mind and Qing Dynasties". The imperial Palace grounds are located directly to the north of Tiananmen Square and are accessible from the Square via Tiananmen Gate. It is surrounded by a large area called the Imperial City.

The instruction of the Forbidden City started in 1406 and took 14 years and an estimated 200,000 men.From its completion in 1422 to 1644, when a peasant revolt invaded it, the Fobidden City served as the seat of Mind Dynasty. The following Qing Dynasty also occupied the Forbidden City. After being the home of 24 emperors-14 of the Ming Dynasty & 10 of the Qing-the forbidden city ceased being the political center of china in 1912 with the abdication of Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China. Pu Yi was however, allowd and in fact required to live withint he walls of the forbidden city, until a coup launched by a local warlord in 1924. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, it houses numerous rare treasures and curiosities. In 1947, after they have been moved from one location to another inside mainland China for many years, Chian Kai-Shek ordered many of the artifacts within the forbiden city to be moved to Taiwan where they formed the core of the National Palace Museum in TaiPei.
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Andy