Beijing

The Forbidden City is located in the middle of ancient city Beijing, China. The Forbidden City housed 24 emperors, their imperial families and huge courts for almost 500 years,  about 9,000 people at the end of the 18th century. After 14 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, 10 of the Qing Dynasty followed. The last Emperor of China was PuYi, with his abdication in 1912, the Forbidden City ceased to be China’s political center.

Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square meter (7,800,000 square feet). The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

China - Beijing