Backgrounder: Palace Museum

• Source: Xinhua
• [18:02 November 17 2009]
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The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, was home to the emperors in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties in China's history. With its vast collection of the imperial treasuries, it is the largest and best preserved ancient architecture group in China.

Located at the heart of the city of Beijing, it was constructed in the 14 years after 1406, and had been the throne of 24 ancient Chinese emperors.

The City, 960 meters long from north to south and 750 meters wide from east to west, is equal to a construction area of more than 720,000 square meters and has more than 8,000 rooms.

The whole architectural complex is an embodiment of grandeur, luxury and splendor, culminating the art of architecture in ancient China.

The Revolution of 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and ended the Forbidden City's history as feudal imperial palace. On Oct. 10, 1925, the Palace Museum was set up in the Forbidden City.

The Palace Museum preserves a large collection of invaluable cultural and historical relics. On the founding of the museum,it had a total of more than 1.17 million items of cultural relics, which are important materials for study of the history and ancient arts of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Unfortunately, part of the cultural and historical relics were lost during the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-1945) and the War of Liberation (1945-1949). Currently, it has 1.5 million items of cultural and historical relics.

On the palace ground there are many well-known buildings such as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Mental Cultivation, Hall of Heavenly Purity and Hall of Earthly Tranquility. Among them, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the most grandiose building in the Forbidden City. It is also the largest wooden structure hall in China.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation was the place where emperors after Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty resided and handled state affairs. It was also the place where the last emperor of China relinquished the throne and thus concluding the feudal rule of emperors in China's history.

The Forbidden City had undergone several renovations since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

In 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) listed the City as a World Heritage Site.