The Forbidden City

What is the Forbidden City?
The Forbidden City is an imperial Chinese palace located in Beijing, China. It is among one of several most important places in the world the other four are the Palace of Versailles in France, Buckingham Palace in the UK, the White House in the US and the Kremlin in Russia. The Forbidden City has been home to 24 Chinese Emperors since it was built for Emperor Yongle during the Ming Dynasty in 1406 and building continued throughout 1420. It was built to look like the Purple Palace where God was said to live in heaven, since the Emperor was thought to be the son of Heaven. The Forbidden City covers an area of about 72 hectares and has a total floor space of approximately 150, 000 square meters (177.9 acres). It consists of 90 palaces and courtyards, 980 buildings and 8,704 rooms. All the gates, palace and other structures of the Forbidden City were arranged about the south-north central axis of Beijing to symbolize that the palace was the center of the Earth. The palace has been a major architectural influence throughout Eastern Asia.

What does the palace look like?
The Forbidden City Beijing: Brief introduction about Forbidden City tells us this...
"The outer court is made up of three main buildings, the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian), the Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghedian) and the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohedian). These halls were where the emperors attended the grand ceremonies and conducted state affairs. The first hall waiting for you is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the most important and largest structure in the Forbidden City. The emperors' Dragon Throne (Longyi) is in this hall. Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the Hall of Central Harmony (Zhonghedian), the resting place of the emperor before presiding over grand events held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Emperors would rehearse their speeches and presentations here before departing to the Temple of Heaven for the sacrifice rites. The last hall is the Hall of the Preserving Harmony used for banquets and later for imperial examinations."

What About Now?
Today the palace has been turned into a museum. The museum contains a vast collection of artwork that was collected during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the National Palace Museum located in Taipei.

China's Major River Systems

China's Major Population Concentrations

1,338,612,968 people live in China, and although China is large, most people tend to cluster in city areas.
Shanghai:
Shanghai is one of the main cities that have large concentrations of people the city is land marked by a large T.V. tower; it is also the center of China's trade. Shanghai offers many types of transportation from personal, to public. In Shanghai a popular method of transportation is the British style double decker buses. The city is made to look like Paris in some places such as its shopping districts and its architecture. Millions of pedestrians travel through the shopping districts every day. At the heart of Shanghai is a park where people go to relax, let their kids play, etc.There are many Special schools in Shanghai the children that wish to attend must be gifted to get into the shcool whether it's musically gifted, a dancer, or other child prodigies. They practice ancient arts such as the Chinese opera, traditional Chinese instruments, the samba, and Calligraphy just to name a few. Some main tourist attractions are the famous Shanghai acrobats.

Beijing:
Beijing China is such a populous place not only because of those who live there, but because of all of its tourist attractions. First, it has the Great wall, which at the only man made object you can see from space, kind of speaks for itself. People have lived there for over 50,000 years making it one of the oldest cities in the world. Beijing is also the capital of China. In the middle of Beijing lies The Forbidden city, the Forbidden City an ancient imperial palace from the Dynasty to the end of the Quing Dynasty. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, it was also the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. As of today, it has been turned into a museum. Culture is very much included in the everyday lives of the people of Beijing, no matter how big the city gets. Classical chinese opera is popular in Beijing, so are street massages. Beijing is the second largest city in China. It is also a major transportation hub, many types of transportation is used such as buses, trains, railways, cars, and taxis. And of course, contributing to its tourism, Beijing is probably known most for being the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Beijing is still recognized as the political, educational, and cultural center of China to this day.


Hong Kong:
Hong Kong is located in Southern China. It is home to about 7 million people. The city is very modern but old cultural concepts like Fung shui are taken very seriously, everything in Hong Kong revolves around it especially with expensive construction projects going on the owners often hire expert consultants to create Fung Shui, and are often believed to make or break a business. The Chinese are very supersticious, bagua mirrors are still regularly used to deflect evil spirits, and buildings often lack any floor number that has a 4 in it, since it is so similar to the word "die" in Chinese. Has many varieties of traditional Chinese cuisine and more modern, westernized, fast food restraunts. Many actors were born in Hong Kong and its most famous for its entertainment industry.

Guangzhou:
Guangzhou is located in the southern part of China. It is located in the Pearl River Delta region. It is the third most populous metropolitan area in China right after Beijing and Shanghai. This city has a subtropical climate, heavily influenced by the Asian Monsoon. It is also one of China's leading commercial manufacturing regions. The China Import and Export Fair, which is sometimes called the "Canton Fair", is held every year in April and October by Ministry of Trading.

Where is China?

China is a country located in the northern hemisphere in eastern Asia. It is also one of the worlds most populous countries. It is bordered by Mongolia, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the North Pacific Ocean.