Today Roger took us to the Forbidden City in Beijing, which served as the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government. Built in only 14 years (1406-1420), the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 7,800,000 sq ft, making it the world's largest palace complex. There are over 9000 rooms throughout the complex, so if the emperor lived in 1 room each day it would take him almost 25 years to live in each room! Luckily for me, we had a tour guide who spoke English and took Liang, Roger and I on a 2 1/2 hour tour of the City. We first toured
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