Inside the Forbidden City

Day 5 - July 5

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July 6th 2009
Today was another day of sightseeing that started out a little later than Saturday’s tour. We took a bus ride to the Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace in the heart of Beijing. The palace was ordered to be built by Emperor Yongle (the same as the tomb we visited on Saturday) when he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The palace has 9,999 rooms because it was believed that ... read more

Asia » China » Beijing » Forbidden City

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For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more