This morning, we walked to the Forbidden City, which is now known as the palace museum. We'd heard it's so busy at the site that you have to be prepared to be pushed around and you may not get a close look at things. But we were willing to risk it and take a look for ourselves. We walked there and there are so many security check points in the streets that you have to scan your bags through. I couldn't believe how many there were, and soldiers with guns and batons. We hadn't even arrived at the Forbidden City yet!

The Forbidden City

So we arrived and had to go through yet another security check point. Then we must have walked through about 4 buildings before we even purchased tickets. I could not believe the sheer size of the place. It was so confusing and there were swarms of people everywhere. We finally entered the palace and there were just buildings everywhere, apparently there are over 900 buildings at the palace alone.

Why was it a Forbidden City

The name of the palace in Chinese is Gu Gong.
It was the imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It was first built throughout 14 years during the reign of Emperor Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The palace is surrounded by a 52m-wide moat in the centre of Beijing. The Forbidden City is China’s largest and best-preserved collection of ancient buildings, and the largest palace complex in the world.

The city was off limits for 500 years, when it was steeped in ritual and Byzantine regal protocol. It was forbidden to enter without special permission of the empeor. Hence its name 'The Forbidden City'. The palace was the reclusive home to two dynasties of imperial rule until the Republic overthrew the last Qing emperor.

Walking around the palace

Once we'd entered the main gates, we went up to the fist important building. You couldn't actually go inside the building, which was a bit disappointing but you could look inside. When you fight through the crowds of people, there's a chair, must have been the throne that one of the emperors sat on. I couldn't see it that well with all the people trying to push their way through, so we carried on to another building. Each one contained some kind of throne, which we had difficulty getting to see anyway.

Wall of clocks

Most of the buildings looked the same and you weren't actually allowed to enter any of the important buildings, so it was a bit of a let down. One of the highlights of the palace is suppose to be the hall of clocks. We had to pay more money to visit, but we wanted to see it. We walked through an indoor collection of fine clocks. Lots were made in England, lavish, elegant and exquisite pieces all made as a gift. They were pretty impressive, most had such intricate detail on them. There were also clocks designed in France, Switzerland and the USA. There was even a live demonstration of how some of the clocks worked, some are used as musical instruments as well as clocks.

Dancing in the rain

Once we'd finished wandering around the wall of clocks, it started raining, so we stayed in there to take shelter. It stopped raining, so we carried on walking around the palace. We saw a few more of the same kind of buildings, nothing too great. As we were walking past some big iron gates, it started hammering down, so we took shelter under the doorway. At first it was a light shower, but then there were hail stones and it carried on raining for about an hour. So we waited there trying not to get too wet. When the rain stopped, we went through to the palace gardens. By now, the whole ground had been flooded and there were big pools of water everywhere. There were also less people around too, so that was good. We carried on walking around more of the gardens and buildings, but John had a cold and wasn't feeling too well, so we started to head back. We had to walk back through somewhere that could have been in Venice for all we knew with so much water flooding everywhere. I decided to do a bit of dancing in the rain! Then we walked back to the main entrance, which was pretty empty now, compared to how it had been when we entered here this morning.

Tiananmen Square

After the Forbidden City, we just went to see the square on the way back. It was only a week ago that it was the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, so it was good to come here to pay respects to the dead. It's hard to believe that the government killed so many innocent people protesting to abolish communism in China. There's no evidence or even a memorial of it today in Tiananmen Square. The younger generations don't even know that this happened because it's not allowed to be talked about in China today, only in Hong Kong. It's just like it never happened. There are armed guards with guns to patrol the square and more security check points before you enter. We didn't stay there too long as we were tired, so headed back for some food and much needed rest!