The Chinese government will spend 1.5 billion yuan (US$1.84 billion) to revamp the Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace or Palace Museum, situated in central Beijing, in the coming 15 years, sources with the museum said.

The face-lift will repair old buildings, dilapidated floors and fading colorful paintings as well as artistic antiques and articles of historical interest that need protection, said Zheng Xinmiao, curator of the Palace Museum.

The project will be carried out in the principle of restoring the original look of the grand imperial architectural complex, Zheng was quoted as saying by The Beijing News on Thursday.

The Forbidden City was the power center of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties from 1420 to 1912. The imperial architectural complex was first constructed in 1406 and completed in 1420. Twenty-four emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties ruled from it.

Covering more than 720,000 square meters, the Forbidden City has over 9,000 rooms, making the palace the largest and best preserved remaining ancient architecture in China, which was built on a cosmologically mandated north-south axis, and surrounded by a 52-meter-wide city moat and a ten-meter high wall.

Zheng said a modern exhibition hall would be built if that can be done in line with the principles for protection of the Imperial Palace and in harmony with the overall appearance of the palace.

The palace is expected to receive increased visitation as more buildings are expected to open after renovations, Zheng said.

More than 80 percent of the palace will be open in the future instead of the current about one-third of palace's total area.

The vast palace was called "forbidden" because commoners, except courtiers, could not enter the complex without special permission in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Today it is opened to all.

Seven million to eight million visitors flock to the palace each year.

As part of the protection plan, the museum administration will spend seven years on clearing up the collections of cultural and art relics in the palace, and sorting out all relics of the Ming and Qing dynasties that have not been written into the account, Zheng said at a workshop held in Beijing on Wednesday to mark the 80th founding anniversary of the Palace Museum.

Other participants in the workshop included curators of the British Museum, the Tokyo National Museum, the Smithsonian Institution and the Dresden State Art Collections.
 
(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2005)