The Palace Museum, Beijing

The Palace Museum

It is more commonly known as the Forbidden City or the Imperial Palace and was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties lived and carried out their administration. Now it is open to the public as a palace museum where people can see the great traditional palace architecture, enjoy the treasures kept in the palace and learn the legends and anecdotes of the imperial family and court. It has 720,000 square meters (72 hectares) of courtyards, pavilions, great halls, flourishing gardens and nearly 10,000 rooms. It is the largest and best-preserved group of palaces in China. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.