Forbidden City Reviews (Beijing, China)

Tourst must-see

Manhattan County, New York

November 27, 2011

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I assume if you are going to Beijing, you will be going to Forbidden city. It is worth the hype, although all the megaphoned-chinese tour groups totally ruin the ambiance. It is their country, so no way around it, I guess.

A wandeful tour in beijing

by still2010

曼哈顿 WOE_COUNTY

August 27, 2010

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It was a great tour with a lot of good experience,and the views were absolutely amazing!

The Forbidden City

by Linda Hoernke

St. George, Utah

June 3, 2010

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Best of IgoUgo My first impression of The Forbidden City was to run away from the crowds and the noise. Thousands of people shoving and pushing to get in line for a ticket...thousands more yelling to buy a booklet or whatever. The Chinese seem to have the words ...Read more My first impression of The Forbidden City was to run away from the crowds and the noise. Thousands of people shoving and pushing to get in line for a ticket...thousands more yelling to buy a booklet or whatever. The Chinese seem to have the words push and shove built into their character; not because they are rude but because they are used to sharing space with so many people.

The Forbidden City is a symbol of royalty. During the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle, built the palace in 14 years with over 200,000 laborers, finishing in 1420. The Ming capitol was then relocated to Beijing and the palace became the home to 23 Ming and Qing emperors until 1911.

There are 800 buildings and 8,000 rooms. The whole complex was surrounded by walls and a moat. Many of the rooms have been turned into mini museums that have artifacts of clothing, weapons, personal belongings, papers and even a rhinoceros horn lantern. The city was built on the requirements of feng shui...a theory of balance of nature and soul. In 1987, the Forbidden City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to it's place in Chinese architectural & cultural development.

The Forbidden City is the world's largest palace complex and is shaped in a rectangle. It was designed to be the center of the ancient city of Beijing. It is surrounded by a 26 ft. high wall which served both as a defensive mechanism and also retaining walls for the palace. The city is a series of courtyards which surround low horizontal buildings with elegant roofs. The roofs of the buildings define a stately and meaningful progression through the city which gives each building their own character and function.

Every aspect of the designs reflected the Confucian thought which had become the inspiration for the Chinese society since the time of the Han Dynasty in the second century A.D.

The city is open from 8:30-5:00 in the summer and 8:30-4:30 in the winter. You can also purchase self guiding audio sets in English while touring the city.

Best way to get there is by taxi but since most taxi drivers do not speak English, make sure you get the Chinese symbols written down by your hotel to tell the driver where to go.

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From journal Tracking Dinosaurs in China

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

by TianjinPaul

Rotherham, United Kingdom

March 9, 2010

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Best of IgoUgo Familiarity breeds contempt. This may be something of a cliché, but my experiences with Beijing's Forbidden City proved that it can most certainly be the case, even with the most awe-inspiring of sights. To begin this review, I would like to re-wind ...Read more Familiarity breeds contempt. This may be something of a cliché, but my experiences with Beijing's Forbidden City proved that it can most certainly be the case, even with the most awe-inspiring of sights. To begin this review, I would like to re-wind to the balmy September of 2005. I had been working in Korea for a year when a friend of mine and I decided to take the boat to China for a two-week vacation. During that period, I fell deeply and madly in love with the Middle Kingdom and decided that instead of finding a job back in England, I should live in China for a while.

A while turned out to be four fabulous years, during which my love for the country grew and grew. However, at the same time a sense of indifference and even of animosity began to grow towards the Forbidden City. The reason behind this was simple. Every time any of my friends or family came to China, the first thing they wanted to see was … the Forbidden City. By the time my father and his new partner arrived in the Spring of 2009 I was on visit number eight, and was truly sick of the place.

Naturally, my rather cynical attitude towards the Forbidden City is nothing to do with the beauty of the place. It is without doubt, one of the most stunning man-made creations in the whole world. Therefore, to give a more accurate, less negative review, I need to think back to 2005 and my initial impressions of the City.

Any trip to the Forbidden City should begin in Tiananmen Square – you can also enter through the North Gate, but this is pointless as it is far less impressive. The front gate to the city is large and overpowering, painted in bright red paint and crowned with a picture of Mao Zedong. To get inside, you have to pass through three such gates. At first, this confused my friend Alana and I as these were so impressive in themselves that we wondered if we had somehow slipped inside without paying the entrance fee. However, these thoughts were soon dispelled when we arrived at an even larger gate at the foot of which were a series of ticket booths.

To get through the Forbidden City, visitors must walk in a straight line South to North. In a bizarre way, much of this process, almost reminded me of a Babushka doll in reverse. Whereas the doll gets smaller with every layer, the Forbidden City seemed to get more dramatic with every gate or building we passed. This had already been the case with the entrance. Then, as we passed through the imposing main gate, we were greeted by the first of the main palace buildings. These buildings themselves got more dramatic and more ornate, until we reached the highpoint. The main palace building, which was truly awe-inspiring.

On my first trip, this was enough for me. The shock and awe of the main buildings left me open mouthed. However, on trips two, three and four, I was able to spend some time exploring the smaller out-buildings to the side of the main structure, which were equally beautiful, only far more small and delicate. It seemed as though only after two or three trips had I actually managed to see everything. Sadly, then I went into overkill. By trip eight there was nothing new for me to see and the city had lost its magic.

Despite my cynical outlook, the Forbidden City is certainly worth the visit. In fact, it is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. Entrance in the summer is around 75rmb, but is cheaper in the winter. It is easy to find as every hotel and hostel runs an excursion and is right next to the subway. Close

From journal The Historic Parts of Beijing

Once Forbidden Now a Must Visit

by garymarsh6

Gravesend, United Kingdom

October 12, 2009

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Best of IgoUgo This is a city built for the Chinese Emperor who was cocooned in the vast city within a city. Building started on the palace in 1406 and it took 16 years to build. Over one million workers were involved in the building of it and precious woods and ...Read more

From journal Highlights of China

The not Forbidden City

by garymarsh6

Gravesend, United Kingdom

September 18, 2009

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Best of IgoUgo This is a city built for the Chinese Emperor who was cocooned in the vast city within a city. Building started on the palace in 1406 and it took 16 years to build. Over one million workers were involved in the building of it and precious woods and ...Read more

Moments of Solitude in the Forbidden City

by blueskygirl

Bellevue, Washington

December 8, 2008

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Best of IgoUgo 60 RMB for admission + extra for audio guide (the audio guide ended up being more of a hassle than anything, as we had to deal with a finicky machine and much to our disappointment the original voice recording with Roger Moore has been replaced with ...Read more

From journal Autumn in the Capital City

Forbidden City

by onesundaymorning

Los Angeles, California

September 5, 2008

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Best of IgoUgo The feeling walking into the Forbidden City was intense. I am an American, a Westerner walking the halls of what was once not only once forbidden for many of the Chinese People, but especially to foreigners. Although the area is now protected as a ...Read more

The feeling walking into the Forbidden City was intense. I am an American, a Westerner walking the halls of what was once not only once forbidden for many of the Chinese People, but especially to foreigners. Although the area is now protected as a World Heritage Site and has been open to tourists for a better part of a century walking the paths that the empress Cixi (a personal fascination of mine) might have once waled herself as well as 24 other emperors sent chills down my spine.
I entered the city via Tian' AnMen Square.
Once beyond the gates my group broken up and was given headsets. Out of the corner of my eye a small crowd of people drew my attention. Curiosity took the better of me and a friend and I ventured over to find that people were dressing up like emperors and empresses to have their picture taken. There was a small fenced off area that we were taken into and got to choose the robes and headdress that we wanted to wear. I almost felt like a true empress by all of the people who were fawning over us to help us dress. From there we were lead over to four different area (one was a throne, and the other some sort of gate) for our picture. I suddenly realized that we were rushed ahead of a line waiting to get their pictures taken and that a very large crowd had now gathered around the gate not signing up for pictures, but to take our pictures. Once we ready to undress a lady explained that it was exciting to see someone with our "skin color and hair color" to dress up in traditional costumes and that we had drawn a crowd. We didn't know what to think to sure felt like rock stars.
The buildings that make up the palace are beyond description and were even set up to the principles of Feng Shui. Everything is on display here from the Emperor' s robe room in the Hall of Middle Harmony to the banqueting hall in the Hall of Preserving Harmony. The halls are all breathtaking, but without knowing the history behind them they all being to run together. Luckily I had a self guided tour head set that explained everything that I was looking at; a bit dry, but very informative. The Imperial Garden, towards the end, was a huge surprise to come across. It's rather small, but beautiful.

Somewhere a long they way we met with a scam. "Students" pulled us to a side building where we were able to look at "original art work." Weary of the paintings and their high prices I politely refused, but my friend fell in love with a few pieces. Together we negotiated the price down for a set of four and left only to find that another "student" a little later had that same four "original" artworks for sale.
When we reached the end we found that there was a mix up with the bus and that there was some time to kill. I took this opportunity to explore a small gift shops full of souvenirs. I bypassed most, but couldn't resist a small doll dress in the same traditional costume that I was photographed in only hours before. Still with some time left we gathered our group of 60 students and teachers together for a photo. This turned out to be the highlight of the day. While taking the picture several Chinese tourists stopped to take our picture as well. Then two Chinese boys jumped in the picture with us so that they could have their picture with us opened a flood gate. After about thirty minutes of picture taking my group was soon out numbered with more Chinese then Americans in the picture. Our bus pulled up ending the fun, but leaving the best memories ever.

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From journal My Cultural Revolution

Forbidden City: The Emperor’s Maze of a Palace

by kwasiak

Tucson, Arizona

July 15, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo As you approach the Forbidden City, it quickly becomes apparent that this is not just any palace. It is an expansive maze of buildings, courtyards, and built for the exclusive use of the Emperor and his family. When I say it is a maze, I really mean ...Read more As you approach the Forbidden City, it quickly becomes apparent that this is not just any palace. It is an expansive maze of buildings, courtyards, and built for the exclusive use of the Emperor and his family. When I say it is a maze, I really mean it. With the modern conversion of the palace into a tourist site it has become an even bigger maze with the map showing all the corridors, but many of the corridors closed off with no indication on the map that they are. We walked on the side corridors for almost an hour trying to find the gardens marked on the left side of the map (I think they were the Ming Gardens), but never located them. Not sure if we just failed at navigating or if they were behind the closed doors. It certainly made me feel like part of the palace was still forbidden.

We had less than 2 hours to explore the Forbidden City. That is barely enough time to see everything that lies just on the central axis. Even though during this visit some of the buildings were under renovation. It was kind of funny to see the buildings hidden using a barrier that had the building painted on it, as it is supposed to look after renovation. It seemed almost like you were actually looking at the real building and not just a life size picture.

My favorite part of the Forbidden City was the Imperial Gardens, the garden we actually found. Somehow I did not see them my first time I visited 2 years ago. Now it seems impossible that I missed them, so I am thinking I do not remember them the first time because we were rushed even faster through the Forbidden City. The garden is full of plants; including ancient cypress trees, stone mosaic pathways, Chinese style architectural gazebos, and elaborate rock gardens. Walking the somewhat deserted paths of the gardens is where I felt the closest to the place’s history of being the place reserved for only the privileged few. Relax in the peacefulness of the gardens before you exit the Forbidden City and struggle through the mass of street vendors eager to sell their wares to any passing tourist. From my experience in China I found the exit of the Forbidden City the place where the street vendors are to put it nicely most persistent. Close

From journal Studying Anthropology and Archaeology in Beijing

Forbidden City

by Paul Bacon

Rotherham, United Kingdom

March 8, 2006

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Best of IgoUgo There is clearly no point writing about the Forbidden City without quickly making it explicitly clear that the place is stunning. The first taste of this comes without even getting remotely close to the gates. I remember being struck as I wandered ...Read more There is clearly no point writing about the Forbidden City without quickly making it explicitly clear that the place is stunning. The first taste of this comes without even getting remotely close to the gates. I remember being struck as I wandered through Tiananmen Square and saw the vast paved area stretch away to the red facade of the city. Then as I got closer I was simultaneously impressed, awe-struck, and amused by nthe giant portrait of Mao that hangs above the entrance; the size and position gave it a dominating effect, but I could not help but chuckle at the large mole on his chin. For a man with such power, it seemed strange to me that he didn't get the artsiot to gloss over the little blemish.Once inside, the delicately poised architecture of the wooden buildings are genuinely captivating, especially as recent rennovations have seen everything repainted, giving the colors a whole new edge. The downside of that though was that when I visited, large areas of the complex were out of bounds.I have to say that my favorite area of the whole place is the Imperial gardens at the far north end of the city—the final thing on any standard tour. They are filled with small pagodas nestled amongst large, imposing, and decidedly antiquated looking trees. Despite the beauty of the gardens though, I am unsure whether I enjoyed them because of their relaxing green atmosphere or for the fact that they represented something of a change. This may sound like the observation of a Philistine, but if I am honest after half an hour or so in the Forbidden City, all of the buildings began to blend into one. As stunning as it is, it seems to me that ancienty Chinese architecture is distinctly samey.I left the Forbidden City feeling culturaly stunted, asking myself how I could have got bored at such a beautiful place. However, after visiting the Temple of Heaven the next day and the Summer Palace later in the week, I began to see I may have been onto something. Then again maybe I should learn to apprecaite culture a bit more. Close

From journal Living life to Mao

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Familiarity Breeds Contempt

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Moments of Solitude in the Forbidden City

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Forbidden City: The Emperor’s Maze of a Palace

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Tourst must-see

A wandeful tour in beijing

The Forbidden City

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Once Forbidden Now a Must Visit

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Moments of Solitude in the Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Forbidden City: The Emperor’s Maze of a Palace

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