No Longer Forbidden

The Forbidden City, Beijing, China

Shit! I’m up to my neck with work. Hadn’t had that situation for a long time.

So, here’s another express photo post coming up!

By the way, it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, or for the less cultured people like yours truly, the Mooncake Festival, or just plain ol’ Eighth Month 15th (because it falls on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar Month in the Chinese calendar). And since it’s the middle of the lunar month, there’ll always be a big fat full moon in the night sky! (Yes, werewolves out there, rejoice!) Happy Festival everyone! May your mooncakes be tasty, and not fatten you up!

The beginning of October also happens to be the Golden Week in China, where it’s a week- long holiday to commemorate their National Day, and if Mooncake Festival falls during that time, it’ll be Golden Week+, an eight day extravaganza, where all Chinese, big and small, come out and roam the great lands of China, inundating it with crowds so large and festive, that you’ll just be swarmed by people, wherever you go… (or that’s what I learnt while planning our stopover-trip in China in July this year). Summer’s also not a recommended time to visit because it’s hot, and humid, and, you guessed it, crowded! (Because July and August also turn out to be China’s school holidays. Why, oh why, must they make the school holidays the same time everywhere???). Anyway, we went, crowd or none, (what choice do we have? Jayden’s school holidays happen to also be July and August). And so, here we are, the Forbidden City!


Forbidden City, we are in! As are so many other people, even in the rain! Yup, that’s China, in summer, for you!

I’m continuing from where I left off in my earlier Tiananmen Square post. To recap, it was raining, and I was fumbling with my phone to find the online tickets I purchased in advance for the Forbidden City (aka The Palace Museum). Errghhh, all the pesky ‘Western’ emails (i.e. Gmail, Yahoo), don’t bloody work in China!

Note: I’m repeating what I said in my earlier post, because it’s so, so, important to remember if you’re planning to visit the Forbidden City. There’s a limit of 40,000 visitors a day for the Palace Museum, tickets sell out really fast and the Museum is closed on Mondays. Online tickets open for sale 7 days before the day of your intended visit, at 8pm, Chinese time. Meaning if you plan to visit on a Sunday, the tickets would be available for sale on the preceding Sunday, at 8pm, China time. No, I didn’t hang around to check how fast they sell out. I set an alarm to remind me of the time that the tickets opened up for sale, and I bought them immediately in the first few minutes, when they opened. I checked about 2 hours later, and they’re all sold out! So, if you wanna visit, plan in advance. Oh, and like the Palace Museum, a few other attractions in Beijing, like the Summer Palace and the Temple to Heaven, are also closed (partially) on Mondays. Bear that in mind if you’re visiting Beijing as a tourist.

Nuff of that stuff. Let’s get on with the photos.


The Meridian Gate (Wǔmén 午门), from where we entered. It’s the gate you’ll come to after entering Tiananmen Gate, and it’s where you'll have to show your tickets to enter the Palace Museum/ Forbidden City. (Yup, I managed to find the tickets in my ‘frozen’ Yahoo mail… Yahoo doesn’t work in China, but the old emails are still there, thankfully!)


The Gate of Supreme Harmony (Táihémén 太和门), and the Golden Water Canal… (Wonder how I know all the names of the places? Hah! Check out this site)


So, that’s where Dragonmart (and so many Chinese-themed places) got its ideas from! Bronze lions at the Gate of Supreme Harmony… The Forbidden City seems to be composed of a series of gates, interspersed with halls… It’s like an ancient game of Doors


A nice, humid stroll along the golden water canal near the Hall of Martial Valour (Wǔyīng Diàn 武英殿). Huh? Traditional Manchu ladies? Nah, they’re just there for the photos! There’re loads of shops in Beijing renting out traditional costumes just for the visit! You could go as an Emperor or Emperess if you fancy!


Inside the Hall of Martial Valour – just paintings/ photos of long dead kings and vases


The mother of stone carving… the largest stone carving in the Forbidden City, made from one huge slab of marble, featuring nine dragons playing with pearls! What’s this thing about the dragons and the pearls anyway? Why are Chinese dragons so crazy about pearls? Behind the Hall of Preserved Harmony (Bǎohé Diàn 保和殿)


How many more gates and halls are there to go?? Not too many now, we can see the outside already… That temple-pavilion on top of the hill is Jingshan Park (Jǐngshān Gōngyuán 景山公园), the park just outside the Forbidden City (which is where we’d be headed to next!)


So, is this where they get the ideas for the flowery designs on the Mooncake from??


Let’s explore a little (besides, we need the toilet…). These cisterns, I heard, are for firefighting. They used to contain water and were the hydrants of the ancient Chinese world… But, don’t quote me, OK?


Shoukang Palace aka the Palace of Longevity & Good Health (寿康宫 Shòukāng Gōng), the palace built by the Emperor Qianlong (he’s quite a famous one, among the Qing dynasty emperors) for his mother…


Re-entering the Inner Court of the Forbidden City – the palace right ahead, is the Jiaotai Hall or, the Hall of …Celestial and Terrestrial Union, yup, not too complicated (交泰殿 Jiāotài Diàn)


The Imperial Garden… the last area, before we leave the Forbidden City… (as you can see, the rain stopped!!! Hurray!)


Bye-bye, see you in my next post – from the Forbidden City (or in Chinese, 故宫 Gùgōng i.e. Past Palace), Beijing, China, July 2025

Happy Mid-Autumn’s Festival to all those celebrating!