The Forbidden City

Greetings, friends.
Today, I suggest you take a short tour of the Forbidden City with me.
This is the name of the Gugong Imperial Palace, located in Beijing, a huge palace complex of the Ming and Qing dynasties in the city center, now the Palace Museum, one of the main attractions of Beijing, where the cultural and architectural treasures of China are kept, is a UNESCO heritage site.

Some numerical information:
The area of the complex is about 72 hectares.
The length from south to north is 961 meters, the width from west to east is 753 meters.
The complex includes 980 buildings with more than 8,700 rooms.
The total building area is 150,000 sq m.
The territory is divided into three parts: defensive structures (moat and wall), an outer courtyard, and an inner courtyard.

And I also had a thought - why wasn't this huge Palace destroyed during the formation of the Communist Regime in China?

To get to the Forbidden City, we first came to Tiananmen Square. It is considered the center of Beijing, the center of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong stands here.
But getting to this square is not easy. Police posts are already on the outskirts of the square. To get to the square, we had to go through 3 police checks. The main passport and face control check takes place at the very entrance to the Square, and bags are carefully checked there. It is forbidden to carry lighters, pens, and paper. You can go to jail for trying to bring in a pen and paper. Our guide said, "We are not North Korea; they don't shoot us, they just put us in prison for 30 days, and then they will expel us from the country". It is forbidden to have paper and pen with you, so that there is no attempt to write any appeals against the Chinese Government and the Communist Party. This is a terrible crime.
By the way, almost everywhere you need to scan your passport and face to enter museums, theaters, and other public places.

The square was built in the 15th century along with the Forbidden City and got its name from the name of the Tiananmen Gate, which became the main entrance to the imperial residence.
The Square is 880 meters long and 500 meters wide, with a total area of approximately 440,000 square meters.

The main national flag of China. He's heavily guarded by guys in uniform. Maybe it's the military, or maybe it's a special service.
Friends, you probably already guessed that above the entrance to the Forbidden City, there is a portrait of the founder of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong. There are also police posts along the road and a passport entry.

Chinese lions that don't really look like lions. These are the most popular statues. The lion is always a symbol of Power.

As soon as we pass through the gates and find ourselves inside the Palace Complex, the size of the territory is amazing. And I must say right away that there is another police post ahead of us in order to pass another gate further into the territory of the Palace.
During the tour, our guide bombarded us with information about each building, but it's hard to fit it all in and then keep it in mind. Therefore, friends, I'll just show you what I saw through my camera with almost no comments.

Many young boys and girls wear national costumes. The guide said that they stream, often at the request of their subscribers. The fact is that rural residents can't just come to Beijing; they have to earn the opportunity to do so. By the way, the entry of cars into the Capital is also standardized according to the final digits of the registration numbers. All this is due to the large number of residents of the country and cars. But... The restriction does not currently apply to electric vehicles. License plates of cars have different colors: electric - green, gasoline - blue.

Girls are photographed without payment. But the guide asked them for permission, and none of our group knows Chinese.

The crane is one of the key symbols of China, embodying longevity, wisdom, happiness, immortality, and luck, closely related to Taoist mythology, where immortal sages travel on them. It symbolizes purity, high status, and peace, and pairs of cranes signify strong family ties.

Another symbol of China is the turtle. It is a symbol of longevity, peace, and wisdom in Chinese culture. It is also associated with endurance and patience.
By the way, the turtle has the face of a dragon.

There are many tour groups, and the guide of each group holds something over his head so that he can be seen from afar. I also noticed this feature when traveling to other countries. If a flag is visible somewhere in the crowd, it means that this is a group of tourists from China.

This is a special group of tourists. Our guide said that this is how red caps usually mark groups that come from rural areas. It means that these people distinguished themselves in some way in front of society and got the opportunity to come to the Capital. Now the task of the guide is not to lose them during the tour.

Who is the most attentive and sees the pink flag going into the doorway? This is our guide.

Who is it? An official, a nobleman, or the Emperor himself?

The large bronze cauldrons scattered throughout the Forbidden City were always filled with water in case of fire, the main threat to the wooden palace. Yes, all buildings are made of wood.

A special white pine tree grows in Beijing. These trees have their own passports, which record the age of the tree. We've seen trees over 600 years old!

There is a park with some special coral mountains on the territory of the Forbidden City. It looks very beautiful and unusual.
The park is already at the end of the City, after which we immediately go to the exit.

Let's go to the exit, we have another excursion to another Imperial Palace ahead of us. A visit to the Summer Palace was scheduled for the last day, but due to a change in the weather and snowfall, the excursion to the Summer Palace was canceled. We just looked at him - there he is ahead, on the mountain.

Friends, I practically ran you through the Palace right now. I've only shown you a small fraction of what I've seen. If you are interested, next time I will show you the exhibits of the museums that we visited on the territory of the Palace. Ancient exhibits, a real Terracotta Army warrior, and many amazing items.
Is it interesting?