Forbidden City
Vast Ming-dynasty imperial palace of golden-roofed halls and courtyards, home to twenty-four emperors over five centuries.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Forbidden City in Beijing follows Puyi, the last emperor of China, who as a teenager still lived inside these walls years after his 1912 abdication. Around 1922 a cousin's wedding gift, a bicycle, sent him tearing through the palace courtyards, straight into a centuries-old tradition the eunuchs believed guarded the palace's fortune. You'll hear how attendants described his growing obsession with the bicycle. Best listened to while walking the raised gate thresholds still standing in the courtyards today.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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