The Forbidden City in Beijing, founded in 1405, is one of the greatest palaces in the world: a magnificent complex of residences, temples and courts, the sacred centre of the Chinese empire, under the Ming and Manchu dynasties, for five hundred years. Despite great political upheaval and social change in the rest of China, the life of rigid protocol and ritual in the Forbidden City remained unaltered, seemingly frozen in time, until the day when the modern world entered its long-closed gates and changed it for ever. This beautifully illustrated pocket-book tells the story of this remarkable complex of buildings across five hundred years.

Author Biography

Giles Beguin is the director of the Muse Cernuschi and head curator of the collection. Author of numerous scientific and academic articles, he has organized many exhibitions including ;The Forbidden City' at the Petit Palais, Paris. Dominique Morel is a curator at the Musees de la Ville de Paris. He has organized many exhibitions devoted to the artistic and literary world of the 19th Century.