Beijing 2009 - Forbidden City

Our first stop is the Forbidden City. Actually this was our second stop - the first was the National Theatre which I am saving for a later post. You can't help but being awed by the Forbidden City. The scale, opulence, and sheer audacity if it just gets you from the first moment. 

This is amazing architecture, but somehow I can't help thinking about the unlimited power which the emperors wielded, and the sacrifice it must have involved to get something like this built. According to Wikipedia, it took 15 years and more then a million workers to build the first part of the Forbidden City during the Ming Dynasty.

Some architectural details.

The Forbidden City is not just popular with foreigner tourists.  You will come accross a lot of local Chinese visitors as well.