Beijing, 2nd Site. The Forbidden City

It's not hard to think that the world radiates out from the Forbidden City. The Middle Kingdom was the center of civilization and with the establishment of Beijing as China's capital, the Imperial City became the center, of the center of civilization. Today the Emperor’s home is still the center of the city. Everything still seems to radiate out of it and orbit around it.

The scale of the complex is mind-boggling.  It covers nearly 8,000,000 ft.² and includes nearly 1,000 buildings. There are massive gates that open onto an immense courtyard leading only to another massive gate protecting another immense courtyard. It makes the other places you have seen and thought impressive (Versailles) seem puny by comparison. It is difficult to find words to do justice to its scale.

But why? What possessed them (the Ming Dynasty) to want to build on the scale they did? It makes me wonder if there are any limits to ancient ruler’s megalomania. If they could enslave 1 million more to build something else for them, I guess they would. It makes you glad to be living now. We get to see all this stuff without making much of a contribution to its existence.

The Forbidden City is indeed a sight to behold. Our visit to Beijing did come at 

the end of almost a month in China. So, by the time we got to it we had seen great halls and walls and gates and temples. But none quite like what you see here. Bigger, grander, more numerous and concentrated if not so much in space (there's a lot of walking between them) then concentrated in time. In a few hours you encounter an immense collection of Imperial treasures. It is pretty overwhelming. And maybe that was the point. Still, you can go over the top - even when trying to overwhelm.

And even when overwhelming you can underwhelm. Someday, probably soon, they will renew the Forbidden City exhibits. In the back are the residential quarters, the buildings where the Imperial family hung out. They let you wander around those buildings and peer in through the glass at relics of their lives. I suppose they have some cool stuff in those rooms but the poor lighting and opaque windows make it hard to appreciate any of it. As architecture, it was great as a museum, pretty poor.