"The Forbidden City, the largest palace complex in the world, was built in the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Yongle. Born Zhu Di he became the emperor by usurpation. Worried about his illegitimate position, he decides to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing and build the Forbidden City, as the symbol of his absolute power. The eunuch Ruan An is the principal architect. His master plan is based on laws that are hundreds of years old. He leaves nothing to chance and every detail has ritual significance."
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The Forbidden City, for 500 years the capital of the Chinese empire, lies in the heart of Beijing. From 1420 to 1912, it was home to 24 Chinese emperors. More than a residential palace, it was a city within a city, the seat of a vast bureaucratic government that ruled what is now the world's most populated area. Rumoured to have 9,999 rooms, the Forbidden City is the world's largest palace complex. For centuries access was denied to all but the emperor, his family and his most senior officials and servants. Then, at the beginning of the 20th century, the last emperor abdicated, marking the death of a dynasty. When the palace was reopened as a museum in 1925, such was the crush of visitors that there were traffic jams in Beijing. Between the Japanese aggression of 1931 and WWII, the palace fell into calamitous disrepair. Renovations began in the 1950s and today the palace buildings, constructed almost entirely of wood, have together been recognised by the United Nations as a World Heritage site. A huge restoration project, taking place 600 years after the start of construction of the original building, is underway today. Now, with unprecedented access, enter the heart of the greatest palace on Earth to discover the magnificent buildings and the secrets they reveal of those who lived here.
 Map Beijing Beijing is an independently administered municipal district of about 16,810 sq km (6,490 sq mi). It comprises ten urban districts and eight predominantly rural counties. The urban districts include four dense city districts and six suburban districts. The suburbs are growing rapidly as new institutional, industrial, and residential buildings are constructed, converting agricultural land to urban uses. The eight rural counties continue to provide basic grain, vegetables, fruits, building materials, and water supplies to the city. However, significant industrial growth has also occurred in these areas, namely in the outlying towns of Shijingshan, Tongxian, Fengtai, and Fangshan.
The city proper consists of two older sections in the center of the city and new outlying residential, industrial, and institutional areas built mainly after 1949. The old section includes a square inner city on the north constructed between 1409 and 1420, and a rectangular outer city to the south built between 1521 and 1566. Once encircled by a wall about 24 km (15 mi) long and about 15 m (50 ft) high, the inner city has at its core the Forbidden City. Between 1421 and 1912, this was the walled palace and inner compound of China's imperial family and was so named because ordinary citizens were not allowed inside. It was the most sacred space in traditional, imperial China. The complex, now housing the Palace Museum (founded in 1925), was opened to the public in 1949. Beyond the Forbidden City was the Imperial City, which contained government offices, temples, gardens, palaces, and parks. Outside the Imperial City were upper-class homes, markets, and more temples. The adjacent outer city, once encircled by a wall about 23 km (14 mi) long, shared the northern part of its wall with the inner city. The outer city contained important temple areas and residential space for the commoners.
In accordance with traditional Chinese town planning, Beijing was designed along a north-south central axis; this line represented the imperial authority and it ran through many key government offices, buildings, imperial residences, and main gates. After the Communist revolution in 1949, most walls of the old city were demolished and replaced with thoroughfares. However, several of the old gates have been preserved. During the 1950s Tiananmen (the Gate of Heavenly Peace, also known as Tian'an Men), located along the city's north-south axis south of the Forbidden City, was rebuilt and its square to the south was enlarged to hold crowds for parades. Major installations were added in and around Tiananmen Square, including the Great Hall of the People, built in 1959, where the national legislature meets. Several blocks east of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square is Wangfujing Avenue, the city's most famous shopping district.
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