Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty—the years 1420 to 1912. It is located in the center of what is now known as Beijing, (formerly Peking) China, and now houses the Palace Museum. It served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government for almost 500 years.

Constructed from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 72 ha (180 acres). The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.

Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artefacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War. With over 14 million annual visitors, the Palace Museum is the most visited Museum in the world.

Forbidden City (disambiguation)

Forbidden City may refer to:

See also

Forbidden City (nightclub)

The Forbidden City was a Chinese nightclub and cabaret in business from the late 1930s to the late 1950s, on the second floor of 363 Sutter Street (the former space is now renumbered 369 Sutter Street and is now a franchise of Barbizon Modeling and Acting) in San Francisco between Chinatown and Union Square. The Forbidden City featured Asian American singers, dancers, chorus lines, magicians, strippers, and musicians. It was popular with military personnel who were transiting through San Francisco during World War II. The novel, and in turn the musical and film Flower Drum Song were inspired by the Forbidden City, as was the 1989 documentary, Forbidden City U.S.A.

History

Charlie Low, the son of small store owners from Nevada, opened the Forbidden City in 1938, after the success of Chinese Village, which he opened two years earlier. Named after the Forbidden City in Beijing, the new club became the most famous among approximately 12 Chinese-themed cabaret clubs in Chinatown. It was located on the outskirts of San Francisco's Chinatown, and intended to cater to the curiosity of a largely white audience. Initially, Low found it difficult to recruit performers from the local Chinese community, which looked down on entertainers, particularly women in sexually provocative performances. Business was slow until Low hired Noel Toy, a nude model who had been performing at the Golden Gate International Exposition.Life Magazine published a 3-page profile of the club, praising the dancing abilities of Chinese women as a "fragile charm distinctive to their race".

Inside the Forbidden City

Inside The Forbidden City is a 1965 Hong Kong Huangmei opera musical film. Depicted is the famous tale known as "Civet for Crown Prince" which allegedly took place in China's Song Dynasty.

Synopsis

While passing through the town of Caoqiao, the famous Song Dynasty official Bao Zheng is stopped by a villager on behalf of his blind mother. Bao discovers that the blind woman was Consort Li, a concubine of the late Emperor Zhenzong.

Twenty years ago, right after Li gave birth to a son, a jealous rival Consort Liu conspired with eunuch Guo Huai to have the infant swapped with a dead civet. She then ordered her maid Kou Zhu to throw the baby into the river. At the Jinshui Bridge, a hesitant Kou was approached by eunuch Chen Lin. Chen was able to carry the infant to Eighth Imperial Prince, one of Zhenzong's brothers, who raised the baby as one of his own. Eventually the baby became crown prince as Zhenzong had no other sons.

As a result of giving birth to a monster, Li was banished to Yu Chen Palace, while Liu was elevated to the status of Empress. One day, the 10-year-old crown prince wandered to the forbidden palace and met Li. Liu came upon them and became suspicious. She convinced Zhenzong that Li was cursed and needed to be burned to death along with her palace. Kou ran off to warn Li and was interrogated harshly when she returned. After Kou killed herself by slamming into a pillar, Guo and the soldiers went to Yu Chen Palace to carry out the burning order, when they saw a hanged body with Li's clothing. Unbeknownst to them, eunuch Yu Zhong had sacrificed himself, allowing Li to escape.

Forbidden City (novel)

Forbidden City is a novel based on the events of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. It is a story of maturation/coming of age.

Plot

This book begins with a 17-year-old boy named Alex Jackson who enjoys subjects related to military history, and travels to Beijing, China with his journalist father, Ted, to cover the Gorbachev visit to China for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and eventually, cover the student protests.

March 29 - You are introduced to Alex Jackson and his dad, Ted Jackson. They live in Toronto, Canada and before the book takes place, Ted has divorced his wife, Brenda Jackson. In this chapter both of their jobs/hobbies are revealed. Alex loves history, and has recently gotten into Chinese Military history. Ted almost sees his life through the lens of a camera, always lining up for the best shot possible. As mentioned before, Ted works for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and in this chapter is sent into Beijing, China to replace someone who works for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, who got sick and didn't want to be treated in the Chinese hospitals. This person came back to Canada. Ted's job is to catch everything that they can of the Russian Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, (Usually referred to as "Gorbachev") who was making an official visit to Beijing, China. Alex and Ted were both ecstatic about this and were rearing to go.

Forbidden City (song)

"Forbidden City" is a song by English band Electronic, comprising Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, with guesting co-writer Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk, released as the lead single from their second album Raise the Pressure, and their first new release in almost exactly four years, the last being the stand-alone single "Disappointed".

Composition

The track was one of the fastest to be written and recorded on the album, with most of the music by Marr and the lyrics by Sumner (much like "Get the Message" and "Make It Happen"). It is a guitar pop/rock song with a heavily distorted guitar solo by Marr; lyrically it is about a young man who has an abusive relationship with his father but wants to return home despite this antagonism.

Single

As well as a UK release, "Forbidden City" was also issued in Australia and Germany on Compact Disc, and in the US as a 1-track radio promo. The commercial releases came with two non-album B-sides: "Imitation of Life" (an edited version of which would appear on Get the Message - The Best of Electronic ten years later) and "A New Religion", which featured Denise Johnson providing backing vocals. All three songs were written with Karl Bartos. The Australian CD omitted "A New Religion" in favour of "Getting Away with It".