Submitted by Michael Kan on Mon, 03/01/2010 - 11:17
At 5:30am, the ancient town of Pingyao is a black mass that disappears in the darkness. There are no signs of street lights, save for the few red lanterns that dangle outside these still sleeping homes. The alleys here seem more like one long labyrinth, a giant shadow the seeable destination. Very quickly, I wonder where I am and if I might get mugged.
A few hours later, Pingyao begins to awake. And soon I find that nothing here resembles the modern China I know.
There are no high-rises in sight. No bustling shopping malls within town. In fact, there’s hardly anything over three stories tall.
The Palace Museum is housed within the Forbidden City, an imperial palace originally completed in 1420 that served a succession of twenty-four Chinese emperors and their dynasties during the Ming and Qing periods of Chinese history. It is located in the center of Beijing, the capital city of China. The museum itself was established in October 10, 1925, and is China's largest museum.
Built from 1406 to 1420, the The Forbidden City complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 covering 720,000 square meters. It is recognized by UNESCO as the site with the largest number of preserved wooden structures in the world. The Mongol Yuan dynasty first constructed a palace on the site but it was ordered burned down by the Ming emperor Hongwu and the imperial captial was moved to Nanjing. But the capital was moved back to Beijing by his son Zhu Di and a new palace was built on the same site as the previous palace. Over a million workers labored on the new palace for 15 years, using Phoebe zhennan wood from the jungles of southwest China and marble from quarries near Beijing.
Submitted by Mary Harrsch on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 19:01
Over six hundred years after the original Forbidden City was constructed in China, visitors were invited to pass through the vermillion Meridian Gate of a virtual Forbidden City, a joint project of the Palace Museum and IBM. The new virtual world not only provides visitors with the opportunity to marvel at the beautifully rendered architecture but examine cultural relics, observe and even engage in activities enjoyed by emperors and their families and learn more about the history of the Ming and Qing imperial dynasties.
I have not yet made my first visit to the real Forbidden City (it's definitely on my list of planned heritage site visits, though). But I was excited to get a virtual preview, especially from the comfort of my computer without enduring hours in the cramped seat of a 757.
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I tried every staircase but each time the avatar was prevented from mounting the dais. I smiled when I discovered this as the developers must have included this behavior to maintain the sanctity of the throne even in this virtual palace. After all, only an emperor with the mandate of heaven was supposed to sit upon it.
City Wall of Xian is an extension of the old Tang Dynasty structure, as a result the wall-building campaign ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty (from 1370 A.D.- 1375 A.D). After the enlargement, the city wall stands 12 meters, 12-14 meters across the top, 15-18 meters thick at bottom and 13.7 kilometres in length with deep moats surrounding it.
It boasts the most complete city wall to have survived through China's long history. The wall was built of earth, rammed layer upon layer during the early time. The base layer was made of earth, quick lime, and glutinous rice extract, tempered together. This made the wall extremely strong and firm and later, the wall was totally enclosed with bricks. Located at the four corners of the wall were watchtowers. The one at the south-western corner is round, probably after the imperial city wall of the Tang Dynasty, but the other three are square-shaped. On top of the watchtowers, the corner rampart, higher and larger than the ordinary ramparts, shows the strategic importance of corners of the city wall.
Assembled from the museum's collection, this exhibition showcases and contextualises some of the most significant examples of artwork from the golden age of Chinese culture. The work, which comprises ceramics, paintings, calligraphy, lacquers, jades and bamboo carvings, illustrates the amateur-scholar courtly tradition.
The manufacture of underglaze blue porcelain entered into a golden age during the periods of Yongle and Xuande in the early Ming dynasty.
This pot has a small opening and an oblate body. Its long neck and both shoulders are attached with two handles. This style is commonly called "moon-embracing vase". The entire body is coated with a bluish white glaze and fully decorated with underglaze blue designs: interlaced flowers on the neck, plantain leaves on the shoulders and camellia sprays on the body. The whole decoration is scattered properly in density and space and the drawing lines are exquisite and smooth. It is a classic masterpiece of the royal kiln during the Yongle Reign.
This painting portrays a beautiful but distressed looking lady holding a fan in an autumn wind. It is said to metaphorically express the sorrowful feelings of the painter, who had talent but no opportunity to use it, and sighed at the fickleness of the world.
Shih T'ao’s versatile talents were well expressed by his paintings of portraits, landscapes, flowers and birds and by his marvelous skills. This piece was an excellent work, depicting the tranquility of an idyllic mountain spring, finished during his middle age.
These three Imperial Tombs of the Qing Dynasty in Liaoning were recently added to the World Heritage Site designation given to the Ming in 2000 and 2003. Comprising the Yongling Tomb, the Fuling Tomb, and the Zhaoling Tomb, all built in the 17th century, the tombs were constructed for the Qing Dynasty's founding emperors and their ancestors. They demonstrate the precepts of traditional Chinese geomancy and fengshui theory and are richly decorated with stone statues, carvings and dragon motifs tiles. Illustrating the development of the funerary architecture of the Qing Dynasty, the tomb complexes meld traditions from previous dynasties and new features drawn from Manchu civilization.
Over six hundred years after the original 
