Constructed on the site of a palace dating to Kublai Khan and the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the Ming emperor Yongle established the basic layout of the Forbidden City between 1406 and 1420. The grandiose battalions of laborers and crafts workers – by some estimates there may have been up to a million of them – to build it.

The palace lay at the heart of the Imperial City, a much larger, walled enclosure reserved for the use of the emperor and his personnel. The wall enclosing the Forbidden City – assembled from 12 million bricks – is the last intact surviving city wall in Běijīng. Most of the buildings you see now are post-18th century: the largely wooden palace was a tinderbox and fire was a constant hazard – a lantern festival combined with a sudden gust of Gobi wind would easily send flames dancing in unexpected directions, as would a fireworks display. Fires were also deliberately lit by court eunuchs and officials who could get rich off the repair bills. It wasn’t just the buildings that went up in flames, but also rare books, paintings and calligraphy. 

Libraries and other palace halls and buildings housing combustible contents were tiled in black; the color represents water in the five-element (wǔxíng) theory, and its symbolic presence was thought to prevent conflagrations.

In the 20th century there were two major lootings of the palace by Japanese forces and the Kuomintang. Thousands of crates of relics were removed and carted off to Taiwan, where they remain on display in Taipei’s National Palace Museum (go and see it!).

Ringed by a picturesque 52m-wide moat that freezes over in winter, the palace is soooooooo! huge (over 1 million sq meters, with 800 buildings and 9000 rooms) that a permanent restoration squad circulates, repaintingand repairing. It takes about 10 years to do a full renovation, by which time they have to start repairs again. Many halls have been repainted in a way that the original pigment is concealed; other halls such as the Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yǎngxīn Diàn), however, are more faithful to their former selves. And despite the attentions of restorers, some of the hall rooftops still sprout tufts of grass. Even though less than half of the palace (430,000 sq metres) is actually open to visitors and it is possible to explore the Forbidden City in a few hours, a full day will keep you fully occupied and the enthusiast will make several trips.

Whatever you do, don’t miss the delightful courtyards, pavilions and mini-museums within them on each side of the main complex.

The palace’s ceremonial buildings lie on the north–south axis of the Forbidden City, from the Gate of Heavenly Peace in the south to Divine Military Genius Gate (Shénwǔ Mén) to the north.

Restored in the 17th century, Meridian Gate (Wǔ Mén) is a massive portal that in former times was reserved for the use of the emperor. Gongs and bells would sound imperial comings and goings, while lesser mortals used lesser gates: the military used the west gate, civilians the east gate. The emperor also reviewed his armies from here, passed judgment on prisoners, announced the New Year’s calendar and oversaw the flogging of troublesome ministers.

Through the Meridian Gate, Xihe Gate (Xīhé Mén) to your left leads to a pleasantly green expanse that offers a definitive contrast with much of the rest of the palace grounds that overwhelmingly concerns itself with the affairs of man and heaven.

The recently restored Hall of Military Prowess (Wǔyīng Diàn) contains a collection of Ming dynasty paintings and literature.

The Golden Stream (Jīn Shuǐ), delightfully fringed by willows, runs through here and into the courtyard in front of the Gate of Supreme Harmony (Tàihé Mén) where it is shaped to resemble a Tartar bow and spanned by five marble bridges. The dwarfing courtyard could hold an imperial audience of 100,000 people.

Raised on a three-tier marble terrace with balustrades are the Three Great Halls (Sān Dàdiàn), the heart of the Forbidden City.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony (Tàihé Diàn) is the most important and the largest structure in the Forbidden City. Built in the 15th century and restored in the 17th century, it was used for ceremonial occasions, such as the emperor’s birthday, the nomination of military leaders and coronations. Bronze vats – once full of water for dousing fires – stand in front of the hall; in all 308 such vats were dotted around the Forbidden City with fires lit under them in winter to keep them from freezing over. The large bronze turtle in the front symbolizes longevity and stability. It has a removable lid, and on special occasions incense was lit inside it so that smoke billowed from its mouth.

Within the Hongyi Pavilion (Hóngyì Gé) to the west is an exhibition of the ceremonial music system of the imperial palace. To the west of the terrace is a small pavilion with a bronze grain measure and to the east is a sundial; both are symbolic of imperial justice. On the corners of the hall’s roof, as with other buildings in the city, there’s a mounted figure with his retreat cut off by mythical and actual animals, a story relating to a cruel tyrant hanged from one such eave.

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony is a richly decorated Dragon Throne (Lóngyǐ) from which the emperor would preside over trembling officials. The entire court had to touch the floor nine times with their foreheads (the custom known as kowtowing) in the emperor’s presence. At the back of the throne is a carved Xumishan, the Buddhist paradise, signifying the throne’s supremacy.

Behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony is the smaller Hall of Middle Harmony (Zhōnghé Diàn), which was used as the emperor’s transit lounge. Here he would make last-minute reparations, rehearse speeches and receive lose ministers. On display are two Qing Dunasty sedan chairs, the emperors’ mode of transport around the Forbidden City. The last of the Qing emperors, Puyi, used a bicycle and altered a few features of the palace grounds to make it easier to get around.

The third hall is the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Bǎohé Diàn), used for banquets and later for imperial examinations. The hall has no support pillars, and to its rear is a 250-tonne marble imperial carriageway carved with dragons and clouds, which was transported into Běijīng on an ice path. The emperor was conveyed over the carriageway in his sedan chair as he ascended or descended the terrace. The outer housing surrounding the Three Great Halls was used for storing gold, silver, silks, carpets and other treasures. 

Halls west of the Three Great Halls exhibit treasures from the palace. 

Running from south to north the exhibitions cover: scientific instruments (astronomical devices, telescopes, etc.) and details of Jesuit scientists who attended the Qing court, articles of daily use (including imperial hunting guns, chessboards and ceramics), objects presented as tribute and objects made by the imperial workshop.

The basic configuration of the Three Great Halls is echoed by the next group of buildings. Smaller in scale, these buildings were more important in terms of real power, which in China traditionally lies at the back door or, in this case, the back gate.

The first structure is the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qiánqīng Gōng), a residence of Ming and early Qing emperors, and later an audience hall for receiving foreign envoys and high officials.

Immediately behind it is the Hall of Union (Jiāotài Diàn), which contains a clepsydra – a water clock made in 1745 with five bronze vessels and a calibrated scale. There’s also a mechanical clock built in 1797 and a collection of imperial jade seals on display.

At the northern end of the Forbidden City is the Imperial Garden (Yù Huāyuán), a classical Chinese garden with 7000 sq metres of fine landscaping, including rockeries, walkways, pavilions and ancient, carbuncular and deformed cypresses. Before you reach the large Divine Military Genius Gate (Shénwǔ Mén), note the pair of bronze elephants whose front knees bend in an anatomically impossible fashion.

The western and eastern sides of the Forbidden City are the palatial former living quarters, once containing libraries, temples, theatres, gardens and even the tennis court of the last emperor.

Walk east and you can access the Hall of Jewellery (Zhēnbǎo Guǎn), tickets for which also entitle you to glimpse the Well of Concubine Zhen (Zhēn Fēi Jǐng), into which the namesake wretch was thrown on the orders of Cixi, and the glazed Nine Dragon Screen (Jiǔlóng Bì).

The treasures on view are fascinating: within the Hall of Harmony (Yíhé Xuān) sparkle Buddhist statues fashioned from gold and inlaid with gems, and a gold pagoda glittering with precious stones, followed by jade, jadeite, lapis lazuli and crystal pieces displayed in the Hall of Joyful Longevity (Lèshòu Táng). Further objects are displayed within the Hall of Character Cultivation (Yǎngxìng Diàn).

The Changyin Pavilion (Chàngyīn Gé) to the east was formerly an imperial stage.

The Clock Exhibition Hall (Zhōngbiǎo Guǎn) is one of the unmissable highlights of the Forbidden City. The exhibition contains an astonishing array of elaborate timepieces, many gifts to the Qing emperors from overseas. Many of the 18thcentury examples are crafted by James Cox or Joseph Williamson (both of London) and imported through Guǎngdōng from England; others are from Switzerland, America and Japan. Exquisitely wrought, fashioned with magnificently designed elephants and other creatures, they all display astonishing artfulness and attention to detail. Standout clocks include the ‘Gilt Copper Astronomy Clock’ equipped with a working model of the solar system and the automaton-equipped ‘Gilt Copper Clock with a robot writing Chinese characters with a brush’.