Forbidden City Opening Up New Sections Ahead of National Holiday

Includes imperial kitchen, crown prince's residence

China’s top tourist attraction, the Palace Museum at The Forbidden City, continues to deliver on its promise to open up more sections to the public.

In advance of the National Day holiday, the western pathway from Duanhong Bridge to the icehouse will open September 29. Three more routes that lead to the royal icehouse, the imperial kitchen (Yu Shan Fang) and crown prince residence, Yuqing Gong, will open at a later date.

As revealed by museum curator Shan Jixiang, these are just the first of many changes to the Palace Museum over the next four years.

The Ancestral Worship (Fengxian Dian), originally used to showcase timepieces, will be used to exhibit bronze wares from the Shang (1600BC–1046 BC) and Zhou (1046–256 BC) dynasties.

The paintings and calligraphy exhibited in the Wuying Dian (Hall of Martial Valor) will be exchanged with the porcelain exhibits from the Hall of Literary Glory (Wenhua Dian).

The Yongshou Palace will be used to display traditional Chinese medicine and food used by the Qing royal court, as well as toys used by the emperor as a child.

By the end of this year, 76 percent of the Forbidden Palace will be open to visitors, a rate that will rise to 80 percent by 2020 and 85 percent by 2025.

Among the many new features at the Palace Museum this year, visitors can also enjoy WiFi service and a video game it is developing with Tencent to be played on visitors’ mobile phones.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor