The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City

The only word that comes close to describing the enormity of the Forbidden City is “vast” and even this doesn’t seem to do it justice.  It’s hard to comprehend that the Forbidden City (Palace Museum) was built in the Ming Dynasty (around 1420) and served as the primary imperial residence until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. … Read the rest

Hutongs

Hutongs

This feels like the real deal.  It’s drizzling and I’m finally out.  In China.  The real China.  Old certainly meets new here in the Hutongs (narrow street) district where neon sits beside buildings which are hundreds of years old and now protected as the old town historic district. … Read the rest