Description
The Forbidden City is a palace complex in central Beijing, China. It houses the Palace Museum, and was the former Chinese imperial palace and state residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming dynasty (since the Yongle Emperor) to the end of the Qing dynasty, between 1420 and 1924. A limitless plain, broken by lotuscovered lakes, whose waters are ploughed by junks of monstrous form, a land of innumerable isles and hills, all bearing flags, turrets, and pagodas; a land resembling an enormous artificial park, the apotheosis of the fictitious, the conventional, a land whose inhabitants all alike, men with slanting eyes, long robes, gentle and calculated movements, incapable of a virile gesture or a frank word; a country at once uniform, artificial, peaceful, and traditional; the same today as it has been since history began. A voyage of exploration thus conceived would embrace an immense domain. The book is the product of extensive study of the Chinese cultural heritage. The subject of the book is good. The author has preserved about 126 illustrations, a map and a portrait from oblivion, which he considers his duty as a wellwisher of China and its people. The book is immensely beneficial for all.
