Last summer I went to one of the world's most famous historical places, the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It was the home of the emperors (皇帝) of the last two dynasties (朝代) in China, the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The Forbidden City was built in 1420. The palace has over 10,000 rooms. It was where the emperors dealt with the official business with their ministers (大臣).
In Mandarin (普通话), the Forbidden City is called the Purple Forbidden City. However, the color of the palace itself is not purple. The color purple stands for power of the great emperors of China. It was so sacred (神圣的) that the common people could not even dream of ever going in.
The emperor also had some of the largest festival celebrations at the Forbidden City. During Chinese New Year, the emperor would invite all the members of his family and his officials to a banquet. The banquet had a hundred and eight Chinese dishes. It was such an expensive banquet that it could feed a common family for three generations (三代人).
Right now the Forbidden City is known as a historical site for tourists from all over the world. Everyone can go in there. It is a museum with priceless Chinese antiques (古董) and treasures in it.
I really learned a lot about the Chinese culture and its history from this trip to the Forbidden City. It was like a dream which has come true. And I was excited to go on the trip and see the things that I had always wanted to see.
