The Forbidden City: From Ming Dynasty Palace to Cultural Landmark

The Forbidden City in Beijing, now the Palace Museum, is a national first-class museum. Situated at the central axis of Beijing, it covers an area of 720,000 square meters, with a building area of approximately 150,000 square meters. It was founded in the fourth year of the Yongle reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty (1406) and completed in the 18th year of the Yongle reign (1420). Its collection is mainly based on the palaces and collections of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

According to records, the total number of cultural relics in the Palace Museum collection has reached 1,862,690 items (sets), including 1,683,336 precious artifacts, 163,969 ordinary artifacts, and 15,385 specimens. These include bronzes, jade objects, paintings, calligraphy, ceramics, enamelware, lacquerware, gold and silverware, bamboo, wood, ivory, and rhinoceros horn artifacts, as well as gold and bronze religious statues, imperial and concubine clothing, textiles, and furniture. In addition, there are also a large number of books, classics, documents, and archives, covering almost the entire history of ancient Chinese civilization and almost all categories of cultural relics.

These 1.8 million items (sets) of collections are divided into 231 categories, including 156,000 paper-based artifacts, 160,000 bronzes, 11,000 gold and silverware items, 19,000 lacquerware items, and 306,000 ceramics. As of around 2016, the mainland China museum system, including institutions like the Palace Museum, collectively housed 4.01 million precious artifacts (sets). The Palace Museum's 1.68 million precious artifacts accounted for 42% of this total, making it the museum with the largest collection in China. Among the many collections, there are notable national treasures such as Square Zun Wine Vessel with inscription “Yaxu”, the Along the River During the Qingming Festival painting, and the Ru ware tripod.