Beijing Review

The Forbidden City—Not So Forbidden Anymore

Let’s face it: it’s a cliché. A foreigner in Beijing who visits the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum today, and snaps a couple of pictures to post on Instagram is a cliché. My own experience, nevertheless, has been anything but.

I must’ve been 5 or 6 when I first saw a photograph of it. I remember flipping through a

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