Museum    INTRODUCTION
There are museums and galleries of all sizes and interests all over the city. Some are nearly miniscule with few items exhibited and others are so large it is rather overwhelming.
Many treasures have been looted or destroyed over the turbulent years of Chinese history, but many discoveries in the last twenty five or so years have added greatly to the government's treasures.
The museums may be tucked away in nearly every historical venue in Beijing. In recent years art galleries have sprung up all over the city as the population becomes more and more affluent giving young Chinese artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work.
PALACE MUSEUM
The Forbidden City is also known as the Palace Museum and what treasures there are within this architectural marvel.
Even though the Nationalist Chinese Army took thousands of the treasures to Taiwan in 1949, and the Red Guards, during the Cultural Revolution destroyed thousands of others, over 900,000 treasures remain.
The Palace Museum is the largest and the most important museum in China and the treasures span thousands of years with some from the bronze age during the Shang Dynasty, 1700-1027 BC.
Included in the collection are bronzes, painting and calligraphy, ceramics, minor arts (lacquer, 
silverwork, jade and cloisonne') as well as textiles (embroidery and silk tapestries).
The Forbidden City is nearly 600 years old and was originally planned and constructed from 1407 to 1420. The principles of Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese system of geomancy governed the process. In 1987 the Forbidden City was named a World Heritage Site.
Over 100,00 craftsmen and one million laborers were involved in the construction of the 9,999 rooms and halls. The walls surrounding the complex are eleven feet thick and thirty three feet high and it is surrounded by a 164 foot wide moat. At each corner there are watchtowers for protection from possible
invaders. The entire complex covers 250 acres. Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties from 1420 to 1911 held court and lived within the walls of the Forbidden City, also known as the Palace Museum. Some treasures remain from the Japanese invasion, and from the Nationalist Chinese taking the most valuable ones to Taiwan in 1949. Those are now on display in the National Museum of Taiwan. The last emperor, Puyi, remained living here for many years after the 1911 Revolution.
If you visit without a guide be sure to rent the audio tape available at the entrance. Not only will it give you much information, it will also muffle the sounds of other visitors so your imagination can return to the days of emperors, empresses, intrigues of the court, concubines and eunuchs.
Entrance is under Mao's large portrait in Tian'anmen Square, south gate, and you exit through the Imperial Gardens right before the north gate. Jingshan Park is directly across the street from the north gate.
Emperors, the Sons of Heaven, rarely left the complex except for their yearly pilgrimage to the Temple of Heaven to pray for good harvests. Ordinary Chinese men were not allowed inside, all male workers were castrated. The palace eunuchs were usually at the center of court intrigue.