The portrait of Mao is 6m tall and replaced every year with a fresh painting.
Originally built between 1406 and 1420 by one million labourers, the city was off limits to commoners for 500 years until the last Emperor PuYi was expelled in 1924. Our local guide, 'Kevin' was great, and he made the tour far more interesting with tales of the internal affairs of the palace. The Empress Dowager Ci'Xi actually ran the country through a series of puppet Emperors that she controlled (and then poisoned when they started to talk back). Over a thousand concubines lived there and the eunuchs ran the palace and were very powerful.
The eunuchs were castrated before entry to service - apparently both meat & two veg were lopped off and a bamboo stalk was inserted to pee through until it healed. Over a third died from the operation alone and yet they still volunteered for this!! The concubines would compete for rank by trying to be the Emperor's favourite and by giving birth to sons, so lots of mysterious poisonings ensued.
Oh yes, there's a Starbucks in the middle of the Forbidden City!
As you will remember from The Last Emperor film, he finished his days as a gardener and even today, his closest living relative (his nephew) works as a calligraphy artist in the gallery. He was very smiley and seemed to enjoy being a celebrity although you were not allowed to take photos of him.
