Saturday - The Forbidden CIty

We toured the Forbidden City today - the immense walled palace seen in the movie The Last Emperor. 9,999 rooms! The architecture was exquisite. Amazing to see this mostly wooden palace still standing after 600 years. The carved figures on the roof always show the Emperor followed by various animals. The lion (one of 2) guarding the palace is the female lion with a cub under her paw. The large urns placed around the palace acted as fire extinguishers if the palace caught fire. They now have lightning rods on the rooftops.