Forbidden City to Open 75% of Palace to Public by End of 2016

While it cracked Conde Nast Traveler’s list of the 50 Most Beautiful Places in Asia, many people consider the Forbidden City to be a one-way monolith of calculated sameness, like Ikea without the meatballs or the strategically-priced modular furniture.

Desperate to change its image as an enormous tourist trap, the palace administration is in the midst of a 10-year project to give the Forbidden City its most intensive makeover since the Qianlong Emperor roamed its halls in the 18th century.

This week, the Forbidden City's Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum (the official name of this landmark), unveiled the next stage in the process of bringing the Forbidden City back to life. Three new areas will open later this year, so that by the end of 2016, almost 75 percent of the palace will be open to visitors compared to the two-thirds currently accessible to the general public.

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