History of The Forbidden City - Present

Present

Currently, the Palace Museum is responsible for the preservation and restoration of the Forbidden City. Building heights around the Forbidden City are restricted. In 2005, a sixteen-year restoration project was started to repair and restore all buildings in the Forbidden City to their pre-1912 state. This is the largest restoration of the Forbidden City undertaken in two centuries, and involves progressively closing off sections of the Forbidden City for assessment, repairs, and restoration. Also as part of the project, some derelict or destroyed sections are being rebuilt. The gardens of the Palace of Establishing Prosperity, destroyed by fire in 1923, were rebuilt in 2005, but remain closed to the public. The interior was also designed in a different style, and the buildings are used by visiting dignitaries.

While effort has been made to prevent the commercialisation of the palace, a variety of commercial enterprises exist, such as souvenir shops and photography stands. These commercial enterprises often rouse controversy. A Starbucks store, which opened in 2000, sparked objections and eventually closed on July 13, 2007. Chinese media also took notice of a pair of souvenir shops that refused to admit Chinese citizens in 2006. According to the reports, the purpose was to preserve an atmosphere where foreigners could be victims of price gouging. The Palace Museum promised to investigate the matter. Some commentators, such as influential Phoenix TV host Luqiu Luwei, have further questioned the whole practice of renting out premises in the Forbidden City as retail space.

In 2005, IBM Corporation and the Palace Museum announced a joint project to build a World Wide Web-based virtual model of the Forbidden City and associated sites in Beijing. The online cultural heritage project, titled The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time, will be presented in both English and Chinese, and provide interactive, three-dimensional, representations of Forbidden City structures and cultural artefacts. The virtual Forbidden City will consist of some 800 buildings, and will launch sometime during 2008.