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While some rulers decide to build castles or royal palaces, one Chinese emperor decided that wasn’t enough — he wanted to build an entire imperial city! During the Middle Ages, Emperor Yongle commissioned the construction of what was called the Forbidden City. The city got its name because only the emperor, his family, and a handful of officials were allowed inside the palace walls.

The city itself is massive. It has 980 buildings, is surrounded by a huge wall, and has a large moat around it. Over the course of 500 years and two dynasties, the Forbidden City was the home of 24 emperors and their families. While it might seem glamorous to have an entire city to yourself, the Chinese royalty were trapped within the walls of the Forbidden City. Since everything the royal family ever needed was within the walls of the city, they had no reason to ever leave. Even the emperors rarely left the palace. It would seem that life inside the Forbidden City, although beautiful, was more like a prison than a home.

The Forbidden City is considered one of the five great palaces of the world and was marked as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1987. Today the Forbidden City is used as a museum. The museum attracts thousands of people from all over the world not just to see the artifacts inside, but to explore the Forbidden City itself. The walls and buildings of the palace are in such great condition that it is easy to image what life was like in China during the Middle Ages.