Beijing Postcards will take you on the ultimate tour of the purple Forbidden City from the magnificent Tiananmen Gate with Mao’s iconic portrait to the top of Coal Hill looking back down on the world’s largest palace so full of hidden stories that it would take a lifetime to know them all.

Do you know why Chinese parents of newborn children travel from far away regions to stand on the Tiananmen Gate? What was everyday life really like fo ran emperor， his empress, numerous concubines and thousands of eunuchs? Where are the toilets and kitchens? How did you become a eunuch and why did the younger eunuchs have an extra layer of leather on their buttocks? Why did the concubines of the Jiajing emperor try to strangle him? Was the Dragon Lady, Empress Dowager Cixi, really so evil? What was the real reason why the boy emperor Puyi became impotent?

Stories of pretty tiny lily feet, stunning fragrant concubines and jealous empresses, lonely emperors and opium fumes, sneaky and corrupt eunuchs. All this and much much more all set in the most splendid piece of architecture set right in the middle of Beijing.

Time: 11:00 am-14:30 pm

More information here.