The Forbidden City was the imperial palace complex in Beijing and the Chinese seat of power from 1420 to 1912.
Construction began in 1406 under the Yongle Emperor, who moved the Ming capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The palace was completed in 1420 and became the residence and ceremonial center of 24 emperors: 14 Ming rulers and 10 Qing rulers. Its vast arrangement of courtyards, halls, gates, gardens, and service areas separated official government activity from the emperor’s private court.
The complex covers roughly 72 hectares and is organized around the Outer Court and Inner Court. The Hall of Supreme Harmony hosted major ceremonies, while the Inner Court contained the emperor’s residence and family quarters. Traditional accounts often mention 9,999 rooms, although modern surveys count fewer.
The palace stopped being China’s political center when the last emperor, Puyi, abdicated in 1912. It became the Palace Museum in 1925. The Old Summer Palace and Summer Palace were also imperial sites, but neither served as the main palace complex continuously associated with China’s central court in Beijing during this period.