The Forbidden City...Trivia Question!: How can you tell if it's a male lion statue or a female lion statue? The male always has a ball under his paw... the female has a lion cub under the same paw... [now you know]

There were three doors to the Forbidden City...in ancient times, one was used by commoners, one by the palace residents other that royalty and the center by royalty...in modern times, one is barred, the center is used by the Chinese, and foreigners (read "tourists") enter through a side door that has been turned into a store...this was a theme on our trip...(the door with the store is on the right...)

This is the courtyard of the Forbidden City that you always see in movies...for fans of "Mulan", this is where the final battle scene was fought and the emperor presented Mulan with the sword...one always fears that Hollywood will have spoiled a site, and that the "real thing" will seem, well, dull and real by Hollywood standards...the Forbidden City was even better in real life than it is in Hollywood sets. The stone pavement in the center had been smoothed out for tourists, but the stone courtyards that you see on either side of the picture are original...it's like walking back in time to think you've set foot where an empress walked...

The rock-garden in the Forbidden City was in the middle of the women's quarters, near the North end of the Forbidden City...