Livestream tour lets visitors peruse Palace Museum

If it was not for the outbreak of COVID-19, now would be a busy season for the Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City.

This year marks the 600th founding anniversary of this former Chinese imperial palace in 1420.Consequently, a series of highlighted exhibitions were originally planned throughout this year to celebrate this monumental achievement.

Though the epidemic disturbed the yearlong festivities, museum workers have come up with new ideas "on the cloud" to cater to the people who want to get closer to this remarkable UNESCO World Heritage site.

After closing its doors for the public for over 70 days since Jan 25－the first day of the Spring Festival－to contain the outbreak, the Palace Museum kicked off its 6-hour livestream tour on Sunday and Monday.

According to Wang Xudong, director of the Palace Museum, this is the first time in history that a livestream tour around the compound was officially organized by the museum.

"On this special occasion," Wang said in the introduction of the tour, "we'd like to offer the beauty of spring, splendor of architecture and an unstrained and exquisite charm brought by the emptiness.

"We want people to gain more psychological strength from these brilliant cultural heritages," he added.

From 10 am to noon Sunday, guides from the museum ushered netizens to "visit" the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which hosted the royal families' most important rituals, as well as the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility on the western side along with its affiliated garden, now filled with flourishing blossoms.

From 4 to 6 pm, the tour started from the western gate of the museum, going through flowering paths and galleries, and ended by the eastern gate. On Monday morning, viewers will be led on their screens to several key palaces along the axis and eastern side of the Forbidden City.

Twenty-four emperors lived in the compound until the monarchy fell in China in 1912. Abundant former royal collections of antiques and artwork have contributed to the museum's huge inventory today, with over 1.86 million cultural relics were housed in the institutions.

The online tour through an unusually empty Forbidden City offered internet tourists the chance to take their time and enjoy each site. Even the guides from the museum who have walked through the museum numerous times frequently found new things amid the relics during the livestream tour. Further, some areas included in the livestream are still closed to public visitation.