8/46.- Beijing, Forbidden City, building detail

The "East Route" comprises a series of Halls that host the collection of the Palace Museum. You start this tour East of the Square between the Inner and the Outer Court, through the "Gate of Prospering Luck". The first temple you see is the "Hall of Worshipping Ancestors", used to worship the Emperor's ancestors. West of this Temple is the "Hall of Abstinence". North of it, the "Hall of Great Benevolence", the "Hall of Bearing Heaven", the "Hall of Eternal Peace", the "Hall of Cherishing Essence", and the "Hall of Great Yang". The "Gate of Everlasting Health" gives access to the Imperial Garden.

The last of the Emperors, Puyi, lived in the Palace after his abdication in 1911 when the republican revolutionaries took power. He was expelled from the Forbidden City in 1924. His story is depicted in the famous Bernardo Bertolucci film "Last Emperor".

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