Guards standing in front of the forbidden city

China - Beijing - Beijing

When talking about China the Forbidden City is one of those things that always comes up. It's been the center of a couple of movies, and it is a place full of controversy and a sense of pride for the local people. To me, the Forbidden City in a way serves as a symbol of power and unity. As soon as you stand in front of the gates there is a giant painting of Mao Zedong. Commonly credited with uniting China during the Cultural Revolution. Having been relocated to Beijing, I decided to venture out and see what this place was all about. During COVID-19 sightseeing in China was a bit more pleasurable because you didn't always have thousands of people at the same place. Instead, you could see the finer details in the buildings, take photos like this one where you can capture the architecture and the character of the building without having people in the shot. This made it such a treat to walk in the city and see how architecturally diverse it is. Though mostly influenced by Chinese architecture, they did allow for a couple of Neapolitan influences and building. #HARPERCOLLINS