Beijing’s imperial axis is one of the world’s great feats of urban planning — a perfectly straight line from the Bell Tower south through the Forbidden City to Tiananmen, laid out in 1420 and still defining the city’s geography 600 years later. This beijing walking tour companion is paired with “Inside the World’s Largest Ancient Palace — Forbidden City Walking Tour | 4K HDR,” which takes viewers through the complete Forbidden City compound before extending into the hutong alley district of old Beijing.
About This Walking Tour
This 4K HDR walking tour enters through Tiananmen Gate — where the enormous portrait of Mao Zedong faces the square — and proceeds through the Meridian Gate into the Forbidden City proper. The video covers the main ceremonial axis of the palace: the outer court with the Hall of Supreme Harmony (the largest wooden building in China), the Hall of Middle Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony, then the inner court with the Palace of Heavenly Purity and the Imperial Garden at the northern end. The footage conveys the monumental scale of the courtyards and the extraordinary density of ornamental detail on the buildings’ eaves, roof ridges, and painted beams.
The Forbidden City’s 980 surviving buildings and approximately 8,700 rooms were home to 24 emperors over nearly 500 years (1420–1912). From the north exit, Jingshan Hill — an artificial hill built from the earth excavated for the palace moat — provides the only elevated view over the complete compound, showing the scale of the yellow-roofed city within a city from above.
The hutong alleys of the Shichahai area, north of the Drum and Bell Towers, show an entirely different scale of Beijing — intimate lanes between traditional siheyuan courtyard houses that date in their current form mostly to the Qing Dynasty.
Highlights of the Forbidden City and Beijing Hutongs
The Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian) is the largest wooden building in China and the ceremonial heart of the Forbidden City, used for the emperor’s most important state functions including his birthday, the New Year, and the appointment of military commanders. The hall sits on a three-tiered marble terrace and its double-eaved hipped roof is topped by ten decorative animals — the maximum number, reserved exclusively for buildings of imperial significance.
Jingshan Park, just north of the Forbidden City, was created from the earth excavated to form the palace moat when the palace was built in the early 15th century. From the pavilion at its summit, the view south over the yellow roofline of the Forbidden City stretching to Tiananmen — with the Bell and Drum Towers visible to the north — is one of the finest urban panoramas in the world.
The hutong alleys of the Shichahai and Nanluoguxiang areas preserve a street pattern that dates to the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368); the word hutong derives from Mongolian for “water well,” reflecting the importance of communal wells in these dense residential lanes. Many siheyuan courtyard houses along these lanes have been converted to boutique hotels, cafes, and restaurants while retaining their basic structure.
A Brief History of Beijing’s Imperial Core
Beijing’s Forbidden City was constructed between 1406 and 1420 under the Yongle Emperor, who moved the Ming capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The complex was designed as a model of cosmological order — the emperor at the centre of the universe, his palace at the centre of the city, the city at the centre of the world. The north–south axis running through the palace was the spine of an entire planned urban layout extending many kilometres in both directions.
The Qing Dynasty Manchu emperors conquered China in 1644 and continued to inhabit the Forbidden City with few changes to the basic structure. The last emperor, Puyi, was forced to abdicate in 1912 and evicted from the palace in 1924; the complex opened as a public museum in 1925. Today it is the most visited museum in the world, receiving over 17 million visitors per year.
Practical Tips
Beijing Metro Line 1 serves Tiananmen East and Tiananmen West stations. Forbidden City tickets must be reserved in advance online; the daily visitor cap means walk-in tickets are not reliably available. Admission is approximately 60 yuan (April–October) or 40 yuan (November–March). China uses the yuan (renminbi). The walk from Tiananmen through the Forbidden City to Jingshan is approximately 2 kilometres; the hutong extension adds another 2–3 kilometres. The Drum and Bell Towers charge separate admission. Mandarin is the language; English signage is available in the Forbidden City.
Best Time to Visit
April–May and September–October offer the most comfortable temperatures and clearest air for outdoor walking. Winter (December–February) is cold but uncrowded; the Forbidden City’s yellow roofs against blue winter skies are particularly striking. Avoid major Chinese national holidays (National Day October 1–7, Chinese New Year) when visitor numbers are at their peak.
Watch & Explore More
The full 4K HDR Forbidden City walk is embedded above — an excellent visual guide to the palace’s spatial sequence. Find more China content at the @walkingtoursvideoscom channel. Related posts: Shanghai’s Bund and French Concession walk and Xi’an’s city walls and Muslim Quarter walk.