Photo: Hiroki Toyosaki

The Chinese tour groups are everywhere in the centre of Beijing. Their sheer amount is overwhelming, quite frankly. Every single one of them consists of about 30-40 tourists (the average bus load, we figure), wearing identical coloured hats or raincoats so that no one gets lost. They stick closely together and talk and laugh loudly – really loudly – almost all the time.

The groups are waiting to enter The Forbidden City - the emperor’s vast palace grounds that until recently was strictly off-limits for mere mortals. For almost 500 years it was the absolute power centre both politically, ceremonially and symbolically.

Photo: Mag3737

Not surprisingly, today The Forbidden City ranks among China’s biggest tourist attractions, and this is definitely not a place you go if you need some time by yourself, away from the raucous crowds that clog almost all sights in The Middle Kingdom.

Everywhere you have to queue from entrance to exit with huge groups and screechy voices explaining the sight’s history in Mandarin, French, English, and German. Unless…you are familiar with a way of getting the sublime architecture of this World Heritage site all to yourself.

Photo: Walter Parenteau

Because if you are in the know, you will be able to find a quiet spot where you can rest on a bench almost all by yourself and bask in the sun as you let your legs off the hook for a while and maybe even sneak in a little catnap and dream yourself back to the days, where this was the innermost sanctity of the emperor, his advisors and concubines.

The Forbidden City was established in the beginning of the 15th century, and 980 of the original structures have survived to this day, from the 1920ies under the administration of the Palace Museum. The huge palace houses a gargantuan collection of artefacts from the Ming and Qing dynasties many of which are on display in the endless number of red pavilions.

Photo: Cresny

Here’s what you do. When you enter the grandiose Palace Museum you simply hold to the right (eastwards) and steer clear of the bustling hoards of tour groups that almost always intersect the site right down the middle.

To the right, however, you’ll find the small pavilions that used to serve as living quarters, library, temples, theatres, gardens, and even a tennis court. Today it has all been turned in to museums necessitating an additional fee of measly 10 yuan, which surprisingly enough appear to have a dissuasive effect on many tourist wallets.

Photo: Dbaron

But the 10 extra yuan are a bargain, as you’ll almost certainly have the place almost to yourself, leaving you free to explore the warren of buildings and alleyways in a serene and placid atmosphere, making you almost forget that you’re in the middle of boisterous Beijing. And all of a sudden it is not that difficult to understand why the emperor only rarely and reluctantly left The Forbidden City.

THE FORBIDDEN CITY, The Palace Museum, Beijing.