The ceremonial axis of the Forbidden City was only its public face. This second part crosses into the inner court, the residential heart of the complex, where emperors, consorts, children and an enormous household actually lived. The scale changes: courtyards narrow, timber and lattice replace marble, and the architecture becomes domestic without ceasing to be imperial. The episode takes in the private palaces and studies, the imperial garden with its rockeries and ancient cypresses, the theatre and ritual spaces, and the museum collections that make the site one of the great repositories of Chinese art. It also addresses the afterlife of the palace: the end of the dynastic system, the transformation of the complex into the Palace Museum, and the continuing work of conservation on painted surfaces, timber frames and glazed roofs. A natural companion to Part 1 and a strong second-night title.
