Jingshan Park is a 57 acre park that was once a private imperial garden for the forbidden city. We walked through the park right after touring the Forbidden City. It was so cool to be able to climb to the top of the park and look over the Forbidden city. We toured Tiananmen square, the Forbidden City and the Jingshan park all in the same day, so to say we were tired is a HUGE understatement. With it being only our first full day in China, we were suffering from severe jet lag

The name for the Forbidden City in Chinese is Zijincheng, which literally translates to "purple forbidden city". Purple, "Zi", refers to the North star, which the ancient Chinese believed to be the home of the Celestial Emperor. And Jin Cheng translates to forbidden city, which is a reference to needing the Emperor's permission to enter or exit the imperial palace. The construction of the Forbidden City was completed in 1420 AD and took 15 years, over 100,000 craftsmen, and a