Misbehaving tourists can now be banned from the Palace Museum. (Photo : www.blog.airpaz.com)
China's famed Palace Museum is considering opening more sections to the public this year in order to boost the number of visitors to the complex.
According to museum director Shan Jixiang, the management of the Palace Museum is planning to make use of five more sections to accommodate visitors, leaving the museum complex already at 65 percent open to the public.
The sections to be opened include the newly refurbished Donghua gate, or the Donghuamen, which would be used to house an exhibit of ancient architecture as well as to display ancient building and cultural relics.
Guests who choose to visit this part of the museum would also be allowed to go up the Donghua gate tower to experience the full panoramic view of the entire museum complex enclosed in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Aside from this, the Wu gate (wumen) Yanchi building, which Shan described as a "heavenly palace on the ground," would also be opened for public use.
The East and West Yanchi building exhibition hall as well as the Wumen exhibition hall compose what Shan described as the "most functional and most high-level" of the modern exhibition spaces in the complex, covering 2,800 square meters and would contain a complete array of necessary equipment to house a wide range of ancient relics.
The soon-to-be-built Duan gate, or the Duanmen, which combines modern digital technology and traditional architecture, would be assigned to house a digital exhibition hall.
Meanwhile, the western portion of the Palace, which includes the palaces of Cining and Shoukang that originally became the residence of royal females--including the mysterious concubines of the Qing Dynasty--is also included among the Palace's areas to be opened for public viewing.
