<figure>
<a href="https://peakd.com/hive-163772/@tanzil2024/a-memorable-visit-to-the" target="_blank">
<img src="https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://images.ecency.com/DQmQyk6WfBr1U4k1o5vRbMS21zjjJeVcsZWfHFGN7nhqfk7/img_20191026_104233.jpg" alt="도로 사진" width="50%"></a>
<figcaption>A memorable visit to the FORBIDDEN KINGDOM!</figcaption>
</figure>
> Today, I am going to share my visit to the "Forbidden Kingdom" which is the most visited place in the Beijing downtown area for both local people and international tourists! The journey begins early in the morning and I was visiting the place with some of my friends from Pakistan, Nigeria, Laos, and Thailand. We were a group to visit many places around the Beijing city area.
Reading the article of my dear brother and friend @tanzil2024, I came up with a new idea!
<figure>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City" target="_blank">
<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/The_Forbidden_City_-_View_from_Coal_Hill.jpg/1920px-The_Forbidden_City_-_View_from_Coal_Hill.jpg" alt="도로 사진" width="50%"></a>
<figcaption>The Forbidden City, viewed from Jingshan Hill</figcaption>
</figure>
> The Forbidden City (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjìnchéng) is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the 22 ha (54-acre) Zhongshan Park, the sacrificial Imperial Ancestral Temple, the 69 ha (171-acre) Beihai Park, and the 23 ha (57-acre) Jingshan Park.[2] It is officially administered by the Palace Museum.
> The Forbidden City was constructed from 1406 to 1420, and was the former Chinese imperial palace and winter residence of the Emperor of China from the Ming dynasty (since the Yongle Emperor) to the end of the Qing dynasty, between 1420 and 1924. The Forbidden City served as the home of Chinese emperors and their households and was the ceremonial and political center of the Chinese government for over 500 years. Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.[3]
> The complex consists of 980 buildings,[4] encompassing 8,886 rooms and covering 720,000 m2 (72 ha)/178 acres.[5][6] The palace exemplifies the opulence of the residences of the Chinese emperor and the traditional Chinese palatial architecture,[3] and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. It is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world. Since 2012, the Forbidden City has seen an average of 14 million visitors annually, and received more than 19 million visitors in 2019.[7] In 2018, the Forbidden City's market value was estimated at 70 billion USD, making it both the world's most valuable palace and the most valuable piece of real estate anywhere in the world.[8]
> Some sources describe it as the largest palace in the world still in existence,[9][10][11] but other Chinese imperial residences far exceed it in size, namely the 6.1 km2 (610 ha) Zhongnanhai which lies just west of the Forbidden City, the 2.9 km2 (290 ha) Summer Palace in Haidian District, Beijing, and the 5.6 km2 (560 ha) Chengde Mountain Resort in Chengde, Hebei Province.[12]
> The Forbidden City in Beijing is one of the largest and most well-preserved wooden structures in the world. It was listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics in 1961.[13]
I do not fully understand Hassan's feelings and thoughts after visiting The Forbidden City (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjìnchéng)!
By the way, I felt that Hassan was very impressed with the vastness and splendor of the Forbidden City!
The Forbidden City (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjìnchéng) is perhaps the largest royal palace in the world!
Thus, the Chinese claim that The Forbidden City (Chinese: 紫禁城; pinyin: Zǐjìnchéng) is a symbol of the greatness and tradition of Chinese civilization.
Perhaps Hassan had never seen such a vast palace on the Indian subcontinent, I guessed!🙃
I suddenly wondered what Hassan's favorite Chinese architecture was!
So, I wanted to tell Hassan about my favorite Indian architecture!
<figure>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal" target="_blank">
<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Taj_Mahal_in_India_-_Kristian_Bertel.jpg/1280px-Taj_Mahal_in_India_-_Kristian_Bertel.jpg" alt="도로 사진" width="50%"></a>
<figcaption>Taj Mahal</figcaption>
</figure>
> The Taj Mahal (/ˌtɑːdʒ məˈhɑːl, ˌtɑːʒ-/; lit. 'Crown of the Palace')[4][5][6] is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658) to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
> Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643, but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around ₹32 million, which in 2020 would be approximately ₹70 billion (about US $1 billion). The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, the emperor’s court architect. Various types of symbolism have been employed in the Taj to reflect natural beauty and divinity.
> The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". It is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture and a symbol of India's rich history. The Taj Mahal attracts more than 6 million visitors a year[3] and in 2007, it was declared a winner of the New 7 Wonders of the World (2000–2007) initiative.
I want to ask if Hassan has ever been to The Taj Mahal!
I believe that the Taj Mahal, built by an Indian man who gave his all for the woman he loved, is one of the most beautiful structures in the world!😃
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4GtfIwDfwQ
Japanese and Korean men tend to be amazed and envious when they see the Taj Mahal, which symbolizes eternal love for a woman.
[The Great Wall and the Legend of a Chinese Woman](https://peakd.com/hive-109702/@goldgrifin007/the-great-wall-and-the-legend-of-a-chinese-woman)
The Great Wall, which my friend Hasan visited in the past, is recognized by East Asian men as a building symbolizing the tragedy of Chinese women.
In East Asian civilizations including China, women have been socially ignored because men recognized women as their property!
Thus, East Asian men did not erect monumental buildings dedicated to love and respect for women.
There were many memorials dedicated mainly to their mothers.
On the other hand, their wives were always ignored.
So, the Taj Mahal, built by the Mughal emperor with all his might for his empress, gives East Asian men the greatest sense of mystery and awe.😉
<figure>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumtaz_Mahal" target="_blank">
<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Mumtaz_Mahal.jpg" alt="도로 사진" width="50%"></a>
<figcaption>Mumtaz Mahal</figcaption>
</figure>
> Mumtaz Mahal (/[mʊmˈt̪aːz mɛˈɦɛl]/; lit. 'the exalted one of the Palace'), born Arjumand Banu Begum (27 April 1593 – 17 June 1631)[1] was the empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 as the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.[2] The Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World,[3] was commissioned by her husband to act as her tomb.[4]
> Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum in Agra to a family of Persian nobility. She was the daughter of Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan, a wealthy Persian noble who held high office in the Mughal Empire, and the niece of Empress Nur Jahan, the chief wife of Emperor Jahangir and the power behind the emperor.[5] She was married at the age of 19 on 10 May 1612 or 16 June 1612 to Prince Khurram,[6][7] later known by his regnal name Shah Jahan, who conferred upon her the title "Mumtaz Mahal" (Persian: the exalted one of the palace).[8] Although betrothed to Shah Jahan since 1607,[9] she ultimately became his second wife in 1612.[10][11] Mumtaz and her husband had 14 children, including Jahanara Begum (Shah Jahan's favorite daughter),[12] and the Crown prince Dara Shikoh, the heir-apparent,[13] anointed by his father, who temporarily succeeded him until deposed by Mumtaz Mahal's sixth child, Aurangzeb, who ultimately succeeded his father as the sixth Mughal emperor in 1658.[14]
> Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 in Burhanpur, Deccan (present-day Madhya Pradesh), during the birth of her 14th child, a daughter named Gauhar Ara Begum.[15] Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb for her, which is considered to be a monument of undying love. As with other Mughal royal ladies, no contemporary likenesses of her are accepted, but numerous imagined portraits were created from the 19th century onwards.
So, I imagined how much beauty Mumtaz Mahal possessed while looking at modern Indian beauties!😄
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26j0WpOBy18
Men in my world tend to feel that Indian women are the most beautiful in the world!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D75Lwxo4Wbw
East Asian men like me seem to be fascinated by the sensuality of Indian beauties while watching Hindu women of India!😲😍
Since Mumtaz Mahal was such a beauty, I imagined that the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, poured money into the Taj Mahal to ruin the country!?
I wonder what my friend Hassan thinks of my imagination!😊
I want to know how Hassan feels that the attractiveness of Indian beauties is different compared to East Asian women!😄
Next time I'll tell my friend about how Indian beauties have been enchanting East Asian men since 2000 years ago!😉😄
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFvC-0geYoo
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