For the first time in nearly a century, since the Forbidden City was opened as a museum to the public, visitors were allowed to enter the ancient monument at night. For Lantern Festival, the official end to the Spring Festival, the Forbidden City was illuminated.Such was the desire to get a ticket, the museum's website crashed, and tickets were reportedly changing hands for 4,000 yuan (US$597) amid complaints that people could not buy one.
The Palace Museum has undergone great changes since curator Shan Jixiang took charge, a commentary by Li Jingyun on the 21st Century Business Herald noted. Shan's tenure has been marked by innovation in finding new ways to promote the Forbidden City.
Previously, well-known architect and cultural heritage expert Liang Sicheng and city planner Chen Zhanxiang had made strong criticism that people did not know how to protect China's cultural heritage. They strongly recommended that the Forbidden City and its surrounding hutong - traditional alleys with courtyard houses - should come under particular protection.
Yet, the 21st Century Business Herald argued that such ideas mean the Palace Museum is only considered to be heritage, and its significance in people's daily life is overlooked. It is a a common international practice since 1990s that people live and work in old cities to preserve their dynamism.
The real change is that Shan was the first to truly open the 600-year-old Forbidden City as an active, contemporary community. There are strict rules for sightseers and more rooms and palaces are open for viewing than ever before. The number of tourists is rapidly increasing and there are many new services for them, such as cafés and restaurants. The revenue raised from all of this has reached 1.5 billion yuan (US$224 million), which can support the daily running costs of the museum.
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