Beijing —

When Ho Puay-peng first visited Beijing’s Forbidden City in the late 1980s, the Singaporean architect saw many of the historic courtyards used for storage, filled with garbage, and occupied by danwei (government offices).

He summed it up with one word: “horrible.”

That was when the majority of the sprawling former imperial palace in the center of the Chinese capital was not yet open to the public. Besides government offices, many areas had been severely damaged by disrepair, and fires – easy to occur since most buildings were wooden structures.

The Forbidden City was constructed in the 15th century during the Ming Dynasty as the imperial family’s workplace and residence. It was later taken over by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, who restored and reconstructed many parts

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