The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming to the end of the Qing dynasty. It is located in the centre of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. It served as the home of emperors and their households as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government for almost 500 years. It was built in 1406 to 1420. The complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 180 acres.The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture,and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.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. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War.
The national museum, known also as 中国国家博物馆，is located on the Eastern side of Tiananmen Square. It aims to educate people about the arts and history of China. It is part of one of the Ten Great Buildings, buildings in China where most of them were built within ten months to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It is large, with the space of nearly 200,000 metres square. Covering history over a million years ago, the museum contains a collection of 1050000 items, with most items not found anywhere else in the world.
The Tiananmen or Gate of Heavenly Peace is a famous monument in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is widely used as a national symbol. First built during the Ming Dynasty in 1420, Tiananmen is often referred to as the front entrance to the Forbidden City. However, the Meridian Gate (午门) is the first entrance to the Forbidden City proper, while Tiananmen was the entrance to the Imperial City, within which the Forbidden City was located. Tiananmen is located to the north of Tiananmen Square, separated from the plaza by Chang'an Avenue.
Fashion in Beijing
Although a certain part of the population still thinks the smog is fog, as the authorities told them it is, more and more Chinese consumers are becoming aware of the dangers of pollution. In fact in 2010 there were more than 1 million deaths caused by the air pollution in China. Last year Beijing’s air pollution situation even got nicknamed “airpocalypse” since the presence of particle in the air got higher than the maximum ever measured. According to the U.S. State Department standards, there has been only 25 days of “good” air quality in Beijing between April 2008 and March 2014.Air quality is not improving, and will not be anytime soon given China’s rapid urbanization. This is why the pollution mask has become necessary to Chinese citizens willing to protect their health. However the sad period of the “chirurgical looks” of these kinds of masks are over since the fashion designers decided that function will meet fashion.
Chinese are becoming more well-informed about their country’s air pollution dangerousness for their health. They therefore want effective pollution masks that they can feel comfortable wearing. Pollution masks brands are turning their products masks into trendy accessories because they want their products to be considered a necessity by the fashion-conscious Chinese consumers. And as China is still far from resolving its pollution issues, there will be a growing demand for these new accessories.
Chinese consumers are the biggest buyers of luxury goods and they purchase high-end items as a way to show their economic power. They buy well-known brands such as Dior, Gucci, etc.... However, they prefer to purchase these items on their origin countries because the price is up to 40% cheaper than in China and because they believe that it give them more prestige.They are more interested to buy Western products and brands because they believe the quality is better and the variety of products and collections is biggest compared to China.
They love neutral colours, slightly more muted like jewel tones, which are considered to go into the next year. They also like dressing like a man , wearing fitted jackets, blazers , bow ties.... They also like vintage dressing , fashion from the 1940's made you look more sophisticated. Spots , stripes and checks are also in fashion , however they must not overdo detail, or it may look like a tablecloth instead. They wear sensible shoes, which means that they must be comfortable and low key.
