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chinese snuff bottle via 丨鶴廬丨

Forbidden City’s Secret Garden

Within the Forbidden City in Beijing is an 18th-century garden that’s been closed since China’s last emperor departed, in 1924. That secret garden is now being restored. In 2020, the long-forgotten retreat is planned to open to the public for the first time. The Qianlong Garden Conservation Project is a joint initiative between the Palace Museum, which manages the Forbidden City, and the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Last month WMF Senior Advisor Henry Ng discussed the project’s progress at a gathering of WMF’s Moai Circle at the bar Lumos. “Many of the threads were lost for how this place was built,” he explained, adding that the major challenge is retrieving traditional Chinese crafts that vanished in the country’s 20th-century cultural upheaval.

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茅山道院 Maoshan Taoist Monastery, Jurong, China

Moon & Forbidden City, Beijing, China. (cr: X)