For any visitor to the Forbidden City, entering the Gate of Heavenly Peace is an experience itself. The huge number of people entering and the tight security all combine to give the visitor an experience unlike the other tourist sights in Beijing. Having a location at the very heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City is probably the most visited place in the entire country. The Gate of Heavenly Peace is a massive introduction to the Forbidden City, it was meant to impress visitors and at the same time intimidate rivals.
As it turns out, you don’t have to buy the ticket to the Forbidden City at the Gate of Heavenly Peace itself. There is another ticket booth inside the palace grounds. This should be very easy to spot as this is where everyone will be queueing. Although there were a lot of people queueing to get in, it was moving fast enough that I didn’t notice it. What I did notice was there were some people would try to pull a fast one on the ticket booth personnel. There was an elderly man who went to return their “ticket” for a refund, he was told that it was a fake. I never knew what happened to him though, but it think it is worth to be more vigilant and not to purchase the “tickets” from unofficial sources.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/ForbiddenCity.kmz} zoom=19]