Forbidden City: The Palace at the Heart of Chinese Culture

Preview: Forbidden City: The Palace at the Heart of Chinese Culture

€1,200.00 *

Prices incl. VAT plus shipping costs

1 – 2 weeks delivery time

Order number: V122652

About the Work

For over six centuries, the Forbidden City has impressed visitors from around the world with its 900 golden-roofed buildings surrounded by moats, gardens, and plazas, where thousands of people once lived and worked in service to the world’s largest and most advanced pre-modern empire. Marco Polo called it “the greatest Palace that ever was;” Simon Leys praised its architectural genius; and Franz Kafka viewed it as an impressive yet alarming symbol of power.

In this stunning addition to Assouline’s Ultimate Collection, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ian Johnson takes readers on a captivating journey through the magnificent palace built by China’s Yongle Emperor to serve as the seat of the Ming dynasty. With more than 100 photographs, artworks, and historical artifacts, and weaving in history and events from the past six centuries, this luxury tome vividly portrays life in this imperial sphere—a small city unto itself—where soldiers, eunuchs, concubines, and merchants resided alongside the royalty they served. Forbidden City pays tribute to the grandeur of one of the most complex structures in history, and shows that 600 years after its construction, this royal monument still stands as the physical and spiritual center of Chinese civilization. This volume is presented in a regal, glossy red box that resembles traditional Chinese lacquerware and features a delicately carved map of the Forbidden City’s grounds.

About the Author

Ian Johnson is a seasoned writer whose work has been featured in top publications like The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and National Geographic. He has spent over two decades in China, earning accolades like the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting and the Shorenstein lifetime achievement award for his coverage of Asia. In addition to serving as an advising editor for The Journal of Asian Studies, Johnson teaches courses on religion and society at the Beijing Center for Chinese Studies. He has authored three books on the nexus between politics and religion, including Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in China, A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, The CIA, and The Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West, and The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao. Johnson currently calls Beijing home.

"Assouline is more than a publishing house, it is a lifestyle brand."

New York Magazine

Number of pages: 200
Number of illustrations: over 100
Language: English
Released in: January 2021
Size: W 35.5 x L 42 x H 8.1 cm
Weight: 9.072 kg
Further features: Handcrafted edition in a red lacquered glossy clamshell case
ISBN: 9781614289265

1 – 2 weeks delivery time

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