Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Private palace in the Forbidden City

Oh, Mao, where are you now? (Note that in the second article, officials decide they can't deny the evidence. However, they did identify a handy scapegoat: a private company.)

Rumors of a Private Club in the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City’s management group handed out registration forms last month for a luxury private club to be located in the compound’s Jianfu Pavilion, which was restored with money from a fund in Hong Kong, according to a report in The Beijing News on Sunday and in the English-language edition of Global Times on Monday.

Rumors about the club surfaced last week, when Rui Chenggang, an anchor for China Central Television, said on his microblog that the entry fee was one million renminbi, or about $154,000.

Officials sent a statement to Global Times saying there were no plans to open any club.

China's Forbidden City admits plans for 'rich club'

Officials at the former home of China's emperors have admitted that there were plans to open an exclusive private club inside the palace.

They had initially denied the historic site was being used for private profit…

Photographs of the opening ceremony have been posted online.

They show attendants dressed as ancient warriors, as they might have done when emperors strolled the palace corridors…

Another picture shows a welcome note prepared by the organisers. It says the club is intended as a meeting place for the "wise elites" in society.

The Forbidden City authorities say the club was being organised without their knowledge by the Beijing Palace Museum Royal Court Cultural Development Company, a firm linked to the museum…

Plans to go ahead and recruit members have now been scrapped…