China's Forbidden City

Explore the origins of the Forbidden City, the savage and self-appointed emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ordered its construction, and the architect whose cosmic vision brought ritualistic significance to every detail. The greatest palace ever built was constructed with miraculous speed but harbored fatal flaws and became marked by a devastating fire that foreshadowed the city's ultimate fate-and that of the Ming Dynasty.

A simple concubine, one of sixty women serving the Xianfeng Emperor, rose to become the de facto ruler of the Qing dynasty. This is the story of Cixi, who, using charisma, political shrewdness, and manipulation, governed the Forbidden City through the latter half of the nineteenth century, and who, by breaking with tradition, may have heralded the end of an empire.