Zhen Huan, a 17-year-old innocent introduced into the imperial court as the latest concubine of Emperor Yong Zheng. Her dreams of a new life of love and prosperity are swiftly dashed as she enters a dog-eat-dog world of treachery and corruption.

The Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing was the home of the Chinese emperor and the seat of a vast bureaucracy ruling over what is now the world’s most populous state for 500 years. After falling into disrepair following World War II, the palace’s ancient wooden structures are undergoing extensive restoration works today. Inside the Forbidden City offers unprecedented access into the magnificent palace complex where access was once denied to all but the emperor, his family and his most senior retinue.

In the heart of Beijing lies the largest palace in the world, The Forbidden City. For five hundred years, it served as the home of the almighty Emperors of China along with their wives, concubines, and entourages of tens of thousands of eunuchs and civil servants. But the Forbidden City is more than an imperial residence; it is the center of the universe, a unique complex of structures revealing a hierarchy of power both imperial and divine.