With their respective missions and concerns, the foreign ambassadors weave a rich and moving history in the Forbidden City.

THE TRANSITION OF FORBIDDEN CITY explores the plentiful records left by foreign ambassadors through the examination of precious documents. It attempts to reveal the life and historical events in the Ming and Qing dynasties in transitional cultural elements from world history.

Wang I-Chiao describes what the ancient travelers experienced: their in-depth observations of the Ming and Qing dynasties with his vivid and effortless-written prose. Elegant dishes in the royal banquet to the daily snacks of the people in the Capital, European automatic dolls, lions as tribute from the Western Regions, the royal rosary made from the bones of the eminent monks – even the embroidered pouch sewn by the Queen.

The foreigners often provide a window through which we can find these exciting stories that happened in the Forbidden City via their eyes.