On June 15, the Palace Museum issued the "Palace Museum Visiting Instructions" and the "Palace Museum Prohibited Items Catalogue", which will be officially implemented from June 30, 2023. According to the "Instructions for Visits", without the permission of the Palace Museum, it is forbidden to conduct all kinds of performances, publicity, interviews, social investigations, religious activities, selling goods or services, commercial photography and other non-visiting activities.
"From the perspective of heritage protection, all risks that may affect the security of heritage need to be prevented in the process of protection and management, of which the control of the source of risk is an important means of prevention." Qi Fei, senior engineer of the Palace Museum's World Heritage Monitoring Department, said that for example, the stone pavement of the Royal Garden is the traditional practice of putty inlay, and the wheels of large suitcases and campervans will squeeze and loosen small pebbles, resulting in incomplete or missing ground patterns. When ultra-long and oversized equipment or utensils pass through narrow spaces such as aisles and wall doors, it is easy to scratch the walls and glazed pieces, causing the components to fall off or be damaged. Therefore, it is forbidden to carry it.
Qi Fei explained that overly long and oversized equipment or luggage is easy to trip, bump and scratch tourists in places where tourists are concentrated (such as viewing places where they are displayed in their original state, narrow passages, etc.), threatening personal safety. Based on this, the "Visiting Instructions" recommends that visitors store suitcases and large packages of 20 inches and above. At the same time, the "Visiting Instructions" also clarifies in the "List of Prohibited Items" that in addition to necessary wheelchairs and strollers, other means of transportation such as scooters, automatic balance vehicles, etc., as well as all wheeled tools with transport and loading functions such as picnic carts, camping vehicles, etc. are prohibited from admission.
The "Instructions for Visiting" mentioned that the Forbidden City has the right to dissuade and stop behaviors that affect public safety and visiting order. If the circumstances are serious, it will be included in the "information of uncivilized tourists" and reported to the competent department of culture and tourism for verification, and once a "record of uncivilized tourism behavior" is formed, it will be banned from visiting within the corresponding period.
Source丨People's Daily Editor丨Zhao Zeqin
First instance丨He Zhiping
Second instance丨Yang Si Third trial丨Huang Xiaohui