Private Forbidden City, Summer Palace & Heritage Tour – 2 Days｜ Per Orient

Tour Highlights

• Step into Beijing’s living cultural heritage

Explore the historic neighborhoods along Beijing’s Central Axis and discover how traditional crafts, food, architecture, and performing arts continue to shape the city’s cultural identity.

• Experience the craftsmanship behind imperial furniture

Visit a museum dedicated to the nationally recognized heritage of Beijing-style hardwood furniture making, observe restoration techniques, and try traditional mortise-and-tenon construction for yourself.

• Enjoy flavors once favored by the imperial court

Dine at a historic restaurant on Qianmen Street and hear the story behind its famous imperial connection, discovering how food, hospitality, and reputation intersected in Qing-era Beijing.

• Immerse yourself in the art of Peking Opera

Watch a live performance in a traditional theater and learn how music, costume, gesture, and character roles combine to create one of China’s most celebrated performing arts traditions.

• Explore the heart of imperial power and leisure

Journey through the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace to understand how architecture, ritual, and landscape were used to express authority, govern the empire, and shape everyday life within the royal court

Detailed Itinerary

Day One – Master Crafts and the Spirit of Old Beijing

The first day focuses on the living traditions of Beijing, from historic streets and celebrated cuisine to master craftsmanship and the performing arts.

1. Morning: Qianmen Historic District

After arriving and checking into your hotel in the Qianmen area, begin with a leisurely walk through one of Beijing’s most historic urban neighborhoods.

Situated along the southern section of Beijing’s Central Axis, Qianmen preserves the atmosphere of traditional commercial streets that once served merchants, travelers, officials, and members of the imperial court.

As you stroll through the district, your guide introduces the historical development of the area and explains how the Central Axis helped organize the political, ceremonial, and commercial life of the capital for centuries.

2. Lunch at Duyichu

For lunch, enjoy a meal at the historic restaurant Duyichu, famous for its traditional steamed dumplings (shaomai).

While dining, hear the story of how the restaurant is said to have received its name from the Qianlong Emperor. Whether legend or history, the tale illustrates the close connections between imperial patronage, culinary culture, and commercial success in old Beijing.

The meal offers a chance to experience a culinary tradition that has remained part of the city’s cultural life for generations.

3. Afternoon: Beijing Craft Hardwood Museum

In the afternoon, visit Beijing Craft Hardwood Museum, dedicated to the preservation of the nationally recognized heritage of Beijing-style hardwood furniture craftsmanship.

Through exhibitions, restored masterpieces, and workshop demonstrations, you will learn about:

• The history of imperial furniture production.
• The selection and use of precious hardwoods.
• Traditional carving and decorative techniques.
• The role of furniture in elite domestic life.

One of the highlights of the visit is a hands-on introduction to mortise-and-tenon construction.

Without the use of nails or metal fasteners, these ingenious joints allowed craftsmen to create furniture and architectural structures that were both elegant and durable.

As you assemble wooden components yourself, you gain insight into a design philosophy that emphasizes precision, balance, and harmony between materials and structure.

The experience also offers a deeper appreciation of the craftsmanship that supported China’s great architectural and artistic traditions.

4. Evening – Peking Opera at Tianleyuan Theatre

In the evening, travel to Tianleyuan Theatre for a live Peking Opera performance.

Within the atmosphere of a traditional theater, experience one of China’s most influential performing arts traditions.

Before or during the performance, your guide introduces the major role categories:

• Sheng (male roles)
• Dan (female roles)
• Jing (painted-face roles)
• Chou (comic roles)

You will also learn how costume design, facial makeup, music, and stylized movement work together to convey character and emotion.

This evening offers an engaging introduction to an art form often regarded as the essence of traditional Beijing culture.

Day Two – Imperial Ritual and the Art of Royal Living

The second day follows the world of the emperors themselves, from the ceremonial heart of the empire to the garden retreat where rulers sought harmony between governance and nature.

1. Morning – The Forbidden City: Center of Imperial Authority

Begin the day with an in-depth exploration of the Forbidden City, the political and ceremonial center of imperial China for nearly five centuries.

Behind its towering walls lies a carefully planned architectural complex designed to communicate order, hierarchy, and imperial legitimacy.

• Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihe Dian)

Start at the grand ceremonial heart of the palace.

Here, emperors presided over major state occasions, including enthronements, imperial birthdays, and important court ceremonies.

Your guide explains how the scale, elevation, and symbolism of the hall reinforced the emperor’s position as the supreme authority under Heaven.

• Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing Gong)

Continue to the principal residential and administrative space used by Ming and early Qing emperors.

The palace illustrates the overlap between public rulership and private life within the imperial court.

• Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin Dian)

Visit the residence and working space of several Qing emperors, including those who governed during periods of major political change.

Here you will learn how daily government affairs were conducted and how key decisions affecting the empire were made.

• Treasure Gallery

Conclude the palace visit in the Treasure Gallery, where exquisite examples of imperial craftsmanship reveal the luxury, refinement, and artistic achievement of court life.

Throughout the tour, your guide explains how the palace’s central axis, courtyards, gates, and ceremonial spaces formed a physical expression of imperial ideology and social hierarchy.

2. Midday – Lunch with an Imperial View

For lunch, enjoy a meal overlooking the Forbidden City from the area around Wanchun Pavilion on Jingshan Hill.

From this elevated vantage point, visitors can appreciate the remarkable symmetry of the palace complex and understand why the Central Axis became one of the defining principles of Beijing’s urban design.

The panoramic view provides a fitting perspective on the imperial world explored during the morning.

3. Afternoon – The Summer Palace: The Emperor’s Garden Retreat

In the afternoon, continue to the Summer Palace, where the Qing court combined political functions with leisure, aesthetic enjoyment, and landscape design.

Unlike the formality of the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace presents a more personal vision of imperial life.

• Hall of Benevolence and Longevity

Visit the hall where Empress Dowager Cixi received officials and conducted government affairs.

Your guide explains how the Summer Palace functioned not only as a retreat but also as an alternative center of political decision-making.

• Long Corridor

Stroll through the famous covered walkway decorated with thousands of painted scenes drawn from literature, folklore, and history.

Rather than simply serving as decoration, these paintings acted as visual storytelling devices, preserving cultural memory through art.

• Tower of Buddhist Incense

Ascend to the highest point of Longevity Hill.

From here, enjoy sweeping views across Kunming Lake and gain a deeper understanding of how the garden’s architecture and landscape were carefully orchestrated to create a sequence of idealized vistas.

• Marble Boat

Conclude at the Marble Boat, one of the most recognizable structures in the garden.

Often associated with the late Qing period, the pavilion has inspired generations of interpretations concerning modernization, political reform, and imperial symbolism.

Throughout the visit, your guide explains how Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill formed the foundation of the garden’s design, reflecting traditional Chinese ideas about harmony between humanity and nature.

Journey Conclusion

Over two days, this journey invites you to experience the world of the emperors from multiple perspectives.

From handcrafted furniture and theatrical performance to palace ritual and imperial gardens, each experience reveals a different dimension of traditional Chinese culture. Rather than simply observing history, you engage with the craftsmanship, artistry, food, and landscapes that once shaped everyday life at the highest levels of the empire.

For a brief moment, you do not merely visit imperial Beijing—you experience what it meant to live within it.