The Virtual Forbidden City

The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time is a partnership between the Palace Museum and IBM. The goal of the project is to provide the means for a world-wide audience to celebrate and explore aspects of Chinese culture and history. The website gives gives you the ability to enter the gates of the Forbidden City and enjoy a full immersive experience inside the walls of the Forbidden City.



The Virtual Forbidden City is a 3-dimensional virtual world where visitors from around the world can experience the Forbidden City in Beijing. You can explore the magnificient palace as it was during the Qing dynasty, which ruled from 1644 until 1912, the end of the Imperial period in China.



The Forbidden City was created to embody the idea of the emperor as the center of the universe, and to evoke a visceral sense of his power. This huge palace complex was completed in 1420 and covers more than 72 hectares (178 acres). It contains hundreds and hundreds of exquisite buildings and historic artifacts. Now, using virtual world technology, you can experience the awe inspired by this vast and amazing space. And rather than experiencing its wonders in isolation, the Virtual Forbidden City allows you to see and interact with other users and a range of helpful automated characters. As you explore the Virtual Forbidden City, you can choose to simply observe the buzz of activity, or you can take tours and participate in activities that provide insights into important aspects of Qing culture.



While it provides an immersive and compelling experience in its own right, the Virtual Forbidden City also provides an unequalled way to plan a visit to the Palace Museum in Beijing, as the Forbidden City is now known. If you are lucky enough to be able to visit the Palace Museum, you will be much better able to find your way and to understand the significance of places and things that you encounter because of your experiences in the Virtual Forbidden City.



Given the depth and longevity of Chinese history and culture, the Virtual Forbidden City can only begin to reveal the countless amazing stories that can be told. Hopefully, your explorations here will encourage you to learn more about what you encounter, and to continue to return to the Virtual Forbidden City to discover things that you haven't yet experienced.
The Forbidden City: Beyond Space and Time is a partnership between the Palace Museum and IBM. The goal of the project is to provide the means for a world-wide audience to celebrate and explore aspects of Chinese culture and history. The website gives gives you the ability to enter the gates of the Forbidden City and enjoy a full immersive experience inside the walls of the Forbidden City.



The Virtual Forbidden City is a 3-dimensional virtual world where visitors from around the world can experience the Forbidden City in Beijing. You can explore the magnificient palace as it was during the Qing dynasty, which ruled from 1644 until 1912, the end of the Imperial period in China.



The Forbidden City was created to embody the idea of the emperor as the center of the universe, and to evoke a visceral sense of his power. This huge palace complex was completed in 1420 and covers more than 72 hectares (178 acres). It contains hundreds and hundreds of exquisite buildings and historic artifacts. Now, using virtual world technology, you can experience the awe inspired by this vast and amazing space. And rather than experiencing its wonders in isolation, the Virtual Forbidden City allows you to see and interact with other users and a range of helpful automated characters. As you explore the Virtual Forbidden City, you can choose to simply observe the buzz of activity, or you can take tours and participate in activities that provide insights into important aspects of Qing culture.



While it provides an immersive and compelling experience in its own right, the Virtual Forbidden City also provides an unequalled way to plan a visit to the Palace Museum in Beijing, as the Forbidden City is now known. If you are lucky enough to be able to visit the Palace Museum, you will be much better able to find your way and to understand the significance of places and things that you encounter because of your experiences in the Virtual Forbidden City.


Visit The Forbidden City: Beyond Space & Time program can take part in activities such as archery, cricket fighting, and playing the ancient game of Weiqi.

The Virtual Forbidden City

Wild China DVD release

BBC's Wild China DVD is releasing right before the Beijing Olympics. Think Planet Earth meets China.

China is a vast country with an astonishingly diverse landscape and the world's largest population. An exotic fusion of natural history and adventure "Wild China" is a series of journeys through four startlingly different landscapes each based around the travels of a real historical character. With splendor scale and romance Wild China lifts the veil on the world's most enigmatic and magnificent country delving into its vibrant habitats to reveal a land of unbelievable natural complexity. Journey across China from the glittering peaks of the Himalayas to the barren steppe the sub-Arctic to the tropical islands through deserts both searingly hot and mind-numbingly cold and see in pioneering images a dazzling array of mysterious beautiful wild and rare creatures. Through unprecedented access, this six-part series reveals the little-known natural treasures and secret wildlife havens of China's wildest regions.

Buy Wild China DVD

Wild China DVD trailer

Lost In Sydney with Roger Fan

In May of 2008, Roger decided to spend one whole day just getting Lost in Sydney, Australia. No map, no plan...just a desire to explore and an HD camera to document it.

This is definitely not your typical journey down under. Roger spends a day making ugly meat pies, dodging bat crap, getting friendly with indigenous Australian wildlife, and just plain encountering some pretty random-ass stuff. Have fun & enjoy!

Watch Roger Fan get lost in Sydney