Customer Reviews

The Forbidden City (Images of Asia)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want a coffee table book, then buy it. The photographs by Hu Chui are stunning, and the reproductions of Chinese scrolls and paintings are excellent.

However, the information about the Forbidden City is at the breakfast mush level - easy to digest but of little value. The information is superficial, and often inaccurate. Knowledgeable students of the Forbidden City will groan, and wince. It perpetuates blunders such as referring to the East Glory Gate as the East 'Flowery Gate,' and the Chinese advisor on eunuchs knows little about the subject. The book talks about emperors as if they all had the same personality and all did the same things.

Enjoy the pictures, but take the text with milk and sugar.

If you are a fan of Chinese history or art, this is the book for you. I enjoyed this book because of the magnificent pictures, and ancient Chinese paintings depicted in it. Not only are the pictures interesting, but so is the text. It tells of......I guess you'll have to see for yourself! Great buy, all though I was afraid at first that I payed too much, after I recieved it those fears were put to rest.

I had hoped to be reading about the Forbidden City-its origins, its designers, its layout, the function of the buildings and structures, the treasures it contained,the catastrophes it survived and so forth.

I was disappointed to find that only the first chapter was of some relevance to the Forbidden City. The rest of the chapters were devoted to the famous "inhabitants", the officers ranking system, concubines, eunuchs, the foreign priests and so forth.

The books saving grace is the breath-taking photography. But then some of the pictures I felt were rather irrelevant to the Forbidden City ie Yong Zheng's concubines, Kang Xi's various potraits.

In conclusion, this is a good book for browsing through the pictures, but not for the serious historian.