The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City will extend its opening hours to the evening for the first time on February 19th and February 20th, in order to celebrate the Lantern Festival, according to Shan Jixiang, the museum curator on February 17th. The museum will display some of the most well-known ancient Chinese paintings on its city walls during the two days.
According to the announcement, visitors can enjoy the magnificent view of the lit-up Meridian Gate before going through. Then, they can go up to the Meridian Gate tower and visit the exhibition of "Celebrating the Spring Festival in the Forbidden City." Later, in the Gate of Divine Might area, visitors can see paintings such as "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains" projected on the roof of the building.
The Forbidden City has been decorated with large royal lanterns as a highlight of the museum's ongoing New Year exhibition, which aims to create an environment of celebrating the New Year in the royal court 200 years ago.
The "night fair" in the Lantern Festival is also a creative attempt by the Palace Museum. The Palace Museum hopes to display the profound connotation of traditional culture in a way that is popular with people, and to interact with the audience.