Narrated by Rod Steiger, this timeless program explores the history of imperial China through its symbolic heart: Beijing, the “Forbidden City.”  The program gives a visually stunning tour of the hub of the world’s oldest bureaucracy and center for all Chinese government, a city containing schools, temples, theaters, exquisite gardens, and 240 acres of palaces.  Period paintings, etchings, archival material, and readings from 1,000 years of Imperial diaries complement this unprecedented access to a capital long closed to the outside world.  This unprecedented access reveals for the first time some of its reputed 9,999 rooms and 240 acres of palace grounds, schools, temples and theaters. Once closed off to the world, this icon of Chinese imperial power is now yours to discover.  A Discovery Channel Production.