The Forbidden City The Forbidden City occupies 720,000 square meters (7,747,200 square feet / 180 acres).

The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul measures 700,000 square meters; the Vatican measures 440,000 square meters; and the Kremlin measures 275,000 square meters. There are 9,999 rooms in this series of exquisite palaces inside the City. Nine is a lucky number for the Chines e. (Some books quote 8886 rooms but this does not include antechambers.) The walls are 32 feet high (10 meters). The surrounding drainage moat is 165 feet wide (50 meters). The main part of the city was constructed over 14 years (1407 1420) using 200,000 laborers. Building materials were shipped over thousands of miles from all parts of China using the network of canals constructed in the 6th and 7th centuries. All of the buildings are made from painted wood. To deal with the fire risk, giant bronze cauldrons filled with water were placed at intervals throughout the Palace. At the end of the 18th century approximately 9000 people lived within the Forbidden City, composed of guards, servants, eunuchs, concubines, civil servants and the Royal Family. The inner sanctum rooms were forbidden to women except to the Empress on her wedding day. The tradition of castrating male servants dates back over two thousand years. The Qing Dynasty started with 9000 eunuchs, reducing to about 1500 in 1908. Their testicles were mummified and stored in jars, to be buried with them after their death. Many eunuchs were harshly treated, or executed at whim. Corruption, power struggles and personal vendettas flourished. Emperors were entitled to several wives and many concubines. (Q ianlong had two official wives and 29 concubines). Concubines were well -educated women selected from the best Manchu families. Nightly, the Emperor would decide which concubine would visit him that evening. She would then be stripped, bathed and depilated before being carried to his chamber. The wife or a concubine that was chosen by the emporer was brought into his room naked all the way from her room. This was not done to make her horney bu8t to make sure that she is not carrying a weapon. The number of times a concubine was chosen secured her social standing. Depending upon status, each rank would dine from "color -coded" plates, cups and bowls. Only the Emperor and Empress were entitled to use real gold or "radiant yellow" porcelain. Over 3000 pieces of g old and silver plate were held in Qing kitchens during the 18th century. The Emperor's choice of successor was usually kept secret until after his death, when it was verified by bringing together a document held by the emperor with a document previously co ncealed in a sealed box. Ministers and officials had to prostrate themselves on the floor before reporting to the Emperor.

No one was allowed to see the emporer's face in the whole dynesty except from a very few people. The panelty for seeing the emporer's face was none other than death. The Supreme Harmony Hall of the Forbidden City was attacked by fire and struck by lightening many times. Manchu women did not bind their feet, but wore shoes mounted on six - to eight-inch platforms, giving them the totterin g gait considered seductive. There were alot of shemales in the Forbidden City who worked there. At one time there were 70,000 shemales in the forbidden city. They were not shemales naturally but males used to get themselves operated to live in the Forbidd en City. Sometimes parents also turned their boy into a shemale by getting him operated without his consent. Though with the passage of time number of shemales kept on reducing and the last emporer had just 1500 of them in the Forbidden City. Instead of jousting with lances, Chinese courtiers took part in the competitive sport of poetry composition. Portraits have a special significance in China because of the widespread practice of ancestor worship. "The Last Emperor", familiarly known as Puyi, succeeded t o the throne when he was not even three years old. He was forced to abdicate in February 1912, but was held in the Forbidden City until 1924. During those years he had a British tutor, Reginald Johnston, who gave him his first bicycle. Puyi once said that he was weeping when he first sat on that huge throne. People in his palace whispered that weeping is a bad omen and it proved to be a bad omen as he was forced to abdicate three years later. This ended the 2000 years old rule. Puyi was imprisoned for a tot al of 15 years, first in Russia and then in China. The forbidden city might have still been forbidden for the general public if the last emporer Puyi would not have planned to go back to the forbidden city. It was converted into The Palace Museum by the go vernment to stop him from going back to the forbidden city. The Palace Museum holds close to 50,000 items of paintings. Of these, more than 400 date from before the Yuan Dynasty (1271 -1368). This is the largest such collection in China and includes some of the rarest and most valuable paintings in Chinese history. The Palace Museum has one of the largest collections of mechanical timepieces of the 18th and 19th centuries in the world, with more than 1000 pieces. The Palace Museum's bronze collection dates f rom the early Shang Dynasty (founded c. 1766 BC). Of the almost 10,000 pieces held, about 1600 are inscribed items from the pre-Qin period (to 221 BC). A significant part of the collection is ceremonial bronzeware from the imperial court, including complet e sets of musical instruments used by the imperial orchestras.

The articrafts of the Palace Museum were moved away from the museum because of the Japanese invasion on China in 1933. Later they were restored to the Palace Museum and surprisingly it is claim ed that none of the articrafts were lost or destroyed, though some of them are now in taiwan but not destroyed.(Some historians disagree with this and they are of the view that some articrafts were lost.) The Palace Museum holds 340,000 pieces of ceramics and porcelain. These include imperial collections from the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, as well as pieces commissioned by the Palace, and, sometimes, by the Emperor personally. This collection is notable because it derives from the imperial collectio n, and thus represents the best of porcelain production in China. The Palace Museum holds about 320,000 pieces of porcelain from the imperial collection. The rest are almost all held in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and the Nanjing Museum. The Palace Museum has one of the largest collections of mechanical timepieces of the 18th and 19th centuries in the world, with more than 1000 pieces. The collection contains both Chinese- and foreign-made pieces. The first mechanical clock was brought to the Forbidden City by a priest in 1601. The biggest time piece in the Palace Museum is more than 2 meters long. Atlantis Atlantis is the name of an island first mentioned and described by the classical Greek philosopher Plato in the dialogues Timaeus and Critias. Over 11000 years back (in 9000BC) there existed an island nation located in the middle of the Atlantic ocean pop ulated by a noble and powerful race. The people of this land possessed great wealth thanks to the natural resources found throughout their island. The island was a center for trade and commerce. The rulers of this land held sway over the people and land of their own island and well into Europe and Africa. This was the island of Atlantis. Plato, in his dialogues the Timaeus and the Critias, tells of the high civilization that flourished there before the island was destroyed by an earthquake. The legend persists, and societies for the discovery of Atlantis remain active. Plato described Atlantis as an ideal state, and the name is considered synonymous with Utopia. According to Plato, the walls of Atlantis were constructed of red, white and black rock quarried from the moats, and were covered with brass, tin and orichalcum, respectively. Every passage to the city was guarded by gates and towers, and a wall surrounded each of the city's rings. The island of Atlantis was the domain of Poseidon, god of the sea. Whe n Poseidon fell in love with a mortal woman, Cleito, he created a dwelling at the top of a hill near the middle of the island and surrounded the dwelling with rings of water and land to protect her.

Greek myths tell us that Cleito gave birth to five sets o f twin boys who became the first rulers of Atlantis. The island was divided among the brothers with the eldest, Atlas, first King of Atlantis, being given control over the central hill and surrounding areas. At the top of the central hill, a temple was bui lt to honor Poseidon which housed a giant gold statue of Poseidon riding a chariot pulled by winged horses. It was here that the rulers of Atlantis would come to discuss laws, pass judgments, and pay tribute to Poseidon.. To facilitate travel and trade, a water canal was cut through of the rings of land and water running south for 5.5 miles (~9 km) to the sea. The city of Atlantis sat just outside the outer ring of water and spread across the plain covering a circle of 11 miles (1.7 km). This was a densely populated area where the majority of the population lived. Beyond the city lay a very fertile plain 330 miles (530 km) long and 110 miles (190 km) wide surrounded by another canal used to collect water from the rivers and streams of the mountains. The clim ate was such that two harvests were possible each year. One in the winter fed by the rains and one in the summer fed by irrigation from the canal water. Surrounding the plain to the north were mountains which soared to the skies. Villages, lakes, rivers, a nd meadows dotted the mountains. Besides the harvests, the island provided all kinds of herbs, fruits, and nuts. An abundance of animals, including elephants, roamed the island. For many generations the Atlanteans lived simple, virtuous lives. But slowly t hey began to change. Greed and power began to corrupt the Atlanteans. When Zeus saw the immorality of the Atlanteans he gathered the other gods to determine a suitable punishment. Soon, in one violent surge it was gone(most probably a deadly earthquaqe but the reason of its destruction could be a volcanic eruption or a tsunami). The island of Atlantis, its people, and its memory were swallowed by the sea. Technology In 1982 the computer was named "Ma n of the Year" by Time magazine. A Chinese Scientist discovered that the Earth is round during the Han Dynasty by measuring the sun and moon's path in the sky. He recorded this fact down in the imperial records but went unnoticed until it was unearthed rec ently. The largest diamond that was ever found was 3106 carats. A rocket-like device can be traced back to Ancient Greece when a flying steam powered pigeon was built out of wood. Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on fu rniture to keep the air cool.

In 1876, the first microphone was invented by Emile Berliner. Research on pigs led to the development of CAT scans. Sixteen percent fewer girls than boys reported ever talking to their parents about science and technology issu es. A cesium atom in an atomic clock that beats over nine billion times a second. From the smallest microprocessor to the largest mainframes, an average American depends on more than 250 computers per day. Dating back to the 1600s, thermometers were filled with brandy instead of mercury. The first hard drive available for the Apple II had a capacity of 5 Megabytes. Would you believe that the quartz crystal in your wristwatch vibrates 32,768 times a second. The electric chair was invented by a dentist. The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, "Mary had a little lamb." While still in college, Bill Gates and Paul Allen once built a special purpose machine called "Traff-O-Data." It was a machine to analyze information gathered by tra ffic monitors. But they never found any buyers for their machine. Birthday In America, there was once a tradition where the child was spanked gently; once for every year he had lived a nd once for good luck. A child of ten would be spanked eleven times. In Ireland, the birthday child was lifted by his hands and feet and &quot;bumped&quot; on the floor, once for every year he has lived, and once for good luck. In Denmark, a flag is flow o utside the window when someone in the house is celebrating a birthday.</li> Korea has an interesting birthday tradition. When a child&rsquo;s first birthday is celebrated it is dressed in special clothes. Guests gather for a huge feast and leave money for the child, whose future is foretold by the things he picks up. In Russia, a birthday pie is served in lieu of a cake. A message is carved on the crust. Traditionally, children in Japan celebrated their birthdays on January 1. Family and friends gathered ar ound to protect them and that&rsquo;s how birthday parties originated.

The actual day you were born only comes once every seven years. For instance, if you were born on Wednesday, your birthday will only fall on that day every seven years. The other six ye ars, you are actually celebrating your birth date. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!", the four -line ditty was written as a classroom greeting in 1893 by two Louisville teachers, Mildred J. Hill, an authority on Negro spirituals, and Dr. Patty Smith Hill, professor emeritus of education at Columbia University. The melody of the song Happy Birthday to You was composed by Mildred J. Hill, a schoolteacher born in Louisville, KY, on June 27, 1859. The song was first published in 1893, with the lyrics written by her sister, Patty Smith Hill, as "Good Morning To All." The song, Happy Birthday to You was copyrighted in 1935 and renewed in 1963. The song was apparently written in 1893, but first copyrighted in 1935 after a lawsuit (reported in the New York Times of August 15, 1934, p.19 col. 6) In 1988, Birch Tree Group, Ltd. sold the rights of the song to Warner Communications (along with all other assets) for an estimated $25 million (considerably more than a song). (reported in Time, Jan 2, 1989 v133 n1 p88(1) In the 80s, the song Happy Birthday to You was believed to generate about $1 million in royalties annually. With Auld Lang Syne and For He's a Jolly Good Fellow, it is among the three most popular songs in the English language. (reported in Time, Jan 2, 1989 v133 n1 p88(1) Happy Birthday to You continues to bring in approximately 2 million dollars in licensing revenue each year, at least as of 1996 accounting, according to Warner Chappell and a Forbes magazine article. Perfumes Perfume is made up of alcohol, water & perfume (fragrance) oil. It is a word that comes from Latin per fumum, which means "through smoke" (per means through, fumum means smoke). There are 3 major types: oriental, floral & chypre (means "very sincere" in French). There are also many sub -variations such as woody, musky, aquatic, spicy & fruity. Eau de - means "water of" in French. Eau de cologne - contains about 3-5% perfume oil. Used by men. Aftershave lotions & spl ash colognes - contains about 0.5-2% perfume oil. Used by men. Eau de parfum - contains about 15-18% perfume oil. Used by women. Eau de toilette - contains about 4-8% perfume oil. Used by women. Parfum (perfume) is the strongest of them all as it contains the most perfume oil. Use sparingly.

Scented ingredients added to perfumes include ginger, grapefruit, musk, peppercorns, mandarin peel, fig leaves, rose, watercress, bamboo, clementine, vanilia, honey suckle, green tea & the list goes on. A perfume contains between 10 to more than 250 ingredients.