“The Emperor’s Secret Garden is the extraordinary story of Qianlong’s Garden over three centuries of Chinese history, from its Imperial past to the fast-paced modern China today.

The discovery of the Emperor’s Garden in the early 2000s sparked one of the most awe-inspiring restoration projects to date; The Lodge of Retirement in the Forbidden City in Beijing had lain undisturbed since the 1700s.

The fabled Forbidden City in Beijing, a 178 acre city-within-a-city, clothed in secrecy and surrounded by myth, was for centuries a tantalizing mystery to the west. Isolated behind high walls for nearly five hundred years, successive rulers built up a collection of the most remarkable and opulent buildings and artworks of Chinese culture. The city became The Palace Museum when the Emperor left its sanctuary in 1924.”

Here is the 1983 documentary entitled, Castle, hosted by author and illustrator, David Macaulay.

In French.