In the Ming dynasty, after the Prince of Tan ascended the throne as emperor Zhu Di, he moved Nanjing ("southern capital") to Beijing ("northern capital') and oversaw construction of the Forbidden City between 1406 and 1420.

The Forbidden City was created to embody the idea of the Chinese emperor as the center of the universe and to evoke a visceral sense of his power.

For more than five hundred years, the Ming and Qing emperors ruled China from the palaces of the Forbidden City. The art and architectural treasures from this period are the cultural heart of modern China.

It was the unassailed seat of imperial power right through until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. The Academy Award winning "The Last Emperor" catches the last spasms of imperial glory, and is very much worth watching.

Of late there have been quite a few popular movies catching the flavor of Chinas' long history, of the intrigues and wars, some of them loosely based on reality. The last one I viewed was Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower" and it was most enjoyable even if a little fanciful. The battle scenes in a palace based on the design of the Forbidden City are terrific.

There's one scene right near the end — quite thought provoking in terms of the scale of things carried out in China, even if not as spectacular as some of the action scenes — after the final battle has been lost by the hero, when the myriad broken pots of yellow chrysanthemums are quickly replaced as if nothing has occurred.

Now you can deeply immerse yourself in the environment of the Forbidden City, from the comfort of your desk. (And nothing like as tiring as actually going there. I visited the City briefly one weekend during an IBM business trip, and became exhausted after walking round just a tiny part of the huge grounds.)

Three years in the making, IBM has meticulously built a virtual recreation of the architecture and artifacts of the former palace grounds, enabling online visitors to get a first-hand view into imperial China as embodied in the intricate design, history and storied culture of this newly accessible Forbidden City.

To quote the press release: "Using virtual world technology, rather than experiencing its wonders in isolation, the virtual Forbidden City allows you to see and interact with other users and a range of helpful automated characters."

"As you explore the virtual Forbidden City, you can choose to simply observe the buzz of activity, or you can take tours and participate in activities that provide insights into important aspects of Qing culture."

This, they say, "is the world's first online virtual world dedicated to a country's cultural heritage. This is presented as a three-dimensional replica of the square-kilometre palace grounds called The Virtual Forbidden City. The project partners' goal was to create an experience that is as authentic as possible by being true to important Chinese principles of balance and harmony."

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