Part of renovated Forbidden City to open

The first phase of a wide-ranging facelift of China's famed Forbidden City is finished.

The repairs began in 2003 - five years ago. The group of buildings brought under repair in the first phase of the project includes Wuying Hall and Taihemen or the Gate of Supreme Harmony. The work was carried out over an area of 30,000-sq meters. With the completion of the facelift, the buildings will be open for tourists later this year. The Forbidden City, in the center of Beijing, once covered 6.8 square km. That was back when it was the Imperial residence of emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

As the world's largest palace complex, the Forbidden City is China's most popular tourist destination. It is visited by some 1.6 million foreigners a year.