Palace of harmony

Sounds of the Forbidden City are at the heart of a new music project, Chen Nan reports.

An old door creaking open, raindrops splashing down, cats meowing and birds chirping — those different kinds of sounds make the Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, euphonious.

Those sounds will be captured, recorded and presented to the audience via a new music project, The Sounds of the Palace Museum, which was launched on Feb 24 in Beijing.

Co-organized by the Palace Museum, the China National Traditional Orchestra and the China division of Universal Music Group, the project will include an album, a concert and a global tour.

The Forbidden City was China's royal palace from 1420 to 1911 during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Thanks to its rich history and abundant royal legacies, over 1.86 million cultural relics are now housed in the museum, attracting tourists from around the world.

"The Palace Museum is not silent. We will work with musicians of the China National Traditional Orchestra to make the sounds of the Palace Museum alive with new original music pieces, which will involve the concepts of the four seasons and the 24 solar terms," says Du Haijiang, deputy director of the museum.