The Forbidden City

"The project in the 1940s set an example for ancient architectural mapping in later years and left a crucial reference for studies on ancient Chinese cities' layouts."

There still is no academic report detailing the Forbidden City's architectural history, co-editor and Tianjin University professor Wang Qiheng points out. But he believes the pictures' publication is a first step.

Palace Museum Director Shan Jixiang says the records are invaluable to the museum's renovation, which started in 2002 and is slated for completion by 2020－the 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City's construction.

Shan says the book has been made possible by the research institute affiliated with the Palace Museum that was founded in 2013 to "break down barriers among different institutions". The book is one of the 10 major academic projects listed from the inception of the institute, which has more than 20 departments focusing on various fields.

"The research institute gathers efforts from different places beyond the Palace Museum," says its head and former Palace Museum director, Zheng Xinmiao.

"And many of our museum's retired scholars can continue to contribute. Different departments undertake concrete academic research projects. Their studies are more dynamic because they aren't restricted by administrators."

The institute also announced five new departments on June 2.

One will study more than 1,500 European antique clocks housed in the museum. Another will examine the historical episode of when over 3,000 boxes of artifacts from the Forbidden City were taken southward to protect them from the Japanese invasion.