In imperial China, no buildings were allowed to rise above the emperor’s throne, and it seems that even in the 21st century, going too high for a view of the city can land you in trouble with the authorities.
A sneak peek inside Beijing’s Forbidden City
This is the lesson that a New Zealand-based photographer learned when he sent his drone helicopter up over downtown Beijing for some aerial views of the city. Fortunately for him, the high-tech photographer was only briefly detained by the police for flying his camera-laden gadget too close to China’s government headquarters at Zhongnanhai, and his helicopter was returned to him when he left the country, according to a post on his personal blog.
It’s also lucky that many of his still images and video were preserved, so that we can enjoy shots of Beijing landmarks such as the Ming Tombs, the Forbidden City, and the Drum Tower, like you have never seen before. The specialist HDR photographer also captured stills and video of areas around the central business district of China’s capital, including the iconic CCTV tower.
All photos courtesy of Trey Ratcliff, stuckincustoms.com.
(Sorry for VPN-less China viewers, but the video appears to be Youtube-only at this point).
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- Rows of willows lead out to the mountains
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- The aerial view even shows off this building’s pet trees
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- The Forbidden City from the northeast tower
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- Seeing the Ming Tombs in a row
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- The Ming Tombs from overhead
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- A sneak peek inside Beijing’s Forbidden City
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- An aerial view of traffic around the drum tower
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- The drum tower
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- The CCTV tower in Beijing’s CBD
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- A park in Beijing’s CBD
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- Industrial buildings around Beijing’s 798
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