More room to breathe as the Forbidden City thins the crowds

On Oct 2, 2012, more than 180,000 people flocked to the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing, setting a record for the highest number of daily visitors in the institution's history.

Some of them became exhausted amid the vast crowds lining up in front of the box office, as did security guards.

This presented a major challenge for Shan Jixiang, who had only been in his job as the museum's director for several months. The potential for a stampede among such large crowds had given him sleepless nights.