Palace Museum to get 5G technology

When visitors to the gigantic Palace Museum complex in Beijing feel a need to sit down for a cup of tea or find a bathroom without a long line, they soon will be able to turn to their smartphones for the information they need.

This modern-day solution at the venerable compound comes thanks to an agreement signed on Friday by the museum and Huawei Co, the telecommunication giant, to build a "smart network" using 5G technology, the fifth generation of mobile network communications.

Under the agreement, 5G Wi-Fi signals will cover the 720,000-square-meter compound, China's imperial palace from 1420 to 1911 and also known as the Forbidden City, and the branch museum of the institution under construction in northwestern Beijing.