Palace Museum reopens its doors

The Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, reopened on Friday, ending a more than three-month closure due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

An identity card is needed to buy tickets via advance online reservation, and these may be purchased up to 10 days prior to a visit. A daily limit of 5,000 visitors has been set, with 3,000 before 1 pm and a further 2,000 after that time. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the venue's daily limit was 80,000 visitors.

The body temperature of visitors has to be checked before they enter, and those above 37.3 C will not be allowed in. Other requirements include the wearing of face masks, a "green" QR code on visitors' mobile phones－which indicates they have good health, and social distancing of 1 meter.

The museum's tour guide service has not resumed, and most of its souvenir shops remain closed.

In spite of the relatively low number of visitors on Friday, all the around 1,000 security and visitor service employees at the museum are on duty, said Du Haijiang, deputy director of the Palace Museum.

"More attention is put on the entrance and other spots where people easily gather," Du said.

Standing spots for the lineup are highlighted on the ground on the square before the entrance of the Meridian Gate, also known as Wumen.

Only some of the outdoor sections, including the central route, and courtyards and gardens on the western and eastern sides of the compound, are open to the public starting from Friday. All city walls and galleries will remain closed.

However, as it is the blossoming season for peonies, a one-way visitor route has been set out in the gardens in order to avoid the gathering of crowds.

News of the museum's reopening, which was announced on Wednesday, immediately sparked public interest in visits to the attraction, China's former imperial palace, which marks its 600th anniversary this year.

According to the museum's online booking system, tickets for visits on Friday sold out 90 minutes after the news was released on Wednesday evening, and all 25,000 tickets for the period of the five-day May Day holiday were snapped up within 12 hours. In addition, no tickets are available for the first Sunday after the May Day holiday. Du said that the current visitor limit may be adjusted according to the situation.

The National Museum of China also reopened on Friday and has adopted similar policies to the those at the Palace Museum. As all galleries of the museum are indoor areas, social distancing of 1.5 meters is required.

It will accept 3,000 visitors daily, scattered over three time periods, and online reservations are available seven days in advance. Tickets for the May Day holiday have also been fully booked. All tickets are free.

The two museums in the heart of Beijing, holding China's two largest collections－about 1.86 million items at the Palace Museum and 1 million items at the National Museum of China－were closed before Spring Festival due to the outbreak.

At a State Council Information Office news conference on Thursday, Luo Shugang, minister of culture and tourism, called on scenic sites throughout China to learn from the example set by the two museums.

"We're still in the containment phase of virus control. The pressure we're facing is not small," he said.

Luo urged local administrators to avoid hastily increasing limits on visitor numbers and to plan well.

About 70 percent of China's scenic spots have reopened so far.

Lin Qi contributed to this story.