By Joanne | December 2025

 

When night falls over Beijing, the Forbidden City does not simply go dark.

Most tourists hurry toward the exits, but as the massive red gates creak shut, the atmosphere within the 720,000 square meters of timber and stone shifts.

For centuries, this palace—now known as the Palace Museum—was a gilded cage. A place of exquisite beauty, but people said, it also of profound sorrow, betrayal, and whispers that refuse to die.

If you’re planning a Forbidden City tour, you aren’t just walking through an architectural marvel.

You’re stepping into a place where stories linger, sometimes a little too closely.

Let me tell you a few.

Source: https://www.bilibili.com/opus/370298271949022646

1. The Concubine’s Well: The Sobbing of Pearl

Deep within the northeastern corner of the Palace Museum lies a small, inconspicuous stone well. Today, its opening is narrow, covered by a heavy stone, but in 1900, it was the site of a tragic execution.

Zhen Fei (the Pearl Concubine) was the favorite of the Guangxu Emperor, known for her progressive ideas and rebellious spirit. However, she was a thorn in the side of the formidable Empress Dowager Cixi. As the Eight-Nation Alliance troops approached Beijing, Empress Dowager ordered the young woman to be thrown into this very well.

Source: Website

The Haunting: Guards and late-staying staff have frequently reported hearing the sound of faint, rhythmic sobbing emanating from the courtyard near the well.

Some claim that if you stand quietly long enough, you’ll hear a faint sound—not a splash, but fabric dragging against stone, as if silk were being pulled downward again and again.

Source: https://weibo.com/7338784232/Q3u5mszkA?refer_flag=1001030103_

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2. The 1992 Lightning Incident: Spirits on the Crimson Walls

Perhaps the most famous modern account of the supernatural occurred during a fierce thunderstorm in 1992. All of the tourists in there was caught in a sudden downpour near the palace walls when a flash of lightning illuminated the crimson corridor.

The Vision: To their absolute horror, the tourists saw a procession of palace maids—decked in traditional headdresses and long robes—walking single-file along the wall. The figures were translucent, moving like they are still alive. Some people even managed to capture a few grainy photographs before the figures vanished into the brickwork.

Source: https://k.sina.cn/article_2781433635_a5c94f2300100wicf.html

The "Scientific" Explanation: Skeptics claim that the palace walls, coated in red paint containing ferric oxide, acted as a giant "tape recorder." They suggest that the lightning triggered a playback of images recorded hundreds of years ago. Whether it was a scientific fluke or a ghostly loop, those who saw it were forever changed by the sight of the Qing Dynasty bleeding into the 20th century.

If the thought of those spectral maids gives you the shivers, it's time to find safety in numbers and bright lights. Click the image to browse our exclusive Beijing night tours, from craft beer crawls to high-end lounge experiences that keep the shadows at bay.

3. The Cold Palace: Shadows in the Forbidden Zones

The "Cold Palace" (Leng Gong) wasn't a single building, but a designation for any remote courtyard where disgraced concubines were banished to live out their days in isolation and poverty. These areas are often closed to the public, and for good reason.

Source: Website

Unlike the sorrowful Pearl Concubine, the energy here is described as heavy and resentful. I can feel a sudden drops in temperature when I visit there, even it is in the sweltering Beijing summer, and some accompanier claimed feeling of being watched by dozens of eyes from the pitch-black interiors of the locked halls. Some have even heard the scratching of fingernails against the paper windows, as if the forgotten women are still trying to claw their way back to the Emperor’s favor.

Source: https://www.bilibili.com/opus/370298271949022646

It is also said that if you look into certain palace wells at midnight, you won't see the reflection of the grass or stones, and you certainly won't see your own face. Instead, a stranger’s countenance stares back at you from the shimmering water.

4. The Yin and Yang Path: The Man Who Ate Eight Buns

Of all the supernatural legends whispered behind the palace gates, none are quite as bone-chilling as the "Yin Yang Path."

This narrow corridor earned its name from the way the late afternoon sun hits the high walls, slicing the path perfectly in two: one side bathed in golden light (the side of the living), and the other swallowed by a deep, unnatural shadow (the side of the dead).

Local lore warns that once the sun sets, the "dark" side of the path belongs solely to the spirits of palace workers who never found their way out.

Source: Website

In the early 1980s, a young man living in the palace dormitories decided to challenge this legend. He was a robust, barrel-chested fellow with a legendary appetite—famous for polishing off eight steamed buns and a mountain of rice in a single sitting. To him, ghost stories were nothing more than old wives' tales. He puffed out his chest and boasted to his colleagues that he would walk the Yin Yang Path at midnight just to prove them wrong.

The next morning, however, the man was unrecognizable. He was pale, trembling, and his eyes were hollow. "Never mention that path to me again," he whispered to his friends. "I won't even speak its name."

Source: Website

He confessed that while washing rice in the courtyard at dusk, a voice whispered directly into his ear: "I heard you want to walk the Yin Yang Path?" He turned around—no one was there. Thinking he misheard, he continued, only for the voice to return, louder and colder: "Is it you who wants to walk the Yin Yang Path?" He fled in terror. From that day on, his legendary appetite vanished, his health withered, and he remained perpetually ill until the end of his days.

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5. A Midnight Procession to the Great Hall

One of the most vivid modern accounts comes from a Beijing local. In the early 90s, his uncle was a night watchman at the Palace Museum, and out of teenage curiosity, the boy snuck in to stay late. Around 11:00 PM, a sudden, violent wind whipped through the pitch-black courtyards.

Source: https://www.bilibili.com/opus/370298271949022646

As the boy hurried toward the Central Great Hall, a flicker of movement caught his eye under the dim, yellow glow of a gatehouse lamp. A woman in Qing Dynasty silk flashed past and vanished. Terrified, he ran back to his uncle’s office. His uncle, usually a stoic man, turned pale and asked, "Did you go into the Great Hall?" When the boy said no, his uncle sighed in relief, muttering that one must never enter that area at night.

Source: Website

Driven by a mix of fear and morbid fascination, the boy persuaded his uncle to walk back with him. When they reached the gatehouse, the boy froze. It wasn't just one woman anymore. A whole silent procession of palace maids was gliding toward the Great Hall, their feet barely touching the ancient stones, heading toward a royal court that had ceased to exist a century ago.

Source: https://weibo.com/7338784232/Q3u5mszkA?refer_flag=1001030103_

6. The Gates May Close, But the Beijing Night Continues...

As the heavy vermillion gates of the Forbidden City swing shut and the echoes of the "Pearl" concubine’s cries fade into the night air, a different kind of magic begins to stir in the narrow hutongs and neon-lit avenues of Beijing.

The spirits of the past don't simply vanish; they migrate. They settle into the velvet corners of dimly lit lounges and the aromatic steam of hidden bars, waiting for those brave enough to look for them.

Source: Website

A Forbidden City Tour shows you history.
A night in Beijing lets you feel it.

You can choose to lean into the mystery, stepping into a world where mixology meets mysticism—where a cocktail isn't just a drink, but a divination tool crafted with traditional Chinese herbs and a touch of urban sorcery.

Source: Local of Bridge to Locals – Yue

Or, if the ghosts of the Qing Dynasty are too heavy for one evening, retreat into the golden age of 20th-century China. Find yourself in a cinematic, movie-themed sanctuary that captures the glamour, the jazz, and the high-drama aesthetics of old Shanghai and Beijing. It’s a chance to toast to the "Last Emperor" or the silver-screen icons of a bygone era in an atmosphere that feels like a living film set.

Are you ready to cross the threshold into the night? Click the image above to book your private Beijing nightlife experience. From consulting a "modern witch" over a botanical gin to getting lost in the cinematic nostalgia of the last century, we’ll make sure your night is just as legendary as the palace itself.