As a virtual tourist, you can now visit China's 178-acre Forbidden City in Beijing, watch the emperor feast at dinner, train fighting crickets and feed them with blood-fattened mosquitoes, or practice archery with the help of a courtesan, reports Reuters. (But you can't have a Starbucks.)
"When you enter the Forbidden City you choose one of nine historical costumes, which is to give a sense of history but also keep a sense of decorum," said John Tolva, program manager at IBM who led the project, dubbed "Beyond Space and Time."
"You can't run and you can't fly," he added, a restriction that aims to prevent other virtual visitors, whom you can see and interact with, being distracted.
On the other hand, you don't have to spend time with your forehead touching the ground….
As AFP notes: "Computer kiosks in the real Forbidden City allow people there to visit the virtual version as well."
The development -- based on games software -- took three years and cost IBM more than $3 million. A visit requires a 204MB download (for Windows XP or Vista) and versions are also available for Linux and Mac OS X 10.4.5.
IBM's other "cultural heritage projects" include the Vatican Library, the Pietà, Eternal Egypt and the Hermitage Museum.
