To date, only eight excavations have taken place within the Forbidden City which were all led by archaeologists from the Palace Museum. Member from Durham University's Archaeology Department will become the first UK team to excavate inside the walls of the Forbidden City.
According to Heritage Daily:
Durham University and China’s Palace Museum signed an agreement in December 2016, bringing together the two world-renowned centres of research and cultural excellence for the first time, which builds on Durham University’s already strong links with China.
Researchers from the University’s Department of Archaeology, which is ranked in the top four in the world in the 2017 QS World University Subject Rankings, will work with Chinese colleagues to study the historical distribution of ancient Chinese traded cultural artefacts in the Middle East and Europe, some of which are over 1,000 years old.
Read an account of the excavations by archaeologist Peter Brown here.