AP PHOTOS: Beijing's imperial palace bustles with throngs of visitors in Qing dynasty costumes

BEIJING, China (AP) — In Beijing’s Forbidden City, once the sprawling palace to China’s Ming and Qing emperors and their legions of guards and servants, steady streams of visitors wearing historical costumes pose for portraits, in a fashion of centuries gone by.

It’s a phenomenon seen around heritage sites across China, inspired by comic book conventions and the Japanese passion for cosplay, but with additional nationalistic and cultural dimensions.

Though the historical veracity of the frocks and cloaks may not be guaranteed, they draw their inspiration from Chinese painting, theater and art, especially that of the Qing, China’s last dynasty that was known for its relative prosperity and cultural advances through trade in silk and porcelain.

During this time, China expanded its empire and its art and paintings flourished, as did clothing and textiles. Men and women wore full length elaborately embroidered silk robes and women wore hairpieces encrusted with flowers, pearls and gemstones.

The Qing fell in 1911 and following decades of warfare, power was seized by the Communist Party, which sought to grind out all vestiges of China’s imperial past.

With the abandonment in recent years of hard-core Maoism and rising prosperity, it is now common to see whole families decked out in Qing Dynasty garb, some of which is homemade, others rented from vendors at photo shoots who will also provide help with hairstyles and makeup.

Popular historical TV dramas and the rise of social media have fed the craze, and while they don’t involve battle reenactments like those popular in the U.S. and Europe, they reflect a growing respect for China’s history in the centuries before the communist takeover. Some participants base their looks on characters from novels, plays and poems going back centuries.

Throngs of people gather along the walls and a scenic moat surrounding the former palace — now a museum that is resplendent in weeping willows and turning colors during the late summer and early fall. Both professional and amateur photographers shop their samples to families and couples. Others in imperial dress take turns with their phone cameras. A group of students from the elite Tsinghua University celebrated their end of semester with a costume photo.

Despite the sweltering Beijing summer heat, families, friends and couples pose with a smile, sweat dripping down foreheads. It’s a serious affair, necessitating the right pose, the perfect prop and the ideal camera angle. And when everything is in place, they slip back in time — feeling like royalty and fulfilling a fantasy — however briefly with others like them living otherwise ordinary lives.

Chinese women dressed in Qing Dynasty attire walk in front of a traditional gate at Beihai park in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese walk out of a building that provides a one stop solution for achieving the Qing Dynasty traditional look in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese girl dressed in Qing Dynasty costume poses for a photograph outside Drum Tower at Gulou East Street in Beijing, China, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese dressed in Qing Dynasty attire walk at Beihai park in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese girl dressed in Qing Dynasty attire stands for photographs at Shichahai lake in Beijing, China, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese girl dressed in Qing Dynasty attire takes photographs of another near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese children dressed in Qing Dynasty royal attire stands for photographs at Beihai park in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese women dressed in Qing Dynasty attire at the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese woman walks dressed in Qing Dynasty attire with Manchu platform shoes near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese women dressed in Qing Dynasty attire stands for photographs near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese woman dressed in Qing Dynasty attire takes pictures near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese girl gets her hair done up at a business building that provides one stop service for the Qing Dynasty traditional look, in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese girl dressed in Qing Dynasty attire stands for a photograph near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese dressed in Qing Dynasty attire stand at a business building that provides one stop service for the traditional look in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese woman dressed in Qing Dynasty attire with a fingernail guard takes photographs near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese woman dressed in Qing Dynasty attire and headdress stands for a photograph at Beihai park in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese girl dressed in Qing Dynasty attire stands for photographs near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A group of students from the elite Tsinghua University, who celebrated their end of semester dressed in Qing Dynasty attire, shop at a convenience store in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Chinese woman dressed in Qing Dynasty attire wipes her sweat while posing for photographs near the Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Sunday, July 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese dressed in Qing Dynasty attire take pictures near the side entrance of Forbidden city in Beijing, China, Monday, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Chinese girls dressed in Qing Dynasty attire take pictures outside the Drum Tower at Gulou East Street in Beijing, China, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.

The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television program, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.

The arrest of the American citizens included a member of the Navy, who Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a former navy seal who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain's embassy in Venezuela did not reply to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.

The U.S. State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of a U.S. military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”

“Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.

The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 allies of Maduro who were accused by the U.S. government of obstructing voting during the disputed July 28 Venezuelan presidential election, and carrying out human rights abuses.

Earlier this week, Spain's parliament recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the election, angering Maduro allies who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain.

Tensions between Venezuela's government and the U.S. have increased as well following the election, whose result sparked protests within Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.

Venezuela's Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said Maduro won the election with 52% of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.

Opposition activists, however, surprised the government by collecting tally sheets from 80% of the nation's voting machines. The tally sheets collected by the opposition were published online, and they indicate that Gonzalez won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.

Despite international condemnation over the election's lack of transparency, Venezuela's supreme court, which has long backed Maduro, confirmed his victory in August. Venezuela's attorney general then filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week after it became clear he would be arrested.

Maduro has dismissed requests from several countries, including the leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide tally sheets that prove he won the election. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the U.S. is trying to overthrow him through sanctions and covert operations.

The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was held in Florida on money laundering charges. According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab had also helped Maduro to avoid U.S. Treasury sanctions through a complex network of shell companies.

FILE - Socialist Party President Diosdado Cabello gives his weekly press conference, in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, Aug. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists gathered at the presidential palace in support of his reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)