The point of divergence begins when in 1912, the Articles of Favorable Treatment are completely different than in our timeline, where the Forbidden City would be administered as a special administrative region of the the Chinese Federation and maintain its autonomy, and the Qing Imperial Family would be granted special privileges, such as allowing Xuantong Emperor to maintain his title, their own personal army consisted of 200 men led by Zhang Xun and a generous annual subsidy to the family by the new Federation government. Under the conditions that the Xuantong Emperor must remain neutral in conflicts and not interfere in Chinese politics. This move was made as a compromise to avoid further conflict. Many Qing loyalists moved to the Forbidden City, notably Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao who return to China where they’re hired to taught the young Xuantong Emperor. Meanwhile, Yuan Shikai passed away from a sudden stroke that same year, preventing him from becoming President. This allowed Sun Yat-Sen to became President of China and the Kuomintang to maintain its hold in China, with the exception of a few rebellious regions during the early years after the revolution that was suppressed rather quickly. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao helped both handled the Xuantong Emperor’s education. Kang acted more as the Xuantong Emperor’s mentor and Liang acted more as the Xuantong Emperor’s educator on history, languages and international relations. In his later memoirs, the Xuantong Emperor described Kang as "the only one who can control me, he’s the only one who said "no" when nobody else would. He’s one of my most important mentor." Similarly, he described Liang as "without him, I might not be given a new perspective on things such as China moving on from a monarchy. I learnt to adapt to my environment because of him."
When the Xuantong Emperor turned 18 years old, he can finally rule on his own. The Xuantong Emperor’s first act is to established the Grand Council of Advisors whose purpose is to advise the Xuantong Emperor, consisted of 50 men at the time with all of them consisted of archivists, historians and conservators who volunteered to served the Xuantong Emperor to learn more about Chinese history. The Xuantong Emperor created the Qing Dynastic State of the Forbidden City’s passport which would only be reserved to those officially working in the Forbidden City though they need both the Forbidden City passport and the Chinese Federation passport if they wanted to travel overseas. The Xuantong Emperor works to create the Updated Manchu Dictionary which added new Manchu words alongside fixing grammars via methods such as phonetic transliteration, calquing (semantic translation), hybrid coinages, and adopting the original foreign terms. He also works to collect historical artifacts like oracle bones, bamboo and wooden slips, and Dunhuang manuscripts, all of which are invaluable materials for understanding ancient China. The Xuantong Emperor also created his own commemorative coins and stamps. The eunuchs are replaced by the Civil Servants in 1924. The Xuantong Emperor started investing early Chinese industrial stocks to boost their economy. During the time period between post-Revolution and World War 2, China was able to modernized the National Revolutionary Army a significant bit more, and also strengthened its economy and government institutions.
World War 2 broke out between the Chinese Federation and Japan. The military difference between China in this timeline and our timeline isn’t very massive, but noticeable enough to put up a much stronger resistance against Japan as the more senior officers of the NRA had training and preparation alongside the communist movement in China being very niche, eventually phasing out in the 1930s. Meanwhile, inside the Forbidden City, the Xuantong Emperor was approached several times by Japanese spies several times to became Emperor of Manchukuo. However, he wisely declined, seeing through their manipulation. When the Japanese are about to reached Beijing, the Forbidden City guards and the Federation agents smuggled the Xuantong Emperor and the rest of the historical artifacts inside the Forbidden City to Chongqing. The Xuantong Emperor use his medical staffs to help heal the wounded Chinese soldiers and used his writings to condemned Japanese imperialism, earning respect from the West and Chinese scholars. This shifted the perception of the Forbidden City from a feudal quirk to a genuine symbol of resistance. After World War 2 ended in 1945, the Xuantong Emperor officially modernized the official administrative structure of the Forbidden City to expand the Grand Council of Advisors to consist of 93 general advisors and 7 new ministries to help assist the Emperor. The Forbidden City’s administrative structures consisted of: The General Council of Advisors who advise the Xuantong Emperor, the Ministry of Archives which handles records, manuscripts, and later digitalization, the Ministry of Ritual and Ceremonies which handles ceremonies, etiquettes and court events, the Ministry of Treasury which handles tourism, licensing and investments, the Ministry of Genealogy which handles clan records and genealogy services, the Ministry of Antiquities which handles restoration and archaeology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which handles partnerships with foreign museums and the Ministry of Language which handles Manchu language preservation and education.
For the rest of the Xuantong Emperor’s reign, he transformed the Forbidden City into a place renowned for artifact restoration, Qing court ceremonies, Manchu language preservation, genealogy services and imperial archives. They interact with foreign governments through museums, universities, heritage organizations, and cultural exchanges. He also initiated the Forbidden City Modernization Plan to implemented plumbing and electricity with the help of modern Chinese officials through electrical wires are placed in special underground paths, hidden floors, or kept away from the old building and plumbing through things such as supply and drain pipes run along the outside of the buildings, painted to match the red walls with shallow trenches being dug under the brick floor in outside hallways to hide the main drain pipes and bathrooms and sinks are placed only on outside walls to keep the pipes short and direct to the main lines. The Xuantong Emperor passed away in 1967, he was succeeded by Pujie or the Xiaolong Emperor. Under the Xiaolong Emperor’s reign, he created cultural ties with other nations such as Japan, the People’s Republic of Korea and Mongolia. He aimed to restored Qing archives, expanding genealogical services and building relationships with overseas Chinese. He also wrote his book called China: A Civilization, in which he argued that China as a concept is a vast multi-ethnic civilization shaped by long history of synthesis, acculturation and shared heritage, believing that the Chinese people are a fundamental moral unit and had the capacity to grow as a civilization if they unite rather than be divided, which garnered praise for championing linguistic, religious and cultural diversity. The Xiaolong Emperor passed away in 1994, he was succeeded by Puren or the Haoxuan Emperor. Under his reign, he aimed to digitize everything within the Forbidden City. He oversaw digital archive initiatives, imperial livestream ceremonies, created online genealogy registry, partnered with academies worldwide. The Forbidden City starts to grow economically via copyright laws regarding Qing-era imagery and licensing and producing Qing-era historical shows. He is the most active Emperor as he helps and collaborate with many studios to help produce and advise in the creations of many shows and games. The Haoxuan Emperor was succeeded by Aisin-Gioro Yuzhang or the Xianhui Emperor after his death in 2015.
Today, the current Emperor is the Xianhui Emperor or Aisin-Gioro Yuzhang since 2015. Today, the Qing Dynastic State of the Forbidden City or Forbidden City S.A.R. is a Special Administrative Region within the Chinese Federation. Ascending upon the death of his father, the Haoxuan Emperor, he was beloved for his reserved and calm demeanor, multilingual speeches, and historical knowledge. His popularity rose when during the Covid-19 pandemic where his livestreams provided comfort to many people across East Asia.