Summer Palace in Beijing

Summer Palace-The Best Preserved Imperial Garden

"The Summer Palace in Beijing - first built in 1750, largely destroyed in the war of 1860 and restored on its original foundations in 1886 - is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value. "--by UNESCO, ref: 880

The Summer Palace is where the Royalty in Qing dynasty sailed to when the summer heat made the "Forbidden City" uncomfortable. Located at northwest suburb of Beijing city, the Summer Palace was first built in 1750 commissioned by Emperor Qinglong as a gift for his mother's birthday, and then rebuilt by Empress Dowager Cixi with funds formerly designated for a supposed new Imperial Navy. It's the largest and best preserved imperial garden in China, listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1998.

Layout of the Summer Palace

As the imperial Xanadu in Qing Dynasty, the huge park covers an area of 290 hectares, 75% of which is covered with water. Consisting of Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, it is a complex of pavilions, bridges, temples, gardens, corridors and small lakes. Sections and areas are well delimited and differentiated. The garden is divided into three parts: a political activity area with the Hall of Benevolent Longevity as its center, the living quarters of the royal family with the Palace of Jade Ripples and the Hall of Joyous Longevity at the center, and a sightseeing area featuring Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake, where People skate in winter and sail in summer. With its perfect layout, gorgeous buildings and enchanting landscape, it is the most splendid classical garden in China.

Most of the important buildings are in the space in the northeast corner, behind the East Gate, and on the Longevity Hill. Worth to visit are the various temples: Palace of Benevolent Longevity (first building by the East Gate), Long Corridor (with mythological scenes painted all over it), Tower of Buddhist Incense (which is imitated the Tibetan Style Lamaseries), Marble Boat (which is the biggest ancient stone boat in China), 17-Arch Bridge and Suzhou Street (which lined with shops in traditional Chinese buildings) etc.

In addition, the empress Dowager Cixi and the poor emperor Guangxu must be the main characters of your Summer-Palace tour.

Renshoudian - Palace of Benevolent Longevity

This is the first palace you see when you enter the East Gate. It is called Palace of Benevolent Longevity, the main building in the area for political activities. Like the Palace of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, this is the place where the emperors met with officials and handled state affairs when they were in the Summer Palace. The name of the palace was bestowed by the old lady Cixi in the hope of a long life, who plotted constantly and removed every possible threat to her control over the empire. Cixi would sit behind a gauze screen so that she could see her visitors, but they couldn't see her. In earlier years, she would sit behind Emperor Guangxu, but moved forward further until eventually she sat in the throne and the hapless 'emperor' sat at her right-hand side. In the hall, the hanging with the Chinese character for "Longevity" is encircled by a hundred bats, as the word for bat in Chinese is a homonym for happiness, so linking the two together.

Yulangtang - of Jade Ripples

The Yulangtang must be one of the saddest places in the Summer Palace. It remands visitors of the evil behavior of the Empress Dowager Cixi, who imprisoned the young emperor Guangxu here. In 1898, after Guangxu supported the liberal reformers, Cixi threw him in jail, guessing that everyone knew that she was the power anyway. Part of the building was specially converted with brick walls to prevent the emperor-prisoner from escaping. It is supposed that the rocks in the front garden were placed there to remind Guangxu of the filial piety expected of him to Cixi - who was not, of course, his mother at all.

Deheyuan - Palace of Virtuous Harmony

Behind the Palace of Benevolent Longevity is a whole complex of buildings, including the Deheyuan and the Leshoutang. The Deheyuan is actually a huge theatre, as Cixi was a great opera fan. She loved theatrical performances and enjoyed singing and performing Peking Operas herself. Nowadays, the buildings contain many memories of the theatre, but also contain the first car introduced in China, which is said to be a Mercedes presented by Yuan Shikai to Cixi in 1901.

Leshoutang - the Hall of Joyous Longevity

Alongside the Deheyuan is the Leshoutang, set on the eastern slope of the Longevity Hill. It is the main building of the living quarter. This hall was the residence for Empress Dowager Ci'xi when she spent summer time in the summer Palace. Many rooms are connected by galleries, and a special feature of the hall is China's first electric lighting. Both the Deheyuan are notable for the beautiful glass windows.

Long Corridor

Along the north shore of Kunming Lake is the amazing Long Corridor. It is 728 meters long and was listed as the first long corridor worldwide in the Guinness World Records. It is lovely decorated with 8000 scenes of Chinese Mythology as well as 546 paintings of the West Lake, telling stories of battles and mythological events. Actually, the main function of the Long Corridor is to link the living quarter with the sightseeing area.

Foxiangge - Tower of Buddhist Incense

Rising up from the lake, halfway along the lakefront is a series of buildings, and is really a separate palace complex, entered, from the lake, by a ceremonial archway. It was the place where the Empress Dowager Cixi held her birthday celebrations. On her birthday, October 10 of the Chinese lunar year, with Emperor Guangxu leading the troops, all ranks kowtowed to her as she sat on the "Nine-Dragon Throne" to receive greetings and rare gifts.

The 41-meter-high Tower of Buddhist Incense is the symbol of the Summer Palace. This three-storey, four-tiered octagonal tower sits among a group of pavilions and buildings which once held important books, manuscripts and information about China. On the ground floor of the tower is a 5-metre-high statue of a Bodhisattva. On the second and third floors, there are stunning murals and impressive inscriptions by a number of emperors.

There are many more treasures in the buildings around the Tower of Buddhist Incense, waiting for you to discover and admire.

Marble Boat

In 1888, Empress Dowager Cixi allocated money to help build China a modern navy. Instead of doing this, she decided to build a completely immobile boat on the waters edge, where she used to dine out in the evenings. Built with huge stones, the body of this boat is 36 meters long with two tiers. The huge marble boat was supposed to be unsinkable, indicating that the rule of the Qing Dynasty was as firm as the Marble Boat and there was no fear of overturning the boat. Ironically, many believe that the downfall of Qing dynasty can be imputed to Empress Dowager Cixi.

Bridges along the western causeway

The six different bridges of the western causeway of Kunming Lake are replicas of the bridges of famous Su and Bai causeways on West Lake in Hangzhou, famous for their elegance.

17-Arch Bridge

The 17-Arch marble Bridge, 150 meters long, which links the Eastern bank with South Lake Island, has balusters topped by 540 carved lions, each in a different pose.

Bronze ox

Bronze Ox, located to the east of 17-Arch Bridge, was cast in 1755 when Emperor Qianlong expanded Summer Palace. On the back of the ox, an 80-character-posy wrote by Emperor Qianlong was inscribed, telling that the ox was used to suppress flood.