Location: 6 mi (10 km) Northwest of Bejing
Tel. (010) 6288 1144
Subway Xizhi Men than take Bus 32
Open: 8:30am- 5 pm daily
The Summer Imperial Palace is the summer residence of the
emperors of the Qing Empire on the outskirts of Beijing. The park
with more than 3,000 buildings is included in the UNESCO World
Heritage List. To the west until 1860 were the extensive Imperial
Gardens.
The creation of the "Garden of Pure Ripples" began
in 1750 by order of Emperor Qianlong with the construction of a
man-made lake Kunming (the prototype is Dianchi). From the land dug
during the construction of the lake, the Hill of Longevity was
erected, on top of which several Buddhist temples were built.
Along the coast is the Long Corridor, listed in the Guinness
Book of Records as "the world's longest painted corridor" - 728
meters. About 8 thousand paintings hang on the walls. Around are
bronze figures of dragons and lions - symbols of imperial power.
Here, on the shore, stands the famous Marble Boat, where Empress
Cixi loved to dine, having spent money collected for the
construction of the Chinese navy - 30 million liang of silver
(937,500 kg) on the creation of the Summer Palace.
The park
has been rebuilt several times, its total area is about 290
hectares. Located in the northern part of the park, Mount
Wanshoushan ("Mountain of Longevity") occupies a quarter of this
area, and Kunming Lake, lying to the south of the mountain,
approximately three-quarters.
Emperor Qianlong had it built in 1751-1764 for a total of 4.8 million
silver taels as a gift for his mother's 60th birthday. The 297-hectare
complex was created on the site of the former Garden of the Golden
Water, which had existed since 1153 and was the preferred place for the
imperial court to stay during the hot, humid summer months. The
buildings are among the masterpieces of Chinese architecture, the park
among the most impressive Chinese landscape gardens. Like the Old Summer
Palace further east, the New Summer Palace fell victim to retaliatory
action in the course of the Second Opium War and was destroyed on
October 17th and 18th, 1860 by an Anglo-French invading army. The
photographer Felice Beato, who accompanied the Anglo-French invasion
army, documented the palace complexes photographically between October
6th and 16th, so that an idea of the complex at that time has been
preserved.
However, unlike the Old Summer Palace, the New Summer
Palace was rebuilt between 1885 and 1895 at the initiative of Empress
Dowager Cixi and Chief of the Imperial Navy Prince Yi Xuan. It was
financed by diversion of funds that were actually intended for the
expansion of the fleet, which is still remembered today by the famous
marble boat in the palace lake. In the course of the suppression of the
Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the New Summer Palace was again destroyed by
the British in retaliation and then rebuilt. After being closed in 1908
by Emperor Guangxu's widow, it was reopened in 1924. However, only a few
could afford to visit because of the exorbitantly high entrance fees at
the beginning. Today, the Summer Palace is a magnet for visitors and is
one of the most visited sights in the Chinese capital.
As in most Chinese gardens and parks, buildings also have a high
priority here. Along the shore of Kunming Lake and the chain of hills to
the north of it are distributed i.a. following buildings:
the
east gate,
The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, where Emperor
Guangxu received foreign diplomats but was under the constant
surveillance of Dowager Empress Cixi, the de facto most powerful person
in the state, hidden behind a screen,
The Hall of Jade Waves,
The
Hall of Aroma where Guangxu's consort Longyu resided,
The Garden of
Virtue and Harmony with the 21 meter high theater building and the Hall
of Exhilaration,
The Hall of Joy and Longevity,
The hall where one
listens to the orioles, formerly an opera theater,
the
cloud-dispersing hall,
The 728 m long walkway,
The Pavilion of
Buddhist Fragrance,
The Precious Clouds Pavilion, which looks like a
wooden structure but is made entirely of bronze and weighs 200 tons,
The Pavilion of the Four Great Continents,
The Marble Ship, a
water-built vantage point for viewing Kunming Lake,
The More
Treasures Pagoda,
The Seventeen Arch Bridge,
the jade ribbon
bridge,
The Garden of Harmony and Pleasure, a so-called garden within
a garden, which, unlike the other parts of the park, is designed in the
southern Chinese style.
The replica of a canal with shops from Suzhou
The Hall of Jade Waves
In the Hall of the Jade Waves (Yulan Tang,
玉澜堂, Yùlántáng, dt. Hall of the Jade-colored Waves) were the living
quarters of the Emperor Guangxu, where he was imprisoned by Cixi in the
course of the Hundred Days Reform in 1898 . Guangxu did his daily work
in the central room of the hall. This 'office' was furnished, among
other things, with a throne and a desk made of red sandalwood. There
were numerous panes of glass decorated with landscape paintings and fans
of emerald feathers - symbols of royal power. Northwest of it was the
Emperor's bedchamber.
The Hall of Joy and Longevity
The Hall
of Joy and Longevity (Leshou Tang, 乐寿堂, Lèshòutáng) was built in 1750
under Emperor Qianlong. It originally had two floors, but the building
was burned down by Anglo-French troops in 1860 during Emperor Xianfeng's
reign. In 1886, the hall was built in its present form with one floor
and served as the private chambers of Empress Dowager Cixi.
The
Walkway
The 728 m long walkway (Chang Lang, 长廊, chángláng) was built
along the shore of Kunming Lake. It consists of 273 pairs of connected
columns and several pavilions, a unique combination of covered walkway
and art gallery, whose architraves are decorated with more than 8000
paintings. The motifs show historical and mythological scenes or
landscape, bird and flower motifs. The corridor begins in the east with
the Gate of the Moon's Invitation (pinyin yaoyue) and ends in the west
at the Old Man's Pavilion (Shizhang Ting, 石丈亭, Shízhàngtíng), connecting
all the buildings along Longevity Mountain (Wanshou Shan, 万寿山 ,
Wànshòushān) through gates and pavilions to each other. The Cloud
Dispersing Hall (Paiyun Dian, 排云殿, Páiyúndiàn) forms the center of the
corridor, which at this point makes a semicircular arc around the hall.