The Summer Palace
In 1153, the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty Wan Yanliang built a temporary palace here called the "Garden of Golden Waters" as his summer resort. In 1888, the Empress Dowager Ci'xi decided to spend the money originally earmarked for the Chinese Navy and rebuilt the garden, she herself gave it its present name of Yi He Yuan (Garden of Cultivated Harmony), and the Chinese inscription of the name was written in Emperor Guangxu's handwriting. Since then, the Empress Dowager Ci'xi started to spend every summer here and had it restored after it was damaged again in 1900. Hence the name, the Summer Palace.
The Garden of Harmonious Interests, The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, Hall of Jade Billows, The Hall of Dispelling Clouds, Tower of Buddhist Incense, The 17-Arch Bridge, Bronze Ox ... Private Tours In Beijing Click here to see the map of The Summer Palace
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The Summer Palace lies about 20 km northwestern outskirts of
Beijing, it is up to now the best preserved and the largest imperial gardens in China.
The main features of the Summer Palace are Kunming Lake and
Longevity Hill. Like most imperial palaces in China, the Summer Palace is divided into
three parts: Halls for political affairs, living quarters and religious buildings.The most
important structures of the Summer Palace is: Painting Walkway, the longest walkway in the
Chinese gardens with altogether over 14,000 traditional Chinese paintings on the beams and
crossbeams.