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Located 30km from Beijing, the Summer
Palace is the largest and
best-preserved royal garden in Beijing.
The Summer
Palace has a history of over 800 years.
Early in the Jin dynasty, an imperial palace named Golden Hill
Palace was built on the present
site of the Summer
Palace. In 1750,with 4.48 million taels
of silver, Emperor Qian Long of the Qing dynasty built the Garden of Clear Ripples here and renamed the hill
Longevity Hill to celebrate his mother's birthday.
In 1860, the Anglo-French Allied Forces invaded Beijing and set fire to the garden. In 1888,
Empress Dowager Cixi, with funds embezzled from the Imperial Navy,
restored the grand garden. The construction had lasted for ten year
and after completion, she renamed it Yiheyuan - Garden of Peace
and Harmony. In 1900, the garden was plundered again by the eight
powers. This time, nearly all big temples and halls at the back of
the Longevity Hill were destroyed and only one survived. Only when
the fugitive Cixi returned to Beijing
in 1903, did the full-scale restoration begin.
Mainly consists of Longevity Hill (which can be divided into Front
Hill and Rear Hill) and Kunming Lake, this present Summer Palace covers
a vast area of 294
hectares, in which three quarters are water.
The garden can be divided into three parts, namely, administration,
residence and scenery browsing area. The administration area, taking
Halls of Benevolence and Longevity as its principal part, is the place
where Cixi dealt with state affairs and received officials. Residence
area mainly consists of Hall of Jade Billows, Garden of Virtue and Harmony, and Hall of Joyful
Longevity. The Kunming
Lake and Longevity
Hill then serve as the scenery browsing area.
The Summer
Palace has two entrances, one is the
East Palace Gate and the other is North Palace Gate. Most visitors
enter the garden from the East Palace Gate.
All the man-made hills, halls, pavilions and temples, including Kunming
Lake and Longevity Hill, blend together harmoniously in spite of their
individual styles. Ingeniously conceived and elaborately designed,
this garden, concentrating the features of the gardens in southern
and northern China, can be
reputed as the soul of the Chinese gardens.
The Summer
Palace of today is more or less the same
as the palace rebuilt in 1903. After the last Qing Emperor Puyi was
thrown out of the Summer
Palace in 1924,
this garden was turned into a park. But at first, due to the admission
charge was very high, the normal people still had no chance to view
the magnificent royal garden. Today, most people can afford the ticket.
This old imperial garden now becomes an ideal place for Beijing
locals to retreat from the hot summer in Beijing.
first you
book the ticket,
then book
your personal tour guide!
Best Beijing
Tours
Create Joyful Memories
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| Located
30km from Beijing, the Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved
royal garden in Beijing |
| A personal tour guide to provide
you the time of you life in the City of Beijing |
| Helping you choosing the best
attractions Beijing
has to offer |
| The
Summer Palace has two entrances, one is the East Palace Gate
and the other is North Palace Gate |
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