Located approximately 10 miles from Beijing is the Summer
Palace. As the name implies, it was used by the Chinese
Imperials as a vacation getaway from the main Imperial Palace (aka the
Forbidden City). During the early 1100's of the Jin Dynasty,
Emperor Wanyun Leing created the grounds for a beautiful garden
escape. He had an area excavated to turn into a large lake
with the residual earth turned into a hill which he built a palace
overlooking the water.
In the late 1200's, Emperor
Kubli Khan enlarged the lake and had canals engineered to better
Beijing's water supply. By the mid 1700's, the Emperor of the
Qing Dynasty, Qian Long, had the lake enlarged to resemble the well
known West Lake in Hangzhou. Unfortunately the Summer Palace
was heavily damaged in the late 1800's due to the Anglo-French invasion
and the Boxer Rebellion soon after. Years later, Empress Ci Xi
rebuilt the Summer Palace and renamed it Yi Hee Huan, the 'The Garden of Peace and
Harmony'.
By 1911, the Summer Palace was open to the
public and was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in
1990. Next to The Great Wall and the Forbidden City, this is
one of the most popular stops to
visit.
From YuLan Tang aka 'the Hall of
Jade Ripples', you can see the Zichun Ting aka 'Heralding Springs
Pavillion' overlooking the
lake:
This
man made lake is known as Kun Ming Lake...
As I start to take some
more photos, I spot this gentleman writing with a water brush in Chinese
Calligraphy on the fround. As it was so cold, the water
freezes and preserves his characters on the ground. His
calligraphy was so artistic it was so cool to see! Anyone want
to guess what he is writing?
Translation:
'The sea is
endless....the sky's the limit'
'I am the tip of the peak on top of the mountain'
Not only is he talented with Chinese Calligraphy
but he's a poet as well!
As you make your
way around the grounds, you can see the 'Buddhist Fragrance Towers' aka
Fo Xhiang Xe
Let's have a look at Kun
Ming Lake from near shore:
Yes, it gets really
cold out here!
Along the lake is Chang
Lhang, the 'Long Corridor' which is a walkway that spans almost 2300
feet. Overhead are more than 14,000 colorful art depictions of
Chinese history and culture.
History buffs can spend
all day admiring the paintings and learning about Chinese
tradition.
Here's a closeup of Fo
Shang Ge the 'Tower of Fragrance of the Buddhist
Incense'
Sitting atop
Wan Shou Shan 'Longevity Hill', the octagonal tower is 3 stories high
and built on a 65 foot high stone foundation,Inside the tower is a gold
gilted bronze statue of
the thousand-handed Guan Shi Yin Buddha The statue is about 16 feet high
and weighs almost 5
tons in weight.
'The Summer Palace' Located approximately 10 miles from Beijing is the Summer Palace. As the name implies, it was used by the Chinese Imperials as a vacation getaway from the main Imperial Palace (aka the Forbidden City). During the early 1100's of the Ji...
Entrance of the East Palace gate: A Kai Lin (a creature with a dragon head, lion tail, deer horn, and cattle hoofs is featured in the middle of the area. In Chinese legend, the Kai Lin guards against destruction by fire. It is one of the relics of Yuan Mi...
Glad you are enjoying these series of posts from Beijing, lots more on the way. Have you been doing any traveling? Any more 'adventures' like we had in Dubai? -MW
there is more on the way, I know putting together these posts can be quite time consuming, so a big thank you, haven't had the chance to travel this year and to be honest I've become an old fart, hate the same typical clinical pseudo futuristic bs airport...
We went on a tour group so we only had about 2-3 hours for the Summer Palace. Usually if you do a tour, they will take you here first then go to the Forbidden City as it is close by. As you can see from the pics, the Long Corridor has almost 10,000 painti...
I'm always on free and easy so time isn't a problem. it's much relaxing that way. I'll just go wherever the wind blows and linger as long as I like. I might even have too much time on my hands in Beijing in fact. man summer palace is gona be great! here w...
travel by yourself? I only travel with groups if I bring my customers, otherwise lonely planet guide book and internet search are good to go. I usually max out 2 attractions per day, and will also arrange lunch and dinner. The only place you want a tour g...
There are advantages and disadvantages of traveling with a tour. We got lazy and went with a tour as it hits the main spots. Also it was last minute decision to go to Beijing as a big concern was the weather, fortunately all went well. If I go back, I wou...
. I have been travelling since January! Let's see where I've been and where I'll be: January: Japan and New Zealand (the south island) February: Sumba (finished up my water project) and Japan March: Lombok and East Java (Madura and Bromo) April: Guangzhou...
Japan is a fun city with so much to see, do, and eat. I heard New Zealand is beautiful so make sure you take a lot of pics and share with us on the forums! If I go to Indonesia, I will definitely let you know. -MW
again..completely different feel in the winter time at the Summer Palace. I actually think one appreciates the enormity of this place more in the cold winter... Thanks Ming!
Appreciate you looking, Beijing is definitely worth the visit. How many days of vacation do you get? For Beijing you need at least 5 days to see the major destinations. -MW
Ming, did you see the following interesting pic where is also located inside the Summer Palace. the pic was drawn on one circle wood, you can see the direction of top of the "ting" being changed depended which side of the location you viewing it. the tour...
Since there are so many paintings only certain ones were highlighted including this one. I have video of our guide explaining it but the footage came out too shaky. -MW
...down the Long Corridor looking for Monkey and Tripitaka! They're there somewhere! Lovely place, but when you see that marble steamship...it reminds you of why that dynasty fell....
We didn't get much time looking at the Marble Boat and it was hard to take pics as there were a lot of people there. So which landmark did you enjoy the most in Beijing? -MW
...the Bell Tower, Mao's mausoleum, Forbidden city... I've dug up some of the photos of Beijing from the mid-90s when I visited my mother there. I'll scan them soon. Very few cars and very cold! I was bouncing back and forth from Singapore to Beijing...dr...
I'm going to send this to my friend who specializes in art... I'm sure she will find it very interesting and may be able to give me an explanation why it appears that way. Wow, wow, wow, Helen
Is it still used? Can you smell the incense burning on the outside? Do you smell it as you ascend up to the Tower? I love the coloring of the Hall of Jade Ripples, such coloring isn't used in buildings here in the West; they have a refreshing and calming ...
The bold colors you see are not the original colors. Just like the Great Wall, the original structures have been damaged over the years due to wars and natural wear and tear. Chinese calligraphy is an art form, but reading it is just like reading any othe...