'The Summer Palace' PART1

Apr 06, 2012,00:06 AM
 

'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 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!  smile



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.




-MW


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'The Summer Palace' PART2

 
 By: DRMW : April 6th, 2012-00:07
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...  

Fantastic!

 
 By: SALMANPK : April 6th, 2012-04:16
I love your pics and you know I love visiting historic heritage landmarks can't wait for the next report on the Forbidden City S

re: Fantastic!

 
 By: DRMW : April 6th, 2012-13:18
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

Good to hear...

 
 By: SALMANPK : April 7th, 2012-07:24
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... 

LOL! [nt]

 
 By: DRMW : April 7th, 2012-11:54
No message body

=D

 
 By: DRMW : April 6th, 2012-13:16
Hello Jman, How's the new baby? Hope all is well with the family! -MW

Here is the tough guy!

 
 By: JMan : April 6th, 2012-13:53
...  

re: here

 
 By: DRMW : April 7th, 2012-00:45
Can you kindly repost? pic didn't come out. -MW

Here

 
 By: JMan : April 8th, 2012-09:48
Here is another try Ming!...  

:)

 
 By: DRMW : April 8th, 2012-20:53
Adorable! Great shirt too! -MW

how long did you spend here?

 
 By: xsw : April 7th, 2012-12:25
do we need 1 day to cover it? I'll be there next mth hehe

Additional photo: the 'Seventeen Arch Bridge'

 
 By: DRMW : April 7th, 2012-13:11
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...  

yeah I'll definitely have time

 
 By: xsw : April 7th, 2012-13:39
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... 

Why don't you...

 
 By: cen@jkt : April 8th, 2012-07:27
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... 

good and bad...

 
 By: DRMW : April 8th, 2012-12:19
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... 

Wrong question again

 
 By: cen@jkt : April 8th, 2012-17:21
. 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... 

woah, that's a lot of traveling!

 
 By: DRMW : April 8th, 2012-20:29
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

awesome...

 
 By: ocwatching : April 7th, 2012-15:31
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!

Another fantastic post

 
 By: njoy : April 6th, 2012-07:12
Im thinking of cutting short my annual summer vacation to Spore to visit Beijing

re: Fantastic

 
 By: DRMW : April 6th, 2012-13:16
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

Beijing...Spore

 
 By: njoy : April 9th, 2012-07:18
I usually go once a year to see my in-laws, I go for 2 weeks, perhaps I can split the trip for this year, not sure the wife will agree...ha ha

good idea to try and hit both places!

 
 By: DRMW : April 9th, 2012-12:15
Have a good trip and let us know how it goes! Happy travels! -MW

skip Singapore and go to beijing instead

 
 By: xsw : April 7th, 2012-12:28
I think you'll have more fun there tbh

Summer Palace is the place you can't miss when visiting to Beijing...

 
 By: FanFrancisco : April 6th, 2012-10:16
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...  

Yes!

 
 By: DRMW : April 6th, 2012-13:13
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

I spent the whole walk...

 
 By: BDLJ : April 8th, 2012-22:44
...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....

re: walk

 
 By: DRMW : April 9th, 2012-00:03
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

So many too choose from...

 
 By: BDLJ : April 9th, 2012-03:20
...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... 

Wow... that's amazing

 
 By: elanoftroy : April 10th, 2012-09:56
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

yes, that's amazing and in fact very clever creation...

 
 By: FanFrancisco : April 11th, 2012-08:53
... Helen, glad to hear you like this. actually it is not too difficult to do so once you know the trick! stefan

My friends parents had something similar

 
 By: elanoftroy : April 12th, 2012-16:01
They were paintings of beautiful women with powdered wigs... their eyes followed you where ere in the room you went. As a kid it was spooky. Helen

Another great travelogue

 
 By: ED209 : April 6th, 2012-23:42
Great pics, thanks for taking us along to this part of China. I like the video of the guy doing the Chinese calligraphy. Regards, ED-209

Thanks, it was very cool to see! [nt]

 
 By: DRMW : April 7th, 2012-00:44
No message body

Tower of Fragrance

 
 By: elanoftroy : April 10th, 2012-09:46
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 colors..

 
 By: DRMW : April 10th, 2012-11:48
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... 

When do you post Part 3? [nt]

 
 By: elanoftroy : April 22nd, 2012-01:49
No message body

soon, stay tuned! [nt]

 
 By: DRMW : April 22nd, 2012-01:56
No message body