Beijing - Summer Palace

YiHe Yuan or Summer Palace is a place I love best because there are so many good memories related to it. As the name, Summer Palace is the summer palace of GuangXu, the Emperor and CiXi, the Queen Dowager and real ruler of 19th century China. There are a lot of legendary stories about CiXi, the old woman, how tough, powerful and cruel she was.

Summer Palace was first built in the 12th century as an imperial palace. Renovation and extension in the following several hundred years till the end of the 19th century led it into the scale now, and was officially named Summer Palace. Occupying an area of 304 hectares, the Summer Palace features hilly and water scenery. The Kunming Lake makes up four-fifths of this royal park. The Long Corridor running east-west along the lake as well as Fo Xiang Ge (the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha), the Sea of Wisdom, and the Hall of Dispelling the Clouds and Suzhou Street standing south to north on the Longevity Hill are the major scenic spots.

Kunming Lake and WanShou Hill (the building is the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha)

Paiyun Dian or Hall of Dispelling Clouds, is the place where CiXi celebrated her birthday, and the gateway to the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha. The container stored water for fire prevention.

Pailou or archway, normally for celebration purpose in front of the Hall of Dispelling Clouds

View of the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha from the courtyard of the Hall of Dispelling Clouds

The yard of the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha

The stareway to the Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha

The Long Corridor, covered walkway along Lake Kunming at the Summer Palace, runs for almost 2400 feet to the famous marble boat. I guess when the royal family walked to the boat to take tea, they had a wonderfully decorated walkway to stroll along

The roof of the pavilion in the middle of the long corridor

The decoration on the beam tells stories from ancient novel. This one is from the novel "Journey to the West" (西游记)

Suzhou Street (a copy of Suzhou's shopping street)

The Marble Boat at the western end of the Long Corridor is a noted structure on water. Built in 1755, the boat, having a length of 36 meters, was made completely out of marble. There is a mirror on each of its two decks to reflect lake water. Sitting before the mirror gives a feeling of sitting on the ripples of water.

The Royal Dockyard

The Big Stage

Emperor Qilong asked to built a lot of places the same as Suzhou and Hangzhou after a tour of inspection to the south of Yangzi River. Xi Di (West Dike) copied Su Di (Su Dike) in Hangzhou.

When I was in the high school, which was not far from the Summer Palace, I came to Xi Di on every autumn festival with my friends to see the full moon.

Xi Di has six different kinds of Bridges

YuDai Bridge (Jade Belt) HuaZhongYou, or Strolling Through a Picture Scroll is another place we always gathered when we were in High School. I had a picture with two best friends on the rock.

Bridge with Seventeen Arches