the summer palace

the summer palace has a history of over 800 years. in 1153, when the jin dynasty made beijing (then called yanjing) its capital, it built an imperial palace. in 1750, qing emperor qianlong spent 4.48 million taels of silver (140, 000 kilograms of silver or 140 tons of silver) building the garden of clear ripples in 15 years and changed the name of the hill to longevity hill to celebrate his mother's birthday. in 1860, the anglo-french allied forces invaded beijing and burned down the palace. in 1888, empress dowager cixi had it restored with the funds of 937 tons of silver intended for the development of the navy and renamed it the summer palace. in 1900, it was again plundered by the invading troops of the eight powers. in 1903, empress dowager spent a fabulous sum of money to have the palace reconstructed a second time. in 1924, it was turned into a park. the summer palace consists of longevity hill and kunming lake with a total area of 625 acres. it has become one of the most popular parks in beijing.

the summer palace lies about 20 kilometres northwest of beijing. it consists of longevity hill (59 metres high) and kunmlng lake with a total area of 290 hectares (716.6 acres). longevity hill is an extension of the western hills. kunming lake used to be fed by the springs from the jade spring hill lying to its west. now it has its source from miyun reservoir, 102 kilometres northeast of beijing.

the summer palace has a history of over 800 years. in 1153, when the jin dynasty made beijing (then called yanjing) its capital, it built an imperial palace (the golden hill palace) on the present site of the summer palace. in 1750, emperor qianlong spent 4. 48 million taels of silver (140, 000 kilos of silver) building the garden of clear ripples in 15 years and changed the name of the hill to longevity hill to celebrate his mother' s birthday. he also named the lake kunming because he wanted to follow the example of emperor wudi (156 be- 87 be; reigned 140 bc-87 bc) of the han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220) who had trained his navy centuries before in kunming pool in chang'an (somewhere near xi'an today).

in 1860, the anglo french allied forces invaded beijing and burned down the palace. in 1888, empress dowager cixi had it restored with the funds (30 million taels of silver or 937, 500 kilograms) intended for the development of the navy and renamed it the summer palace. in 1900, it was again plundered, this time by the invading troops of the eight-power allied forces (britain, united states, germany, france, tsarist russia, japan, italy and austria). the big temples and halls at the back of the longevity hill were destroyed. only one temple remained, the hall of sea of wisdom, a stone structure. in 1903 the empress dowager spent a fabulous sum of money to have the palace reconstructed a second time. 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 place was turned into a park. but the admission charge was very high, about the price of a bag of wheat flour, equivalent to 60 yuan now.

since 1949 the chinese government has renovated the summer palace several times and numerous trees and flowers have been planted. this old imperial garden has taken on a completely new look and become one of the most popular parks in beijing.

today, every year the summer palace receives 6 to 7 million visitors both from home and abroad. of whom 70% are domestic visitors; 20% of them are beijing residents; 10% are from overseas, and 90% of these overseas visitors are group tourists. in 1980s, the summer palace received more than 200,000 visitors in a single day.

each year, over 10 million yuan (us$1.2 million) is spent on renovating the summer palace to retain its resplendency and magnificence. few people know that the summer palace has one of the richest collections of cultural relics in china, probably in the world as well. there are nearly 40, 000 relics in collection, including many that are extremely rare. in both historical and artistic value, the collection is the summer palace matches the collections of the forbidden city. the collection includes more than 20, 000 relics that are under special protection as national treasures. these are, in fact, world treasures. to name just two: a bronze tri- pod belonging to prince bari of the state of gao from the western zhou dynasty (1046 bc-771 bc), and a bronze wine vessel in the shape of three rhinos that dates back to the shang dynasty (1600 bc-1046 bc). these cannot be found anywhere else in the world. as part of the cultural treasures, the 400,000 trees that also crystallize the essence of chinese culture will be well looked after. amongst the trees, 1,600 are more than 200 years old. every tree has afde and is kept in the garden's database for protection. however, due to a lack of prngtamming, the tree species were not very well selected to plant in the garden in the 20th century. realizing this, the palace authority plans to plant more pines and cypress trees. in order to restore the original construction, the government has started to move out residents that have occupied the park for many years.

in 1998, the summer palace was inscribed as a potent symbol of one of the major world civilizations in the world heritage list of the united nations' educational, scientific and cultural organization.

this is the front courtyard. the annex halls on both sides were used for officials on duty.

this is taihu rock from taihu lake in jiangsu province. the rock was formerly located in prince morgan's garden (now the site of beijing university) and was moved here to provide grand view.

behind the rock is a bronze xuanni. in ancient chinese mythology, xuanni was one of the nine sons of the dragon. a point of peculiar interest is that it has the head of a dragon, the antlers of a deer, tail of a lion and hooves of an ox. it was put at the gate because the feudal rulers believed that it could detect any disloyal subject.

these are tai ping vats for storing water against tire in the old days. during the war, the japanese aggressor troops attempted to take them to japan after they invaded beijing. after 1945, they were moved back from tianjin.

the bronze dragons and phoenixes are incense burners. sandalwood or tibetan incense was burned when the feudal rulers gave an audience.

hall of benevolence and longevity

empress dowager cixi and emperor guangxu took charge of state affairs and received officials and foreign envoys here. the building was first built in 1750. it was then called the hall of industrious government. in 1860, it was burned down. the present building was rebuilt in 1890.

in the middle of the hall stands a throne carved with a nine dragon design. the nine dragons symbolized the supreme power of the emperor.

by the side of the throne are two big fans made of peacock feathers, put up for dignity purpose. in the song dynasty, two fans were held by eunuchs, while in the qing dynasty, they were put up by the side of the throne.

there are two column shaped incense burners, one on each side for burning incense on formal occasions.

this is an incense burner assuming the form of a mythological animal, which was supposed to have the power to prevent fire.

the inscription on the tablet says that he who shows benevolence in running the government eon live a long life.

the flower basket is made of precious stones in various colors. the base is made of pear wood. on the small table there is a shang dynasty bronze mirror over 3,000 years old. on the wall is a scroll with big chinese character meaning "longevity". the one hundred bats in the background symbolize happiness and longevity. this big character was written by the empress dowager.

this is a lacquer screen inlaid with ivory and green jade, made in emperor qianlong's lime.

the frame of the big mirror is made of mahogany. it took 3,600-man days or one person ten years to do the job.

a pair of wooden lions is shaped from the roots of birch tree.

the elephant is a symbol of universal peace.

the small chambers on either side were places where the emperor rested and received officials on formal occasions.

back top