The Summer PalacePart one: Brief Information and the Palace & Living AreaThe Summer Palace is located on the northwest outskirts of Beijing, 20 kilometers away from the center of the city. It is the best preserved imperial garden in the world and one of the largest of its kind still exist in China. It can be divided into two parts, the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. The Summer Palace covers an area of 290 hectares, and the Longevity Hill covers one quarter of it, while the other 3 quarters are for the Kunming Lake.The Summer Palace has a history of over 800 years. It goes back to the Liao and Jin dynasties and was first built in the 12th century for the emperor. And during the Ming dynasty, palaces and temples were built here for the emperor. Large-scale construction started in the Qing dynasty, when the Qing dynasty entered its flourishing period. During the Emperor Qianlong’s reign, the famous “Three Hills and Five Gardens”were built or enlarged, and one of the gardens was called the Garden of Clear Ripples, which was the previous name of the Summer Palace.In 1750, the Emperor Qianlong, in order to celebrate his mother’s 60th birthday, ordered to have the Garden of Clear Ripples rebuilt. The emperor renamed the hill as the Longevity Hill and the lake as the Kunming Lake.In 1860, the Anglo-French Allied Forces invaded Beijing and broke into the “Three Hill and Five Gardens”. They did nothing but robbing the reassures and setting fire on the buildings. And the “Three Hilt and Five Gardens: were burnt down to ashes.In 1888, during the emperor Guangxu’s reign, Empress Dowager Cixi spent a large sum of money to have the Garden of Clear Ripples rebuilt, and renamed it the “Summer Palace”. The money she spent to rebuild the garden was pinched form the navy fund, which was intended for the development of Chinese navy. The lack of a well-trained navy was the direct cause of Chinese defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in 1894.In 1900, the Allied Forces of Eight Powers invaded Beijing. And the Summer Palace was once again severely damaged. The invaders occupied the Summer Palace and when they left, they took everything valuable and destroyed most of the buildings.In 1902 Empress Dowager Cixi ordered to have the Summer Palace rebuilt again, and in 1903 the reconstruction was finished. After that, Empress Dowager Cixi came to live here in the Summer Palace from April to October every year. In 1928,the Summer Palace was turned into a public park.We’ll first enter the east palace gate. In front of the east palace gate, there is an archway, which has three entrances with four pillars and seven towers.The east palace gate is the main entrance and also the front gate of the Summer Palace.A plaque is hung above the center with three Chinese characters “The Summer Palace”in Emperor Guangxu’s handwriting. The stone slab placed in the middle gateway was moved from the Yuanmingyuan ruins, made in the Emperor Qianlong’s reign.Entering the east palace gate, you can see the Gate of Benevolence and Longevity. Passing through this gate, you can see a huge rock, called Taihu Rock, and also called Longevity Rock. There are also four strange-looking Taihu rocks in each corner of the courtyard, representing the four seasons of the year. And all the five rocks represent the beautiful scenery of the five peaks in Lushan Mountain as decorations. There is a bronze mythical animal statue behind the Taihu Rock, in the center of the courtyard. It is known as Qilin. It has the head of the dragon, the antler of a deer, the hooves of an ox, the tail of a lion, and the body of fish with scales all over its body. According to the ancient Chinese mythology, this mythical animal was able to detect any disloyal subjects, and that’s why was put here. It was moved from the Yuanmingyuan Ruins, and there used to be a pair, however the other one was robbed by the Anglo-French Allied Forces.The main hall in this courtyard is the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. In front of the hall, there are incense burners on both sides. Those incense burners are in shape of dragon and phoenix. In the old days, the dragon and the phoenix were the symbols of the emperor and the empress respectively. There is on thing interesting here, according to the feudal institution, the emperor had the supreme power and the dragon should be placed in the first place, with the phoenix by its side. But here you can see that the phoenix incense burners are in the middle, with dragons by its side. That is because at that time the Emperor Guangxu actually had no power, and Empress Dowager Cixi was in power, so she demanded to put these stuff in this way.To the north of Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, there is a well known as the “Long Life Well”. Empress Dowager Cixi once drank the water from this well to get refreshed in the summer, so she gave the title “Long Life Well”.The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity is just like the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City for the emperor to handle state affairs. In 1750 when it was first built, it was called the Hall of Diligent Government. After it was rebuilt it was renamed as the present name. The name was taken according to an old saying from a famous book, and it goes “those who are benevolent can enjoy a long life”.Inside the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, you can see the emperor’s throne placed in the middle.There are two big fans on both sides behind the throne, which are made of bird feathers. The feathers will never fade, symbolizing the dignity of the emperor. Behind the throne there is a big screen with red sandalwood-frame and glass mirror inlaid. On the mirror there are 226 Chinese characters of the word “longevity”, written in different calligraphy.Around the emperor’s throne, there is a pair of incense burners, in the shape of the mythical animal called “luduan”. It was believed that luduan was able to travel 9000 kilometers per day and capable of speaking the languages of the nearby kingdoms. It was placed here just to symbolize the obedience of different kingdoms to the emperor. There are two scrolls on each side of the wall with a big Chinese character“longevity” written on it. There are 100 bats painted at the background of the scroll, symbolizing happiness. Because the word “bat” in Chinese is “fu” which has the same pronunciation as the Chinese word “happiness”, “fu”.Here is the Hall of Happiness and Longevity. In the courtyard in front of the hall, there is a huge rock placed in the middle named “qing zhi xiu”and nicknamed as “family Bankruptcy Rock”. It was discovered in Fangshan District by a Ming official, because he was a true lover of collecting strange-looking rocks, he decided to move this rock to his own garden. However in the old days it took a large sum of money to transport such a huge rock from far away and finally he ran out money, and for some other reasons he had to leave this rock on the road side. Hence the name. Later the Qing Emperor Qianlong discovered this rock on his way back to Beijing. He ordered to have it transported to the Garden of Clear Ripples, and put it here for decoration.In the courtyard, there are pairs of bronze deer, bronze cranes, bronze vases and big water vats, symbolizing universal peace.Magnolia trees, crab-apple trees and peony flowers were planted in the courtyard, representing fortune and honor.The Hall of Happiness and Longevity was Empress Dowager Cixi’s residence. A pair of big porcelain plates is placed on each side of the hall for holding fruits. However they were not for eating, but tot producing, the fragrance.There is a fish table in the hall. It was inlaid with sandalwoods and ivory. It was the table for the Empress Dowager Cixi to watch fish while having cakes, and cookies. There are two embroideries in this hall. On one of the two embroideries there is a peacock displaying its full plumage; the other one is a phoenix among 100 birds. It was believed that the phoenix is the queen of all birds while the peacock is the most beautiful bird of all. Empress Dowager Cixi compared herself to the phoenix and the peacock.The chandeliers hanging up in the middle of the ceiling in this hall were presented by the Germans. Probably it is one of China’s earliest electric lights. It was installed in 1903.Here comes the Garden of Virtuous Harmony. It is also called the Great Theatre Building or the Big Stage. It is a three-storied building, 21 meters high and 17 meters wide. Performances could be staged at the same time on three levels. The three levels are called happiness, emolument and longevity stage respectively. There are trapdoors in the ceiling and below the floor the “celestial beings” to fly down from the sky and the “devils” to appear from the earth. There is also a well and five ponds built under the stage for a good effect of water scenes.The Hall of Jade RipplesThe Hal of Jade Ripples was built along the bank just behind the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. In the late Qing dynasty, it was Emperor Guangxu’s private living quarter. But after the failure of the reform Movement in 1898, EmperorGuangxu was under house arrest here.Part Two: The Longevity Hill and the scenes in the frontThe Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake is linked by the famous Long Corridor. The Long Corridor starts from the Gate of Greeting the Moon in the east and ends at the Shizhang Pavilion in the west with a total length of 728 meters long with 273 sections. That is why it is called the Long Corridor. It is the longest, biggest and most famous one in China and even in the world. In 1990, the long Corridor was listed in the “Guinness World Record”.There are four double-caved octagonal pavilions in the corridor. The four pavilions symbolize the four seasons of the year. It was first built in 1750, and it was built for Emperor Qianlong’s mother to enjoy the rainy scenes on Kunming Lake and to keep off the sunshine in summer.On the beams and crossbeams of the corridor, there are altogether more than 14,000 large and small paintings. Each painting is different from one to another with almost no repetitions, making the corridor a real art gallery. Those paintings cover a wide range of subjects, including landscapes and scenes, flowers and birds, Chinese architectures, human figures and classical stories.In the center of the Long Corridor there is the Gate of Dispelling Clouds. There is the yunhuiyuyu Archway in front of the Gate of dispelling Clouds. And on both sides of the gate there are 12 strange-looking stones shaped like 12 animals.Entering the gate, there is a board hanging on the second palace gate, inscribed with “a long, long life” on it. Inside the second palace gate was the place for the emperor Guangxu to kowtow to Empress Dowager Cixi on her birthday celebration while the high-ranking officials kowtowed outside.The Hall of Dispelling Clouds was the place where Empress Dowager Cixi used to celebrate her birthday on the 10th of the tenth lunar month each year. During emperor Qianlong’s reign, the “Temple of Paying Great Gratitude and Wishing for Longevity”was built on this site.The Tower of Buddhist Incense is the symbol of the Summer Palace. The present one was built in 1903. it is a wooden tower of 36 meters, standing on a 21-meter high stone platform. There used to be a Buddhist statue on the first floor, but it was damaged by the Anglo-French Allied Forces.On the top of the hill, behind the Tower of Buddhist Incense, located the Temple of Sea of Wisdom. The glazed archway is the entrance of the temple, there are three Chinese characters “zhong xiang jie” on it, which means the name of the place of the Buddhist state. It is a stone structure. The name of the temple “the Sea of Wisdom”came from Buddhist scriptures which means the wisdom of Buddha is as vast as the sea. This building is known as the “Beamless Hall”, because it was built without a single beam or column in its structure.Outside there are 1008 Buddha statues carved on the wall of the temple. When theAnglo-French Allied Forces entered Summer Palace, the invaders damaged most of the Buddha statues. Inside the hall, about 40 Buddha statues used to enshrined, but most of them were robbed by the Anglo-French Allied Forces, and only a few remained.To the west below the Tower of Buddhist Incense, there is a group of buildings known as Five-Square Pavilions. There are four smaller pavilions in each corner and the most famous Pavilion of Precious Clouds in the middle. The Pavilion of Precious Clouds is also known as the Bronze Pavilion, because everything of it was made of bronze and tin, with a total weight of 207 tons. Here used to be the place for the lamas to chant scriptures on the 1st and the 15th day of each lunar month.Down to the east below the Tower of Buddhist Incense, there is a group of building named “Revolving Archive”, consisting of the main building in the middle with two side pavilions on both sides, and a large stone tablet in the front. On the big tablet, there are six Chinese characters “Longevity Hill, Kunming Lake”, and on the back there is the inscription entitled “Notes in Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake”, the calligraphy on both sides was in Emperor Qianlong’s handwriting.The two pavilions on both sides are Archive Towers. Buddhist scriptures and Buddha portraits were placed inside. The tower could be revolved by a central axis, which symbolizes chanting the scriptures.In the front part of the Longevity Hill, there is a building called “Yangunxuan” on the east. It is a structure with western and Chinese style, and the gate looks like the western clock so it is also nicknamed as “Clock Gate”. It was the place for the princesses coming with Empress Dowager Cixi to have a rest.On the east slope of the hill, there is a pass called “Purple Mist from the East”. The inscription on the south side of the pass is “purple mist from the east”, which comes from a Classical Chinese tale. It is said that many years ago an official one day saw that there was purple mist coming from the east, and he knew that somebody famous would come, so he prepared for the famous person’s coming. And the next day, the famous philosopher laozi came on an ox.And the inscription on the north side is “rosy clouds coming from the red city”. It comes from a Chinese classical poem. Because outside the pass gate there used to be some red rocks just like rosy clouds.In the front part of the hill, there is the Hall of Listening to the Orioles. Empress Dowager Cixi used to enjoy Peking opera before the Big Stage was built. Now it is a restaurant for Chinese and foreign guests.South Lake IslandThe South Lake Island is the biggest island in the Kunming Lake, lcated in the eastern part of the lake and linked with the East Dike by the 17-Arch Bridge. Beautiful buildings, halls, pavilions and towers were built on the island with old pine trees and cypresses. On the northern part of the island, there is big hall facing theTower of Buddhist Incense across the Kunming Lake. This was the place for Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu to watch the navy training on the lake.On the island there is also a Temple of Dragon King. Inside the temple the statue of the Dragon King is enshrined. The Dragon King has a human body but with a dragon head. He was believed to the God Of Rain in ancient China and capable of controlling water.The South Lake Island is linked with the East Dike of the lake by a bridge with 17 arches. Commonly known as the 17-Arch Bridge. It is the largest bridge in the Summer Palace, 150 meters long and 8 meters wide with 17 arches. There are totally 544stone lions carved on the top of the balusters, in different sizes and postures. The number 17 was adopted for the reason that if you start from either left or right, the ninth arch is right in the middle. The number nine was the favorite number of the emperors.On the east dike there is a Bronze Ox placed on a marble terrace. In ancient China, ox was used as a symbol of the flood control. 4,000 years ago in the Xia dynasty, it was a kind of custom to throw a big iron ox into the river whenever and where the flood was brought under control. It was believed that the flood could be controlled forever in this way. About 1,000 years ago, in the Tang dynasty, people did not throw the iron ox into the river, but placed it on the river bank instead. And the Qing emperor just followed the Tang example to place a bronze ox on the bank of the Jake, to symbolize to control water.The “golden ox inscription” with 80 words written by the emperor Qianlong was cast on the bronze ox, just to explain its presence.Near the west end of the long corridor, there is a marble boat. It was first built in the Emperor Qianlong’s reign. The base deck was made of marble and the upper part was made of wood, but painted as marble too. Originally the upper part was made in Chinese traditional style, but the Anglo-French allied forces burnt it down, and in 1893, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered to have it rebuilt into a European style structure. Each floor-has a big mirror for the reflection of the ripples in the lake. Empress Dowager Cixi used to come here to enjoy the beautiful rainy scenery on the lake.The marble boat is also a symbol of the stability of the Qing dynasty. There is an old Chinese saying that “water can hold boat, and it can capsize a boat.”Emperor Qianlong built the marble boat to symbolize that the Qing nasty was so stable that would never be overturned.The Garden of Harmonious Interest was built in imitation of the famous “Jichang Garden” at Huishan in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. So the original name was “Huishan Garden”. Afterwards it was renovated and then renamed “the Garden of Harmonious Interest”. The garden is famous for its “eight interests”: the interest of the four seasons; of water; of bridge; of calligraphy; of pavilion; of painting; of corridor; and of imitation.Summer Palace Kunming Lake SceneryDuring the Liao and Jin Dynasties, Kunming Lake was known as Golden Pool. The name was changed to Jar Pool in the Yuan Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, Jar Pool was changed to West Lake. In Qing Emperor Qianlong’s period, it was known as Kunming Lake, because Emperor Qianlong followed the Han Dynasty Emperor Wu who had made Kunming pond thereby at the capital of Changan where he trained his navy for war in order to attack the state of Kunming.We stand in front of the hall of Jade Ripples. Gazing westward from the East Dyke of Kunming Lake, one can clearly view the Jade Peak Towe on Jade Spring Hill outside the Summer Palace. This is the ingenious use of borrowing scenes from the early stage of building the Summer Palace, making the mountains scores of miles away come into view. This gave the large garden an expansive three-dimension fell. It forms a majestic landscape with Kunming Lake as the closest scenery, the West Dyke middle, and Jade Spring Hill and the Western Hill as the most distant scenery.The West Dyke is now in our sight. We can see there are six bridges on West Dyke. The six bridges from north to south are Lake Boundary Bridge, State Song Bridge, Jade Belt Bridge, Mirror Bridge, Bridge of White Silk and Willow Bridge.Lake Boundary Bridge. It is located at the turning point of Kunming Lake and Back Lake, so known as Lake Boundary Bridge.State Song Bridge. It was called the Mulberry and Ramie Bridge in the times Qianlong. It received its present name after it was rebuilt. Both the old and the new name related to agriculture.Jade Belt Bridge. Since the bridge looks like a flying arch-shaped jade passage, it was named thus by Emperor Qianlong. This bridge is also the water entrance f the Kunming Lake.Mirror Bridge. The Tang Dynasty poet Libai’s verse goes like this: A mirror is flanking water, a rainbow hanging over the bridges. The bridge received this name because the bridge appears to are-over a bright mirror.Bridge of white Silk. The verse of Xie Tiao, a poet of Southern Dynasty is the inspiration for the name of this bridge: the river calms like water surface.Willow Bridge. A verse of the Tang poet Du Fu inspired this name: On a fine day, catkins fly over the bridge. Since there are many willow trees on the West Dyke, and the bridge and willows set each other off, hence it got its name----Willow Bridge.We walk along the East Dyke towards south. The nearest island is the island of Heralding Spring with the Spring Heralding Pavilion located at it. The name of the pavilion came from the Song Dynasty poet Sushi’s verse:” Outside the bamboo grove, there are three-peach tress, the duck in the warm water of the river is the first to know that spring has come.” Spring comes the earliest to the Pavilion so it is called Spring Heralding.Near the island of Heralding Spring there is Yelu Chucai Temple. Yelu Chucai was an advisor to Genghis Khan (1162 - 1227) and a famous states roan of the Yuan Dynasty. A temple in his honour, located near the Pavilion of Flourishing Culture.It is a three-hall temple richly ornamented and surrounded by trees.The temple consists of Yelu Chucai’s coffin chamber, memorial halls and his statue. In addition, a tabler bearing an inscription in the handwriting of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) of the Qing Dynasty has been erected.We can see a pavillon in our south. That is Jpavilion of Flourishing Culture. Emperor Wen Chang, who was especially respected by ancient scholars, is worshipped here. Empress Dowager Cixi, in her early stage of using electric light, had an electric generator installed in a courtyard outside the Pavilion of Flourishing culture.Passing Pavilion of Flourishing Culture, a Bronze Ox lies on the bank. The Bronze Ox was used for controlling floods. An inscription was written by Qianlong on the Ox’s back. It is said that in ancient times, the ox was a symbol of flood control according to the allusion of Da Yu. Beginning from the Tang Dynasty, instead of putting an iron ox in the riverbed, a bronze ox was put by the bank of the river.Behind the Bronze Ox is another bigger island named the South Lake Island with the Seventeen Arch Bridge connects the Broad View Pavilion and the South Lake Island. The Seventeen Arch Bridge is 150 meters long and 8 meters wide with 17 arches. It was an imitation of the Jin Dynasty Marco Polo (Lugouqiao) Bridge. It was built in the times of Qianlong. There are 544 stone lions in different postures on the balustrades. The number of lions surpasses the one on the Marco Polo (Lugouqiao) Bridge (485只). The Broad View Pavilion was also known as the Octagonal Pavilion. It is said that if you stand in the Broad View Pavilion and gaze around, you can broaden your horizons; therefore it was called “Broad View”.South Lake Island. It is located at the south of Kunming Lake, and is known as the South Lake Island. South Lake Island is the biggest island in the Kunming Lake. On the island was a Dragon King Temple. Standing in front of the main building in the island, Emperor Qianlong used to review his navy training in the lake. The building is known as the Temple of the Dragon King. A statue of King Dragon is in the temple. The technology of the sculptor is so excellent that the statue is just like a real King Dragon.There are five islands in Kunming Lake including the Island of Heralding Spring, the South Lake Island, Fenghuangdun, Zaojiantang, and Zhijingge. Fenghuangdun, Zaojiantang and Zhijingge symbolize respectively Yingzhou, Penglai and Fangzhang in “one pool and three mountains”. According to the ancient legends of our country, located near Penglai, Shandong Province, there were three sacred mountains----Penglai, Yingzhou and Fangzhang, where immortals who made a special elixir lived.。