Summer Palace, Beijing

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Summer Palace, Beijing

The Summer Palace, Beijing known as Yihe Yuan was once home to the Quing Dynasty, used mainly as a get away from the forbidden city.
As you walk around this immense yet peaceful place, some 716 acres consisting of buildings, lakes and forest walkways.

A bit of a history lesson

Yihe Yuan, summer palace was sereved by the Quing Dynasty dating back to roughly 1736. The summer palace was mainly associated with Empress Dowager Cixi who was once of China’s most powerful women. Cixi had the Summer Palace rebuilt twice after French and English troops destroyed it in 1860 and again in 1902. The main features of the summer palace are Longevity Hill, Garden of Virtue and Harmony and the amazing long corridor.

This is just one of the splendid statues around the summer palace this is the son of the dragon. The amazing details makes this a stunning work of art, as you can see behind the dragon a beautifully coloured building in the traditional Chinese style.

Here is the view over Kumming lake towards Longevity Hill and the tower of the fragrance Buddha that dominates the skyline, such a beautiful view even on this very cold winters day.

Marble Boat?, no not really Empress Dowager Cixi paid for this lavish structure from funds that where for the imperial Navy. The structure of the boat is made from wood and painted white to look like marble.

This is the long corridor and when i say long i mean long! some 2,388-ft that’s about 728 meters. the walkway sits on the fringe of the lake so you can enjoy the view as you take a stroll. All hand painted and decorated with over 14,00 scenic paintings as pictured above.