The Summer Palace
Beijing attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from every corner of the world. They come to China for business, sightseeing or attending academic conferences. Beijing is home to numerous historical monuments and cultural sites. Some pay visits to Beijing for its role as the cultural center; others rush into the city for its natural beauty. I would like to recommend a beautiful place for your Beijing tours : the Summer Palace. It perfectly combines fantastic natural scene with historical stories. You are able to find grand palaces, various pagodas, and other traditional architectural works apart from beautiful natural scenery. Nowadays, the Summer Palace hosts up to two million visitors every year.
The Summer Palace used to be royal garden in Qing Dynasty. Its history can be traced back to Jin Dynasty at the beginning of the second millennium. Further restoration and renovation were carried out in the following several centuries. The garden was constructed during the reign of Emperor Qian Long in memory of his mother. But it was ruined by the joined forces of France and Britain in the Second Opium War. Three decades later, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered to reconstruct and enlarge the Summer Palace with 30 million taels of silver which was supposedly used for the development of Chinese navy. So it is closely associated with the history of China. Empress Dowager Cixi also names the garden "Yiheyuan" in Chinese which lasts until now. It means good health and harmony, both of which are traditional Chinese values.
The Summer Palace covers an expanse of 304 hectares with mountainous zones and large areas of water. The Kunming Lake occupys three quarters of the whole land, while the Longevity Hill dominates other parts. It is regarded as typical imperial gardens of Northern style, which differs significantly from the gardens popular in South China. The Summer Palace shares common characteristics with the Forbidden City in its magnificence, spectacular and vastness, distinctive from the delicacy and refinement shared by Southern Gardens. With carefully-designed combination of watery scenery and mountain landscape, it demonstrate the traditional idea "couple hardness with softness" in Chinese culture.
Apart from splendid natural beauty, the Summer Palace impresses visitors with numerous buildings with superb art of construction. The Cloud-Dispelling Hall, the Temple of Buddhist Virtue, and the Sea of Wisdom Temple are typical examples. The long corridors with beautiful colors or pictures run east-west along the lake and provide wonderful angle of view. The Pavilion of the Fragrance of Buddha reaches the height of 41 meters. Accordingly, there are altogether 1,008 images of Buddha on its walls. So the Summer Palace will be a wonderful choice if you are interested in Chinese architectural art.
The Summer Palace becomes a member of the world cultural heritage list in December, 1998. UNESCO declares that the Summer Palace is "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design".
As a popular tourist destination, the Summer Palace is among the best choices for your China tours.