Summer Palace, Yiheyuan

The present Summer Palace, 20 km north-west from the center of Beijing, is also known as Garden of Harmonious Unity (Yihe Yuan). Close to the destroyed Old Summer Palace, called YuanMingYuan, it is the best example of an Imperial Chinese garden. It was built in 1153 by the Jins, who were the precursors of the Manchus. Succeeding dynasties enlarged the park and added more landscaping. In 1750 the Qian Long Emperor spent 5 million taels of gold to build the Garden of Clear Ripples, QingyiYuan. He renamed the hill (previously called WengShan, Jar Hill) as Longevity Hill, WanshouShan, in honor of his mother's birthday. In 1860, the Anglo-French troops burnt the park, but the Dowager Empress Cixi had it rebuilt in 1888. In 1900, the site was again burnt by the British and once again rebuilt by Cixi in 1903.

Most visitors taken to the Summer Palace enter by the main gate called East Gate (Donggongmen), though there is also a North Gate. Above the East Gate hangs a board with the three Chinese characters Yiheyuan by the Guangxu Emperor. Visitors in group tours to the Summer Palace will only be given fleeting moments and shown the famous Gallery, the Marble Boat and the Seventeen Arch Bridge, including a boat ride in Kunming Lake. For those who appreciate the beauty of Chinese art, architecture and landscaping, they should take a whole day exploring this 300 hectare park comprising of buildings and corridors topped by a hill (Longevity Hill) and cooled by an artificial lake (Kunming Lake). Three quarters of the area is covered with water. It was in 1998 that Yiheyuan finally became recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site.

The Summer Palace, as an imperial garden, is divided into three essential parts viz. the administrative, the residential and the scenic areas. The administrative area centered on the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, was where the Dowager Empress met the officials and state guests. The residential area comprises the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, the Hall of Jade Billows and the Hall of Joyful Longevity. The tiles of the buildings are black, conforming to the water element, hence protective against fire. However, the tiles of the imperial ceremonial hall, the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, are of yellow color. The scenic areas encompasses the Kunming Lake and surroundings including the Long Promenade or Corridor.


The highlights of the Summer Palace are:


The Long Promenade, Thousand Steps Corridor (ChangLang):

This 728 meter long gallery of archway paintings was built in 1750 and is unique in its length and finesse. It is the longest and best known gallery in China, located south of the Longevity Hill on the north bank of the Kunming Lake and stretching from the Moon Gate to the Shizang Pavilion. There are 273 compartments interspersed with four double-roofed octagonal pavilions signifying the four seasons.

To appreciate the paintings and their stories, one should stay away from the maddening crowd of marching tourists, especially in April and October. There are about 8000 paintings depicting historical stories, scenes from famous novels like Romance of the Three Kingdom, Water Margin, Journey to the West, Dream of the Red Chamber, Strange Tales of the Liaozhai. There are also paintings of birds, flowers, family scenes, Chinese landscapes, heroes and heroines, all contributing to this microcosm of Chinese culture. The paintings are retouched every twelve years but some have lost their luster prematurely.


The Marble Boat, Shifang (Boat of Purity & Ease, Qingyangfang):

Most people associate the Marble Boat with the infamous Dowager Empress, Cixi. However, there was already such a boat with a wooden superstructure built in 1750. Unfortunately in 1860, this boat was burnt by the Anglo-French forces under Lord Elgin, the son of the man who stole the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens.

The Dowager Empress Cixi squandered the naval funds and commissioned the boat to be built in semi-Western style with two Mississippi type of wheel paddles, to signify that the water can propel the boat instead of toppling it, thus indicating the stability of the Qing Dynasty. Nevertheless, history proved Cixi to be wrong, for the decadence of her rule provoked the demise of the Qing Dynasty.

The 36 meter long Marble Boat is located at the north-western part of the Kunming Lake. The base of the boat is of stone paved with colored bricks, and is not of marble as the name suggested. The top part of the boat is of two tiers, made of wood and painted white giving the impression of marble. There is a huge mirror on each tier, and the tinted designs on the top parts of the arches are beautiful. The drainage system allows rain water to spout out of four dragon heads located at the base.




Seventeen Arch Bridge:

The eight meter wide rainbow bridge was built by the Qianlong Emperor to connect the Dragon King Temple in the east to the Nanhu Island in Kunming Lake. The Emperor had the island built to symbolize Penglai, the mythical fairy island with the elixir of life. The bridge is 150 meters long with numerous individual marble lion heads (544) superceding the number (485) on the Marco Polo Bridge to the south of Beijing. There are seventeen arches under the bridge giving it that name.

As for other bridges in the Summer Palace, the Jade Belt Bridge is the most attractive. It was carved of white marble and green stones resembling a jade belt. A boat ride to Jade Spring Hill must pass under this bridge.


Bronze Ox, Tongniu:

At the eastern end of the bridge is the Bronze Ox, overlooking the Kunming Lake and a symbol of flood control since ancient times, and now bearing on its back an inscription of a 80 character prose by the Qianlong Emperor.
The words can be translated as:

“King Xiayu harnessed the rivers, the iron ox spread its fame.
The import of calming the billows, posterity shall acclaim;
In style, it’s the way of heaven: immutable, upright,
Even flood dragons keep their distance, what of crocodiles, turtles and likes?
Ah, Kunming Lake, so mighty, that holds ten thousand qings,
The divine ox shall keep thy floods under rein;
All waters from Baqiu to Huaihe in one direction now flow,
Others may praise King Hanwu, but Tangyao I shall extol;
On the distant shore of the West Sea, auspicious signs appear,
Reverently, we pray for blessings, this Qianlong’s 19th year.”

In 1866, a poet, Wang Kaiyun, after seeing the barbaric destruction of the YiheYuan by the Anglo-French forces in 1860 wrote:

“Jade Fountain laments and Kunming mourns,
Alone guards the Bronze Ox, the thistles and thorns;
In the hills of blue iris, the fox calls in the night,
Neath the bridge of soft ripples, fish weep at the sight.”

The Bronze Ox was indeed an indestructible object.



Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, RenshouDian:

The interesting feature here is a sandalwood screen with the Chinese character for longevity “shou4” written in 226 styles. In the background are numerous bats signifying happiness with longevity, since the Chinese character for bats has the same sound as the character for happiness. The board above the throne means that benevolence in governance confers longevity. Foreign dignitaries were received here by Empress Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor.


Hall of Happiness in Longevity, LeshouTang:

This hall is the largest of residential quarters and is where Dowager Express Cixi lived for six months from the fourth to the tenth lunar month. There is an embroidered screen of a hundred birds fluttering around a phoenix as well as a red sandalwood table with a gold fish aquarium for Cixi to watch while having her meals. This is the first place in China to use electricity. Externally are the yulan magnolias of white and purple, as well as a weird giant rock of 8 meter length called Blue Iris Hill, Qingzhixiu.


Hall of Jade Billow, YulanTangs:

The Hall of Jade Billows was where Dowager Empress Cixi had the Guangxu Emperor under palace arrest. In 1898, the reform-minded Guangxu Emperor was overthrown by Cixi in a palace coup with his Reform Party leaders Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao fleeing. A patriot, Tan Sitong, preferred not to escape and died a martyr by being beheaded. The Emperor was not only unable to leave the hall, but was not allowed to see his wife or concubines. He subsequently died mysteriously a day before Cixi’s death.

This is where a vintage Benz, given to Cixi by Yuan Shikai as a present, is on display. It is the first imported car in China.



Hall of Dispelling Clouds, PaiyunDian:

This important hall was used for the birthday celebrations of Empress Cixi. It now holds a painting of Cixi by Dutch American, Hubert Vois, for her seventy-first birthday in 1905. Gifts from dignitaries for the ageing Empress are also housed here. The name came from a poem by Guo Fu of the Jin Dynasty who wrote
“When fairies dispel the clouds and emerge,
The gold and silver terraces appear.”

Chinese Zodiac animals can be found at the Gate to the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, PaiyunMen. They are in the form of rocks from Taihu Lake and are shaped like the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. There are also two guardian bronze lions, one male and one female, and a bronze dragon and phoenix.


The Great Theatrical Stage, Daxilou:

In the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, DeheYuan, is the largest of the three great theatrical stages of China, the other two in the Forbidden City (called ChangyinGe) and Chengde (called QingyinGe). It is of three storeys, 21 meters high and 17 meters wide at base. The stage was built in 1891 at the cost of 700,000 taels of silver, and gave many operatic performances to the delight of the Empress Cixi and her retinue. The Empress, a lover of opera, would on occasions dress as a member of the troupe.



Tower of the Fragrance of Buddha, FoxiangGe:

The name in Chinese can also be interpreted as Tower of Buddha’s Incense. The 40 meter high octagonal tower gives an excellent view of the park. It was built in 1750 and burnt in 1860 by the Anglo-French forces. It was rebuilt in 1889 and again burnt in 1900 by the forces of Eight Nations. The present structure was built in 1903, with final restoration in 1987.


Pavilion of Precious Clouds, BaoyunGe (Bronze Pavilion, Tongting):

This is an interesting pavilion cast in bronze in 1750 and used by the lamas to pray for the Emperor on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month. It withstood the fire started by the Anglo-French forces in 1860, but the interior were destroyed except for a bronze incense table. This table and a bronze urn in the courtyard were taken by the Japanese to Tianjin in 1945, but were fortunately not in time to be shipped to Japan. They have been returned to their previous positions.


Hall of Sea of Wisdom, ZhihuiHai Hall:

The unique feature of this hall is that it has no beam or column in its construction. Its exterior has beautifully colored glazing, with rows of well carved Buddha statuettes, many of which were destroyed by foreign imperialist armies in 1860 and 1900.



Garden of Harmonious Pleasures, XiequYuan:

The central feature is a lotus pond pavilion where Empress Cixi enjoyed fishing, though unknown to her, the live fish were put onto her hook by diving eunuchs. One of the bridges is called “Know the Fish Bridge” in honor of the philosophical debate between Zhuangzi and his friend, Huizi, at the Hao River. The sound of flowing water from the Back Lake, Houhu, to the lotus pond is in imitation to that of the Jichangyuan Garden in Wuxi.


Suzhou Market Street:


The street is an imitation of the southern Zhejiang city of Suzhou, the Venice of China. The Imperial family and high officials would purchase items sold by eunuchs while dressed as tradesmen and customers. This was a pretension to make the royal members and dignitaries feel the “real” bargain and hustle and bustle of a Chinese street. There were tea-houses, restaurants and shops, some 60 odd shops with fourteenth archways and eight bridges. The buildings here were completely destroyed in 1860 by pillaging Anglo-French troops. However, the buildings and street have been restored and opened to the public.