The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace, in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing, is the grandest surviving imperial garden in China and a World Heritage Site, built as a retreat where the Qing emperors and their court could escape the summer heat of the Forbidden City. It is designed on a vast scale around Kunming Lake and the artificial Longevity Hill, blending water, hills, temples, palaces, bridges and pavilions in the classical Chinese ideal of a landscape garden, so that every view is composed like a painting. Highlights include the Long Corridor, a covered walkway running for over seven hundred metres beside the lake, every beam painted with a different scene, the marble boat, first built in 1755 and rebuilt for the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1893, and the Buddhist temple complex climbing the hill to a view over the whole lake. In summer the lake fills with pleasure boats and lotus, and in winter it freezes; at any season it is a place for a long, contemplative wander.

History

The origins of the gardens go back to the Jin dynasty, whose emperor Wanyan Liang built a palace in the hills north-west of Beijing after 1153; around 1271 the Yuan engineer Guo Shoujing brought spring water into the Western Lake, the future Kunming Lake, and Ming emperors made the area an imperial garden. Around 1749 the Qianlong Emperor began a palace here for his mother's 60th birthday, enlarged the lake, used the spoil to build up Longevity Hill and completed the garden, then called Qingyiyuan, in 1764 at a cost of over 4.8 million silver taels. British and French forces sacked and burned it in December 1860 during the Second Opium War, and between 1884 and 1895 the Empress Dowager Cixi reportedly diverted up to 22 million taels meant for the navy to rebuild and enlarge it (Wikipedia, Summer Palace).

The main sights

• The Long Corridor - the painted covered walkway of hundreds of scenes along the lake.
• Kunming Lake - the great lake with its bridges, islands and boats.
• Longevity Hill - the temple-crowned hill with its view over the palace and lake.
• The Marble Boat - the lakeside stone pavilion built in the shape of a boat.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the loveliest, with blossom or colour and comfortable temperatures; summer brings lotus on the lake but heat and crowds, and winter freezes the lake for skating. It is a large site best given a half-day of unhurried walking. Weekdays and early mornings are quieter.

Before you go

It is very large and involves a lot of walking to see the highlights spread around the lake and up the hill, so wear comfortable shoes and allow time. As one of Beijing's top sights it is busy, especially at weekends and in summer, and the lakeside can be crowded. Some inner temples and halls charge extra. Combining it with the Forbidden City in one day is too much; give it its own half-day.

Nearby

The Old Summer Palace ruins are close by; central Beijing and the Forbidden City are across the city.

Key facts