Summer Palace

Last Updated: November 26, 1999

The summer palace is more than just a palace: It's a large park, with a large, artificial lake and a man made mountain. The palace sits atop the mountain. This place was originally built for the emperor as a summer escape from the Beijing heat.

The palace fell into disrepair multiple times. The Empress Dowager used funds for the navy to restore the palace in the late 1800's, and added a marble boat (this misuse of funds is often cited as one reason for China's military woes at the time).

In my opinion, this is the place to visit in/near Beijing, and I found it much nicer than the Forbidden City.

The entrance to the park.

The ubiquitous gate.

Many entrances have a pair of lions on either side. One lion has a ball under its paw; the other, a cub.

The long corridor.

The long corridor has hundreds of paintings. This one shows a battle. The image is fuzzy because I zoomed a lot of the photo I scanned. The actual painting is clear.

Another view of the long corridor.

The 17 arch bridge.

The summer palace.

Many of the roofs have little figures on top. Note the missing head, presumably a casualty of the Red Guard during the cultural revolution.

The empress's boat.

The summer palace.

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