The Summer Palace is located about 10 kilometers northwest of Beijing. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was called Wengshan Bo, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was called West Lake. Yuanjing Temple was built here. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty dug out lake earth and piled it on the east bank of the lake to form an east embankment to store the lake water. It was renamed Wanshou Mountain and Kunming Lake. The Dabaoen Lingshou Temple was built on the former site of Yuanjing Temple and decorated with pavilions and pavilions. Named Qingyi Garden. It was destroyed by the British and French forces in 1860. In the 14th year of Guangxu (AD 1887), Empress Dowager Cixi appropriated naval military funds to renovate the palace, which lasted 8 years, and was renamed the Summer Palace.
The Summer Palace can be divided into two parts: Kunming Lake and Wanshou Mountain. The entire garden covers an area of ??34,000 square kilometers, of which about 1/5 is mountainous, with a mountain height of more than 60 meters. Its layout consists of three areas: government activities, residence, and tourism. The group of buildings from the East Palace Gate to the Renshou Hall is the government activity area. The Hall of Renshou faces the west and faces the east. It does not use glazed tiles to show the characteristics of the palace. Behind Renshou Hall and facing the lake, there are three groups of large courtyards, namely Yulan Hall, Yiyun Hall and Leshou Hall, which are connected with each other. These three places were the living quarters of Guangxu, Longyu and Cixi respectively. The Dehe Garden in the Hall of Renshou is where Cixi went to watch plays. It has a large theater building with a height of 21 meters, a stage 17 meters wide and a magnificent shape.
The tourist area is the essence of the Summer Palace and consists of three parts: the front mountain, the back mountain and Kunming Lake. In the middle of Qianshan, from the Yunhui Yuyu Archway in front of Kunming Lake to the north, there are Paiyun Gate, Paiyun Hall, Dehui Hall, Buddhist Incense Pavilion, and Wisdom Sea, forming the main axis of the whole garden. All buildings are covered with yellow glazed tiles. . The Foxiang Pavilion is octagonal in plan and 41 meters high. It stands on a high platform in the middle of the mountain. The platform is 20 meters high and has figure-eight steps to climb. There are 21 rooms in Paiyun Hall, and the east and west are connected by multiple roads. The Sea of ??Wisdom is a two-story beamless hall decorated with yellow and green colored glazes, with exquisite little glaze Buddhas embedded on the walls. In the middle of the mountain on the east and west sides of the main building complex, two groups of buildings, the Zhuanlunzang and the Tongting Pavilion, are symmetrically arranged. In addition, some scenic and entertainment buildings are evenly distributed on Wanshou Mountain, such as Jingfu Pavilion, Yunsongchao, Huazhongyou, etc. There is a 728-meter long corridor between the foot of the mountain and Kunming Lake that runs from east to west, with 273 rooms. There are more than 4,000 Soviet-style paintings painted on the beams of each room.
The back mountain is famous for its tranquility. There is a stream from Yunqiao in the west to Xiequ Garden in the east. There are architectural remnants of the Qingyi Garden era on the hillside and on the water; there are Pine Hall, Xumi Lingjing, Xiangyan Zongyin Pavilion, Four Continents and other buildings south of Beigong Gate. The group base site, and Suzhou Street on both sides of the Houhu Long Bridge.
In the lake area, there are Zhichunting, Wenchang Pavilion and Kuoru Pavilion distributed along the East Embankment. The largest island in Kunming Lake - Nanhu Island, also known as Dragon King Temple, covers an area of ??about 1 hectare. It is surrounded by stacked stones. The main building on the island is a culvert hall and a terrace in the south, surrounded by carved railings. There is a seventeen-hole bridge in the east of the island connected to the east embankment. The bridge is 150 meters long and 8 meters wide. There are more than 500 stone lions in different postures carved on the guardrail. The West Causeway was built during the Qianlong period imitating the Su Causeway of West Lake in Hangzhou. Six bridges of different forms are dotted between the embankments, among which the Jade Belt Bridge is the most beautiful. It is built of white marble and bluestone. The bridge is tall and graceful, with a lifelike crane carved on the pillar.
The Summer Palace has beautiful lakes and mountains, and towering palaces and pavilions. It combines beautiful natural scenery, colorful architecture and outstanding garden art, and fully demonstrates the high wisdom and endless creativity of our country's working people.