| Beijing Tours | Beijing Guide | Beijing Hotels | Beijing Map | Beijing Pictures | Beijing Attractions |
| Transportation | |
 |
 |
| Flight | Train |
| Beijing Attractions |
 Forbidden City |
| Great Wall |
| Tiananmen Square |
| Temple of Heaven |
| Summer Palace |
| Ming Tombs |
| Lhama Temple |
| Beihai Park |
| Beijing Zoo |
| Marco Polo Bridge |
Beijing Travel Guide
The Summer Palace, one of the finest examples garden architecture in China, is located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing. The 100-odd examples of traditional architecture in the park include pavilions, terraces, temples, pagodas, waterside gazebos, covered corridors, stone bridges and the famous marble boat. The palace occupies a total area of 290 hectares, three quarters of which is made up of shallow lakes.
 |
| The Summer Palace |
This dominion of palace temples, gardens, pavilions, lake and corridors was once a playground for the imperial court. Royalty came here to elude the insufferable summer heat that roasted the Forbidden City. The tranquil Kunming Lake takes up three-quarters of the park.
The Summer Palace with its cool features - water, gardens and hills - was the palace of choice for vacationing emperors and Dowager Empresses. It was badly damaged by Anglo-French troops during the Second Opium War (1860) and its restoration became a pet project of Empress Dowager Cixi, the last of the Qing dynasty rulers. Money earmarked for a modern navy was used for the project but, in a bit of whimsical irony, the only thing that was completed was the restoration of a marble boat. The boat now sits at the edge of the lake in all its immobile and nonmilitary glory. The Palace's full restoration was hampered by the disintegration of the Qing dynasty and the Boxer Rebellion.
The place is packed to the gunwales in summer, with Beijing residents taking full advantage of Kunming Lake, which takes up three-quarters of the park. The main building is the lyrically named Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, while along the north shore is the Long Corridor, so named because it's, well, long. There's over 700m (2300ft) of corridor, filled with mythical paintings and scenes. If some of the paintings have a newish patina, that's because many of the murals were painted over during the Cultural Revolution.
