走进历史-The Summer Place

Hellooooo everybody! Amanda and I went to The Summer place today, also known as Yi He Yuan. Initially we thought that the place will be like chinese garden but its realli beautttiiiiifulllll

The Summer Palace covers an area of 290 hectares. It was built by emperor Qianlong in 1750 to celebrate his mother's birthday. It was later used as a pleasure garden for emperors and empresses. In 1860, it was brutally burned down by the Angelo-French Allied Forces. To seek pleasure, Empress Dowager Cixi diverted navy funds to rebulid it in 1886. The garden was seriously damaged again in 1900 by the Allied Forces of Eight Powers

Me on the bus! The bus is almost empty which is very rare!

This is the entrance to the Summer Palace!The Kunming lake with the Tower of the Frgrance of the Buddha on the Longevity HillArghhh!! Dun scare me laWillow trees!
The 17 arch bridge. ! 150 m long and was designed to look like a rainbow on the lake. And oh! there is the Dragon King temple across the bridge.

We had picnic! Look at the food we prepared! Sandwhiches and Sushi! Yum yum!

Hmmm.. Where shall we go next?
We love Yi He Yuan! Bought this YiHe yuan Starbucks bottle 2 weeks back
The emperor's quarters The paintings look really old! They r already cracking

The Emperor's "office" and Empress Dowager's sleeping chambers. All still very well preserved!

This is the amazing long corridor! It runs along the lake at the foot of the hills. It is 738mlong with 14,000 pictures painted on its ceilings. There is a story behind every single painting. It is known as the longest painted gallery in the world. Arghhh!! The camera batt ran low during the major attraction! The marble boat! Go to marietta's blog to see pictures of the boat! Some information bout the marble boat! Credits to Wikipedia=)

The Marble Boat also known as the Boat of Purity and Ease .It was first erected in 1755 during the reign of the Qianlong emperos from a base of large stone blocks which supported a wooden superstructure done in a traditional Chinese design.
In 1890, during the Second Opium War, the pavilion was destroyed by Anglo-French forces. It was restored in 1893 on order of the Empress Cixi. In this restoration, a new two-story superstructure was designed which incorporated elements of European architecture.

The Marble Boat is often seen as an ironic commentary on the fact that the money used to restore the Summer Palace largely came from funds originally earmarked for building up a new imperial navy. The controller of the Admiralty, the !st Prince Chun owed much of his social standing as well as his appointment to the Empress Dowager, who had adopted his oldest son to become the GuangXu Emperor. Because of this, he probably saw no other choice than to condone the embezzlement.

Near the Natural affinity of water and trees. When Empress Dowager came to the Summer Palace by water, her boat docked around here.

I have been to many places around the world.. but nothing touched my heart as much as the Summer Palace did. It feels as if I have stepped into history, a place built centuries ago, designed by some of the greatest architects of that time. Every single thing in the palace was carefully selected and designed, the chairs, beds, mirrors, paintings... There is a story behind everything you see here. It is like a small town on its having its own oprea theatre( The Great Stage), temple, dock, bridges, gardens... there is even an alley of 64shops known as SuZhou street! And its onli a gateway for the royal family to escape from the summer heat!
SuZhou street! Credits to http://www.beijingguide2008.com/ The Summer Palace is so big and we din not manage to cover all of it.. we will be back though! With our student passes which entitle us to 50% discount! Wohoo!!

ned