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Located in Haidian District, some 12 kilometers northwest of the downtown,
the Summer Palace is the largest imperial garden in the world. It is a
veritable museum of classical Chinese garden architecture.
The initial construction of the Summer Palace began in 1750, commissioned
by Emperor Qinglong as a gift for his mother's birthday. The construction
took 15 years to complete. It had the name "Qingyi Yuan" (Garden
of Clear Ripples) at that time. The plundering of foreign troops in 1860
destroyed most of the buildings, but they were renovated in 1888 by Empress
Dowager Cixi, who was said to have embezzled the funds of the Imperial
Navy to build the garden. After China's liberation, the garden became
a park and got the name Yiheyuan (Summer Palace).
Covering an area of 4,300 mu 290 hectares, the park in Beijing is an outstanding
example of imperial gardens. The landscape architect utilized Longevity
Hill and Kunming Lake to create a paradise of hills and waters. Artisans
reproducedthe garden architecture styles of various palaces in China and
combined them to create a harmonious atmosphere. For example, the buildings
in the palatial administration area and residential area near the East
Palace Gate are courtyard dwellings linked to each other. The lake area
in the south is divided by a dyke, imitating West Lake in Hangzhou. Structures
on the northern side of the Longevity Hill  area
feature Tibetan Style Lamseries and Suzhou Street is lined with shops
in traditional Chinese buildings. The Garden of Harmonious Interests is
similar to the water town of south China. An elegant 700-meter-long corridor
with exquisite color paintings links the buildings and gardens together
and enables tourists to more easily appreciate the whole scenic area.
The layout of different buildings falls on quite a systematic arrangement
and the designers also use rocks, plants, pavilions, ponds, cobble paths
and other garden styles to create a poetic effect between different scenes.
When you stroll among them, you will constantly find the area changing
and not crowded.
The whole Summer Palace is divided into three parts: the administrative
area, the residential area and the scenic area.
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