The Summer Palace is a world-famous royal garden located in the northwest suburbs of Beijing, about 15 kilometers away from the capital, formerly known as the "Garden of Clear Ripples", which was rebuilt in 1888 and renamed the "Summer Palace" at a cost of 30 million taels of silver over a period of ten years. The Summer Palace is a large-scale garden covering an area of 293 hectares, which is mainly composed of two parts: Wanshoushan Mountain and Kunming Lake. There are more than 3,000 palace and garden buildings of various forms, which can be roughly divided into three parts: administration, living and sightseeing.

The administrative area centered on the Hall of Renshou is where the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu sat in court to listen to politics and meet with foreign guests in those years. Behind the Hall of Renshou are three large courtyards: Leshou Hall, Yulan Hall and Yiyun Hall, where Cixi, Guangxu and the consorts lived. The Deheyuan Theater Building on the east side of the Yiyun Hall is one of the three major theater buildings of the Qing Dynasty.

Since the Wisdom Sea at the top of the Wanshou Mountain, the Summer Palace is downward, from the Buddha's Fragrance Pavilion, the Hall of Virtue and Glory, the Hall of Paiyun, the Gate of Paiyun, and the Cloud Glory of Jade Place, which form a hierarchical central axis. Below the mountain is a 700-meter-long "promenade", which has more than 8,000 colorful paintings on the square beams and is called "the world's first corridor". Before the promenade is the blue rippling Kunming Lake. The west embankment of Kunming Lake is modeled after the Su Causeway of West Lake.

Wanshoushan back of the mountain, the back of the lake with ancient trees, elegant environment, there are Tibetan temples, Suzhou Creek ancient trading street. At the east end of the lake, there is the Harmonious Garden, which was built after Wuxi Yichangyuan, small and exquisite, known as the "garden of gardens".

The Summer Palace is a masterpiece of garden art that is rare in the world, as it is skillfully conceived and has a remarkable status in the history of Chinese and foreign garden art.

Expanded Information:

Cultural Heritage Value:

The Summer Palace, consisting mainly of Wanshoushan Mountain and Kunming Lake, occupies an area of 290.8 hectares, with the water surface (Kunming Lake) accounting for about four percent. The water surface (Kunming Lake) accounts for about three-quarters of the area, about 220 hectares. The architecture of the garden is centered on the Buddha's Fragrant Pavilion, *** there are pavilions, terraces, buildings, pavilions, corridors, salons and other different forms of buildings more than 3,000.

The whole garden is roughly divided into three areas: the political activity area centered on Renshou Hall, the living and residential area dominated by Leshou Hall, Yulan Hall and Yiyun Pavilion, and the scenic tour area composed of Wanshoushan and Kunming Lake. The entire scenic area is a grand scale, is a masterpiece of the art of Chinese garden architecture.

People's Daily Online - World Cultural Heritage: Summer Palace