Sunday, April 6, 2014

颐和园YiHeYuan Garden--The Summer Palace in BeiJing..the Largest Royal Park in China

Summer Palace

Palace in Beijing, China

The Summer Palace is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water. Wikipedia

Address: China, Beijing, Haidian, 新建宫门路19号

Opened: 1750

Height: 60 m

Architectural style: Chinese architecture

Phone: +86 10 6288 1144

Function: Palace

颐和园YiHeYuan Garden--The Summer Palace in BeiJing

The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China. Its Chinese name, YiHeYuan, translates as "Garden of Nurtured Harmony" or "Garde for Maintaining Health and Harmony"

Today we are ready to visit the Summer Palace and it is freezingly cold (not to me, note I am wearing thin jacket, but Jenn misses her red Parka)

Look how Tiffany is protected against the chill

Dad tries to button her up against the cold, but to no avail, so I brought her to a stall to buy hot chocolate

near the hot coffee and hot choc stand....

not only was it cold, it was hazy too!!!

It was also recorded that Empress Dowager

Cixi embezzled navy funds to reconstruct it as a

resort

in which to spend the rest of her life.

(When China was attacked they had no money for

defence because she had emptied it just to build a

palatial garden for herself!!!!)

We took a cruise round Kunming Lake on a barge that looked like this

another of the barge that you can take, this looks more antiquey and like what the Empress Dowager took

The Summer Palace radiates fully the natural beauty and the grandeur of royal gardens and was first built in 1750 (just imagine that!!!)

The Summer Palace is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value. (got this from the net hehe)

The Imperial Chinese Garden, illustrated by the Summer Palace, is a potent symbol of one of the major world civilizations, demonstrated by this Beijing girl, perhaps?

can you spot him waving to us? there are two such bridges, and we ran to both to take photos of each other on the bridge, hahaha!

The grounds, temples, gardens, pavilions, lakes, bridges, gate-towers and corridors are a marvel of landscaping. Unlike the overpowering flatland of the Forbidden City or the considered harmonies of the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace – with its huge lake, hilltop views and energising walks – offers a pastoral escape into the landscapes of traditional Chinese painting.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/beijing/sights/historic/summer-palace#ixzz2y7IsaGsy