Summer Palace
The Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing, is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design that is noted for its harmony and large scale.
This "New” Summer Palace landscape is dominated by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake. In addition to halls and pavillions that provided political and administrative functions, it contains large areas for recreational use to enjoy views and spiritual contemplation. The garden has had a major influence on subsequent oriental garden art and culture.
Community Perspective: Not to be confused with the “Old” Summer Palace which is in ruins, this large site provides magnificent views and the boat trips are good as well. “If strolling around the lovely pavilions doesn't convince you that you're in the heart of Chinese culture, nothing will.”
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Tony H.
I visited the Summer Palace in June 2024. The palace is located at the outskirts of Beijing so going there by public transport takes some time. I took the subway to Beigongmen station that makes you to access the palace grounds from the north entrance. This entrance was quite peaceful as bus tour groups seem to enter from the east entrance. I bought the ticket that allows access to all the different sites in the palace grounds but you can also opt for cheaper ticket that allows you to stroll just the gardens, which are still a lot to see.
Right after the entrance you're already on the first sight of interest, the Suzhou Street. This is a fake village made to look like the canals in Suzhou and it was made for the royals to play peasants doing their shopping. You can go walk on along the canal and even take a boat tour but I just admired this fun sight from the bridge that goes over it. After the Suzhou Street I started to climb over the Longevity Hill. I walked through the "Four Great Regions" which is a building complex resembling a Tibetan temple. After that I reached the top of the hill and started to hike down towards the Kunming lake and more central parts of the palace complex.
Climbing the hill in humid summer day was quite a sweaty activity but after reaching the lake I understood why the royals came here to cool down as the lakeside provided a nice cooling breeze. Along the lake goes the Long Corridor, a covered pathway that connects the different parts of the palace. I followed it to the section that I would call the central part of the palace, the Hall of Dispelling Clouds and the Tower of Buddhist Incense. Entering the hall and tower requires the more expensive ticket but you can also pay the extra fee here if you happened to buy the cheaper ticket at the entrance. The tower rises high above the palace grounds on the Longevity Hill and requires quite many steps to reach it, but the views from the top will be worth the trouble. You can see the Kunming lake in all its glory and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge that crosses the lake to Nanhu island. The tower itself is also beautiful with amazing paintings decorating the building that surrounds it. Inside the tower is a golden Buddha statue. You can see a tall pagoda far in the distance that looked very scenic.
After coming back to the lakeside from the tower I then continued to visit the parts around the eastern entrance. I saw the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity where the emperor and empress hold the court sessions and the Dehe Garden that houses the opera house, that was the largest in Imperial China. It is quite magnificent building still. These parts of the palace are the most crowded and you'll most likely walk following tour groups past different palace buildings. I then returned back towards west and checked out the Marble Boat, a pavilion on water that resembles a boat made out of marble. The boat was built on money that was supposed to go towards modernization of Chinese navy.
I had decided that I will exit the palace grounds from the west entrance so from the boat I walked to the Western Dam and started to walk along it. From here you'll get the best views of the Longevity Hill and the Tower of Buddhist Incense across the lake (pictured). The paths on the dam are also very quiet and I was just by myself for long periods of time. There are some dedicated spots for bird-watching, I could hear a cuckoo bird but I wasn't sure if it was a real bird or did they play the sounds from loudspeakers, as along the lake there are speakers playing quietly traditional Chinese music. I encountered many black swans and their babies, though. You'll cross many beautiful bridges with Jade Belt Bridge being the most over-the-top one that I encountered. As clouds started to get more dark and I could hear thunder roaring, I quickly exited the palace grounds through the west entrance. From here you can catch a tram from Summer Palace West Gate station that connects to the subway lines. The west entrance seemed very quiet so if you want avoid lines, enter the palace from here.
The Summer Palace is huge area and you'll need multiple visits to cover it all. I would like to walk around the whole Kunming lake if I visit the palace again. I was surprised how vast the palace area was, and how much climbing was included in the visit. The palace is an amazing masterpiece of Chinese landscape gardens. It is sad that the palace grounds were looted by the British and French troops during the Second Opium War so there aren't much original things left but the rebuilding of everything afterwards was a magnificent achievement by Empress Dowager Cixi, who then made the Summer Palace her primary residence. The palace is popular with Chinese tourists but I saw there much less other foreign tourists than in other Beijing sites. For some reason it isn't that famous attraction for foreign visitors but I think it's a must-visit for anyone visiting Beijing.
Clyde
I visited this WHS in October 2013. There are so many places to explore and so many scenic spots to stop at that this site could easily take up a whole day to cover. The boat trips on Kunming Lake are pleasant and not too long. Visit at sunset to enjoy good lighting on Longevity Hill from Kunming Lake.
Kyle Magnuson
California - United States of America - 13-Nov-12 -
The Summer Palace is a great place to spend a couple hours. The site is large enough that it seems far less busy than some of the other WHS in Beijing. What we see today is largely from 1886-1902. The Summer Palace is an incredible example of Chinese garden design, but its also one of the last great works of the declining Qing Dynasty.
The dynastic cycle ended only 12 years following the last rebuilding of the Summer Palace. This begs the question, how much was the current Summer Palace even used by Qing royalty? Famously, much of the funds (30 million Tael of silver) to re-build the palace were allegedly taken from the Qing Navy. Perhaps the Qing Dynasty was destined to collapse, regardless of Imperial folly and overindulgence.
What are we left to ponder strolling this beautiful palace and garden? For me it was a blend of Imperial grandeur and elegant design; yet the knowledge of the slow death of the Qing dynasty was there as well.
Read more from Kyle Magnuson here.
Ian Cade
Much to my surprise, this turned out to be my favourite site in Beijing. I had originally only scheduled a few hours to explore it, however a bit of a re-jig of my plans allowed a slightly more relaxed pace to my time in the Chinese capital.
I entered through the northern gate and had a huge amount of fun clambering up the hill and ducking into the huge amount of pavilions, follies and temples. This provided magnificent views over the lake that is the centre of the palace complex. My particular favourite was the Fragrant Buddha Pavillion which was magnificently decorated and offered hard won vistas from the top of the many flights of stairs.
After ducking off to a quiet spot for some lunch I treated myself to a cruise around the lake, which was massively enjoyable in the bright afternoon sun. Back on shore the marble boat and painted colonnade showed the massive artistic merit of the site as well as its monumental excess. Having already done a fair bit of exploring I was happy to wiz through the crowded central palace complex and enjoy a slow sunset watching the elderly men flying kites over the lake. This was an exceeding lovely way to spend my last afternoon in China, and to my surprise really let me enjoy a palace complex.
A thoroughly enjoyable and decadent place, that rewarded a leasuirly half day of exploring, my favourite WHS in Beijing.
[Site 8: Experience 8]
Ivan ManDy
There is now a subway line albeit an almost hour long train ride to the Summer Palace. After seeing the Forbidden city, this place strikes to me as an over-sized catering to the whims of the imperial Chinese emperors (which I guess really is!) This place is really interesting and is a very fascinating glimpse to the playful, artistic and sometimes crazy side of China's past rulers.
Rajeev Aloysius
The Summer Palace is a short taxi ride from the downtown area. The main halls (the "scenic spots") along with sections of the long corridor were being restored. One of the most tranquil sections is on either side of the 17-arches bridge, with its multicoloured flowers and boat piers.
Ben Pastore
Even though the Summer Palace wasn't included in my tour, I made it a point to take the $5 taxi ride to the outskirts of Beijing to see it with my own eyes. It was a tranquil setting and thankfully free of tour groups. The dragon-shaped ferry across Kunming Lake with the scenic 17 Arch Bridge was worth the 50 cents to ride it. The buildings are tremendously ornate and if strolling around the lovely pavillions doesn't convince you that you're in the heart of Chinese culture, nothing will.
Rob Wilson
Whilst the Summer Palace does not compare to the Forbidden City or the Great Wall, it is still an impressive site. As with the Forbidden City it is over-run with tour groups, but a little bit of effort climbing up to some of the more 'remote' parts of the site will reap rewards.
Whilst parts of the Palace were disgracefully vandalised by Anglo-French forces, it is interesting to note that more recent damage, from the Cultural Revolution (mainly the damage to the Buddhist section) is unrestored (and the blame unapportioned).
Els Slots
This involves a nice bus trip (costing 0,15 euro) to the outskirts of Beijing passing its university. The 'new' Summer Palace is awesome. It's a group of buildings scattered on a hill and along the lakeside. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the Temple of Wisdom. I think I've fallen in love with yellow and green tiles here in Beijing. And this temple has them all over, together with innumerable little Buddha statues (the ones closest to the ground missing their heads).
When I finally wanted a break after gazing at all the temples, pagodas, halls and so on, I stopped for lunch at the Palace's restaurant. After almost one week in Beijing I encountered them here for the first time: can't-be-bothered waitresses huddled together in a corner, hissing mei you when you order something not too spectacular. Enjoy the old-communist ways at the Tingliguan restaurant, with its yellow chairs, plastic table cloths, and darkened windows (no lights switched on). It was fun to see all western tourists peeking around the door, and immediately back off, while I enjoyed my shredded pork with green peppers.
The next day I went to the Old Summer Palace, which is now in ruins. It's like visiting ancient sites in Greece or Italy, though the Summer Palace is quite new compared to them. At most of the sites they placed a model to show how the buildings must have looked while they were still standing. They all look like reproductions of European palaces, amazing to see this here.
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