Wandering around the Summer Palace in Beijing

Informational sign at the Summer Palace

After visiting the zoo and eating lunch, my Chinese friend and I made our way to the Summer Palace. Prior to my trip to China, I didn’t really know much about the Summer Palace – other than that it is a place I should visit when I come to Beijing. In my friend’s somewhat limited English, she explained to me that the Summer Palace was built by the Chinese emperor as a place to stay in the summer. Hence, the name – Summer Palace. I also learn that it is located along a man-made lake with excellent views of Beijing. We soon arrived at the Summer Palace and the entrance sign gave me more background about when the Palace was built and other facts about the size of the complex. One thing I did not realize is that the Summer Palace is a UN World Heritage site – very cool.

Entering the palace complex, I noticed how open and airy it was. One of the things that impressed me about the Summer Palace was the Long Corridor. The Chinese emperors who built the Summer Palace must have experienced the rain of Beijing like I was the day I visited. The Long Corridor came in handy for me as it kept me out the rain. According to my guidebook, the corridor is 2,388 feet long (728 m) – that’s almost half a mile. One of the cool things about the corridor is there are scenic paintings on each board that makes up the corridor. My Chinese friend said that each painting tells a different story. Unfortunately, due to language differences (me not knowing enough Mandarin and her not knowing enough English), she could not tell me any of the stories.

One of the pictures in the Long Corridor

Another spot I visited was Longevity Hill. It would be more accurate to say that I walked up Longevity Hill. Getting up the hill was a good way to exercise. I couldn’t believe how my Chinese friend trekked up the hill with me with no problems. The hill was built with dirt that was collected when the man-made lake at the palace was dug. At the top of Longevity Hill was a Buddhist temple where Chinese emperors would pray. Additionally, Longevity Hill provided beautiful views of the city and lake – even on a little bit rainy day in Beijing.

A view of Longevity Hill

View of Beijing from Longevity Hill

The Summer Palace contains other highlights such as the elegantly built 17 arch stone bridge, a replica of Suzhou Street, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, and the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. The stone arch bridge connects the South Lake Island at the Summer Palace to the main-land complex. The replica of Suzhou is interesting. The reason the replica was built was because a Chinese emperor enjoyed their shopping visit to Suzhou that they ordered a replica built at the Summer Palace.

17 arch stone bridge

I really enjoyed my visit to the Summer Palace. I spent a good 4 hours here taking in the Summer Palace. It is easy to spend at least half a day there – wandering around, taking a boat ride on the lake, people watching, walking up Longevity hill, or just relaxing in the beautiful surroundings that make up the Summer Palace. I can understand why Chinese people like to come here in the summer to get away from the busyness of the city and try to do some relaxing.

Take a look at my Summer Palace Gallery to see the rest of my photos.

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Tags: Beijing, China, Summer Palace, Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 11:12 am and is filed under China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.