Event: China - Beijing

Summer Palace

When:	Daily
Where:	Summer Palace
Costs:	RMB 20; concessions RMB 10
Opening Hours:	Daily 7am-5pm

This exquisite palace in Haidian is set at the foot of the Western Hills, surrounded by Kumning Lake. The Summer Palace features some of Beijing's most beautiful Qing dynasty architecture, which can also be seen by climbing nearby Longevity Hill.

Located 15km from Beijing, the Summer Palace, which has the largest imperial garden in China, was endorsed by UNESCO in 1998 as a world cultural heritage site. Its major attractions are the Tower of Buddhist Incense, the 17-Span Bridge, the Long Gallery, the Cloud Dispelling Hall, the Marble Boat, the Beamless Hall, the Garden of Harmonious Delights, the theatre in the Garden of Moral Harmony, and Suzhou Street. The entire place is a de facto museum of China's classical architecture. Housed in these buildings are an immense collection of treasures and cultural artefacts.

The palace's long history stretches back to the 12th century, when the Jin dynasty first built a palace named the Golden Hill on the site. In 1750 Emperor Qian Long of the Qing dynasty built the Garden of Clear Ripples here and renamed the hill Longevity Hill to celebrate his mother's birthday.

The original Summer Palace was burnt down by the allied forces of Great Britain and France in 1860. Reconstruction started 25 years later when, using funds embezzled from the Imperial Navy, the Empress Dowager Cixi created the present gardens a few kilometres away from the original site. The reconstruction lasted for ten years and after completion, she renamed the site Yiheyuan - Garden of Peace and Harmony.

A few kilometres away from Yiheyuan (in the direction of central Beijing) are the crumbled ruins of the previous (pre-1860) Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan, a site well worth visiting in itself.