Summer Palace, Beijing

The Summer Palace in Beijing is yet another UNESCO World Heritage site in China, and if you can manage to deal with the throngs of tourists who stream through on a daily basis it is quite a site to see.

The site was established in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234) and is said to be the best preserved imperial garden in China.  is virtually a museum of traditional Chinese garden arts that blends rocks, trees, pavilions, lakes, ponds, paths and other features to create a poetic effect between different scenes. 

Later, the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan (Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368), who wanted to improve Beijing's water supply, ordered the construction of canals to transport water from the Western Hills to the Summer Palace. He also enlarged the main lake (now called KunMing Lake) to act as a reservoir.

In 1750, Emperor QianLong (1736-1796) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), who travelled extensively throughout China noting places of beauty, added substantially to the gardens of the Summer Palace. He appointed designers to reproduce the styles of various palaces and gardens from around China.

In 1886, Dowager Empress CiXi, with embezzled funds from the Imperial Navy, restored the grand gardens. The reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace continued for ten years and included the Marble Boat.

After completion of the renovation, CiXi renamed the gardens 'YiHeYuan' ('Garden of Peace and Harmony'), its official name today.

The Empress Dowager CiXi moved her administration to the renovated YiHeYuan in 1889 and the gardens that had long been an imperial pleasure ground became the primary Summer Palace.  Tales of CiXi's excesses (including the Marble Boat) are numerous and came to symbolise the decadence of the imperial family.  What is less talked about is that the money she siphoned off crippled the military and left China open to invasion in years to come--had they been able to fend off invaders the history of China could have gone very differently indeed.