The Summer Palace (pinyin: Yiheyuan, 颐和园) is a palace in Beijing, China.

The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山) and Kunming Lake (昆明湖). It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres -- three quarters of which is water. In its compact 70,000 square metres of building space, one finds a variety of palaces, gardens, and other ancient-sytle architectural structures.

The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples (清漪园, Qingyi Yuan) in 1750 (Reign Year 15 of Emperor Qianlong). Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Suffering two attacks -- an Anglo-French allied invasion in 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time) and the eight-power allied forces in 1900 -- it survived and was recreated in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was renamed to become the current-day Yiheyuan (Garden of Health and Harmony), serving as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy, into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.

In December of 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace an "outstanding expression of the creative art of Chinese landscape garden design, incorporating the works of humankind and nature in a harmonious whole".

The Summer Palace's main water body is called Kunminghu, or Kunming Lake. Crossing it is the 17-arch bridge (Hanyu Pinyin: Shiqikong Qiao, 十七孔桥). Other features of the Summer Palace include Suzhou Street (苏州街) and the Long Corridor (长廊), amongst others.

Location

The Summer Palace is easily accessible from most parts of Beijing. Head north at Suzhou Bridge on the north-western 3rd Ring Road, north at Sihai Bridge on the north-western 4th Ring Road, or south at the northern 5th Ring Road at the Zhongguancun/Beiqing Road exit. Public transportation also reaches the Summer Palace.

External links

• TravelChinaGuide.com: Summer Palace http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/beijing/summer.htm
• BeijingTrip.com: Summer Palace http://www.beijingtrip.com/attractions/summer/
• Summer Palace (from the Beijing Official Web Portal) http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/Tour/ScenicSpots/Parks/t20040123_101281.htm