Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is mostly connected to the (in)famous Dowager Empress CiXi, who effectively ruled China for almost 50 years and in so doing did much to destroy the Qing dynasty and imperial China. Although it had long been an imperial garden, it became a kind of Chinese Versailles when CiXi squandered the Naval budget and spent it building what was her seat of power.

Cixi was one of the great narcissists in history. She tried to spend most of the government's money on herself, which greatly contributed to China's inability to defend itself against 19th Century European and Japanese encroachments. The tower above on Longevity Hill was used only once a year, to celebrate her birthday.

Symbolizing just who was in charge during this period is the arrangement of the imperial phoenix, symbol of the Empress, vis-a-vis the dragon, symbol of the Emperor. In this case the phoenix is the one with priority at the entrance, the dragon being stuck to the side. Cixi was basically a fancy concubine but ruled China through her son and nephew. They never had a chance.

Here's a great feng-shui animal and our old friend the Chinese unicorn or qilin. It is an animal of many parts. Like the dragon, it appears fierce but is actually a symbol of good fortune and prosperity. There seemed to be a gift shop at every temple or Heritage site and a replica of this mythical creature could also be included in one's suitcase!

Here's a nice shot of the famous 728m Long Corridor, borrowed from Wikipedia. It would be impossible to acquire a shot like this, devoid of teeming masses, short of phoning in a bomb threat. So, this one time we cheat.

Here are just of a few of the 14,000 unique paintings that line the eaves.

We'd like to tell you that this is a Ming Dynasty pleasure barge, exclusively for the Admiral's use, but that would be untrue. This is a faux-classic tourista barco that takes you across Kunming Lake. Thirty years ago there was no such capitalistic venue.

This is the closest Cixi's Naval budget got to being nautical, the notorious Marble Boat. No, it doesn't float, but it's also unsinkable. The superstructure is actually wood painted to resemble marble. We found this historical ship rather haunting.

This is the famous Seventeen-Arch bridge, built in 1750, the longest bridge in any imperial garden. Why 17? Well, 9 is the Emperor's number, so it's 2x9-1, presumably so it would be symmetrical.

The bridge is decorated with 500 marble lions.

Just some more of those whacky roof critters. These are odd in that one sees an even number on this roof, viz. two, but one ridge has one, so the architect may not have his symbolism straight.

This is a nice example of a paifang, a Chinese archway.

We could have spent most of the day here, but it was another forced-march day and the guide wanted to pack in the sights. If some pictures look hazy that's Chinese air quality.

Speaking of sights, we also visited the Temple of Heaven. This is the magnificent Hall of Prayer For Good Harvests, where sacrifices were made for bountiful crops.

It was constructed of wood in 1406 and uses no nails. The columns are solid tree trunks hauled up from southern China. The interior is stunning but as usual one can only peer inside from the entrance.

The Chinese invented many things, such as printing, gun powder and the compass. Here we see another Chinese invention in the form of Ming Dynasty trash cans.

Well, OK, maybe they're a tad more recent ;)...

We were told the surrounding park was a favorite place for old people looking for love. You can also see the most popular Chinese pastime, selling stuff.

In this case, the middle-aged guy in the green pants is dancing with some European girl who was being a little too multicultural. The Chinese found it a hilarious photo-op. The zombie guy in the singlet to the left is exercising, a common sight in a Chinese park.

All this surfing got you tired out? Imagine grinding through all this in person. However, we've made the effort so you don't have to.