Summer Palace

The Qianlong Emperor created the garden between 1750 and 1764 as the Garden of Clear Ripples (Qingyi Yuan). It was largely destroyed during the war of 1860, and in 1886 the Qing court rebuilt it on its original foundations for the Empress Dowager Cixi and renamed it the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan). It was damaged again in 1900 and opened as a public park in 1924.

UNESCO describes the site as a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design that integrates natural hills and water with human-made pavilions, halls, temples and bridges. Kunming Lake uses the former reservoir of the Yuan-dynasty capital as its framework, and around 90 per cent of the garden is given over to views and contemplation. In the late Qing period it served as an important venue for political and diplomatic affairs outside the Forbidden City. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

Local residents treat the Summer Palace as a park as much as a monument: early-morning walkers circle the lake, groups practise singing and calligraphy with water brushes on the paving, and families picnic in the quieter corners. Lotus blooms in summer and the frozen lake in winter are seasonal events that draw Beijing photographers in large numbers.