 The Summer
Palace or Yi he is a palace in Beijing, China. The
Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60
meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse
of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is
water. The central Kunming Lake covering 2.2 square
kilometers was entirely man made and the excavated soil
was used to build Longevity Hill. In its compact 70,000
square meters of building space, one finds a variety of
palaces, gardens, and other classical-style
architectural structures.
The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of
Clear Ripples in 1750 (Reign Year 15 of Emperor
Qianlong). Artisans reproduced the garden architecture
styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was
created by extending an existing body of water to
imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou.
The palace complex suffered two major attacks--during
the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old
Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and
during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight
allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was
rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the
current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort
for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels
of silver, said to be originally designated for the
Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction
and enlargement of the Summer Palace. |
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