The Summer Palace , or Yiheyuan, is one of the China 's largest and best-preserved imperial gardens. It is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design, integrating the natural landscape of hills and open water with man-made features into a harmonious and aesthetically exceptional whole. With a concentration of the best of ancient buildings as well as styles of gardening, it is a virtual museum of traditional Chinese gardening.
The Summer Palace was first named the Garden of Clear Ripples , which was burnt down by the allied forces of Great Britain and France in 1860. Reconstruction started 25 years later and was completed in 1895, and the name was changed to Yiheyuan ( Garden of Good Health and Harmony). The design gives prominence to the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake . Other prominent features include the “Long Corridor,” with brilliant decorative paintings on the ceiling, the Marble Boat, built by Empress Dowager Cixi with fund allotted for building the Chinese navy, and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge .
In 1998, UNESCO added the Summer Palace to its World Heritage List. |
