Summer Palace
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Summer Palace
Written by Matteo Updated Nov. 15, 2025
The Summer Palace, in Chinese Yihe Yuan, is now the largest and most well-preserved imperial garden in China, considered one of the four famous Chinese imperial gardens (the other three being the Chengde Summer Palace, Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden, and Suzhou Lingering Garden). It was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1998.
Situated in Haidian District, 15km from downtown Beijing, the Summer Palace occupies an area of 290 hectares, with the lake taking up three-quarters of its total area.
It is designed around Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill as the key features, modeled on West Lake in Hangzhou, and draws from design techniques and artistic conception of gardens from the south of China. This large, landscape, and well-preserved garden is known as the Chinese Imperial Garden Museum.
Scenic Spot in Summer Palace
The Summer Palace has a great combination of imperial garden features, immersed in the surrounding natural landscape. It reflects the imperial garden principle of "built by man with resources from nature".
Apart from Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, there are over a hundred scenic spots, more than 20 courtyards and 3,000 ancient structures, and 1,600 trees over a hundred years old.
The Tower of Buddhist Incense, Long Gallery, Marble Boat, Suzhou Market Street, Seventeen Arch Bridge, Garden of Harmonious Interests, and Ancient Stage are the most noted scenic spots.
The main viewing areas in the park are broadly divided into three sections. The first one is by the Hall of Benevolent Longevity, which was once the place for taking care of internal affairs, and diplomatic and political activities by Emperor Guangxu and Empress Cixi.
The second sightseeing area is between the Hall of Joy and the Hall of Jade Billows. The courtyards were used as the living area for Empress Cixi and Emperor Guangxu with his concubines.
The last viewing area is around the Long Gallery and the Back Hill. This area was for the imperial family's daily luxury and recreation. On the central axis of the south slope of Longevity Hill are located three magnificent buildings: the Tower of Buddhist Incense, the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, and the Hall of the Sea of Wisdom.
The Tower of Buddhist Incense has three stories and eight sides. It is built on the slope of Longevity Hill and faces Kunming Lake, commanding a view of the whole park.
The magnificent Seventeen Arch Bridge, poised above the vastness of Kunming Lake, is at its best when viewed reflecting on the water.
On the shore of Kunming Lake are the famous sites of Marble Boat, Bronze Ox, and Spring Pavilion.
Suzhou Market Street, adjacent to Front Lake, has various stores in the style of the bustling trading streets of hundreds of years ago.
The Summer Palace, along with the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, is a must-see imperial attraction of Beijing.
The Island
Located southeast of Kunming Lake and opposite to Longevity Hill, the Island covers an area of 10,000 sqm. The Island is connected to the eastern bank by the Seventeen-Arch Bridge.
There are many halls on the island, of which Dragon King Temple is the most interesting. In the Qing dynasty, it was named Dragon King Hall, which was used to pray for sufficient rain. Later, Emperor Qianlong used to review his navy training in the lake in front of the temple.
Seventeen Arch Bridge
Built during the Qianlong Reign (1736-1795) of the Qing dynasty, the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, 150m long and 8m wide, is ranked as the biggest bridge in the Summer Palace. Connecting the Dragon King Temple in the east and the Island west, the bridge spans Kunming Lake with 17 bridge openings under it, hence the name Seventeen-Arch Bridge.
With 544 lions carved out of white marble set on the balustrades, this bridge was reputed as the bridge which has the most stone lions in China.
Long Gallery
Located on the north bank of Kunming Lake and the south foot of Longevity Hill, Long Gallery stretches 728 meters from the moon gate in the east to the Shizhang Pavilion in the west. It is the longest and most famous gallery in China.
First built in 1750 with 273 rooms, the gallery was fully painted and decorated with colorful designs and pictures, winding its way along the lake like a colorful ribbon. Four octagonal pavilions with double roofs were built at regular intervals to represent the four seasons.
The gallery has about 8000 colorful paintings, which, as the most charming part of the gallery, depict landscapes, human figures, battle scenes, flowers, birds, etc.
The landscape, flower-and-bird paintings mainly center on the scenery in the West Lake, while the figure paintings mostly derive their themes from the legend and classic novels like Strange Tales of Liaozhai, Pilgrimage to the West, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and so on.
Beautiful as these paintings are, they have to be retouched every 12 years. Till today, these paintings have been renewed several times, and due to the imperfect skills of some artisans, unfortunately, much of the details and intricacies have more or less been lost.
Hall of Jade Billows
To the east of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity and south of the Hall of Joyful Longevity lies a group of constructions, which takes the style of a sanheyuan (a kind of construction style with a main hall in the center and two secondary in both sides).
First built in the 15th year of Qianlong's reign during the Qing dynasty and burned down in 1860, later rebuilt in 1892, it is famous for serving as a prison for Emperor Guangxu for ten years.
The center hall, which faces the south with a back door leading to Yiyunguan, the former residence of Guangxu's empress, is the Hall of Jade Billows.
In 1898, after the failure of the Reform Movement, Empress Dowager Cixi put Emperor Guangxu under house arrest in Yingtai (Water Terrace Pavilion) in Zhongnanhai (the Central South Sea) near the Forbidden City, and later in the Hall of Jade Billows.
Emperor Guangxu was closely watched here. The back door of this hall was sealed, and several brick walls were put up to surround the courtyard. From then on, the once noblest emperor was isolated within those walls for ten years.
Two human-shaped rocks were erected in front of the hall by the order of Empress Dowager Cixi. Resembling a mother and a son, the two rocks are intended to symbolize the natural affection between the mother and child, seeming to criticize Guangxu's disobedience and ruthlessness. Articles exhibited in his hall include a throne, a table, an incense burner, and a screen.
Marble Boat
Marble Boat, also named Qingyanfang Boat, is located in the northwest of Kunming Lake. It was first built in 1750 with a Chinese-style wooden superstructure.
Unfortunately, in 1860, the original boat was burned down by the Anglo-French forces, and in 1893, it was rebuilt with a French-style superstructure and two wheelers added to it. Taking the implied meaning of the water can hold the boat as well as topple the boat, the Marble Boat symbolizes the steadfast rule of the Qing dynasty.
Built with huge stones, the body of this boat is 36 meters long with two tiers. Although made of wood, the superstructure is painted white, looking like a marble boat. Hence the name Marble Boat.
The ground was paved with colored bricks, and the windows were inlaid with multi-colored glass. A huge mirror was set on each tier, reflecting the waves in the lake. Sitting in front of the mirror, one may feel that one is floating on the water.
The boat has a marvelous drainage system. Four dragon heads serve as the route of the rainwater. When it rains, the rainwater pours out from the mouths of these dragon heads into the lake, forming a unique scenery in this garden.
This boat used to be the place for Empress Dowager Cixi to enjoy the lake scenery.
Garden of Virtue and Harmony
Located to the north of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, this garden, covering an area of 3000 square meters, mainly consists of the Theatre Building and Hall of Nurtured Joy.
The theatre building, constructed in 1892 with a cost of 1.6 million taels of silver, is the largest stage in China at the time. The stage is three-storied with a height of 21m and a width of 17m. Performances could be staged simultaneously on three levels.
The three levels are connected by trap doors, which provide convenience for actors to appear and disappear. A winch was installed on the top level, through which performers, settings, and props could be lowered and raised.
At the bottom of the lower floor, a deep well and five ponds were set to strengthen acoustic resonance and supply water for special effects. In the course of the performance, a grand water scene could easily be produced when necessary on the stage.
When there were plays on show, Empress Dowager Cixi often sat in the Hall of Nurtured Joy to watch the performances. While Emperor Guangxu would sit outside the door since the hall was only open to concubines and female guests.
Around the stage are seven exhibition rooms, in which many national treasures as well as the daily articles of the Empress Dowager Cixi are on display. Among these exhibits, a vintage Benz is worth the whistle.
Engineers from Germany concluded that it was a second-generation Benz made in 1898. As the first car China imported, it was presented to Cixi as a gift by Yuan Shikai, a wily warlord.
Hall of the Sea of Wisdom
Completed in 1750 during the Qing dynasty, the hall is situated on the top of the Longevity Hill as a religious structure. No beams or columns are used in its construction. The hall was also called the beam hall. The outer walls are built with bricks and are totally wrapped with colorful glazes, which appear brilliant and colorful in the sunlight.
There used to be many niches and Buddha figures in the hall. Most of them were burned down during the invasions of the Anglo-French Allied forces and other allied forces from the eight powers.
Garden of Harmonious Interests
Located on the eastern part of Rear Hill, Garden of Harmonious Interests was built in imitation of Jichangyuan Garden in Wuxi during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Emperor Qianlong once went to Southern China for inspections and resided there several times.
He admired the architectural art of the garden and decided to build a similar garden in the Summer Palace. When it was first built in 1751, it was named Huishan Garden. In 1881, after a large-scale restoration, Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing dynasty renamed it the Garden of Harmonious Interests. In 1860, the garden was burned down by Anglo-French allied forces, and in 1892 reconstructed by the order of Empress Dowager Cixi.
As a typical garden of southern China, it has five halls, seven pavilions, several corridors, and five small bridges on a lotus pond.
In the center of the garden is a pond, which, with an area of half an acre, is covered with lotus and surrounded by a covered gallery connecting towers and pavilions. In the center of the pond, a pavilion rises out of the water, which was the fishing place of Empress Dowager Cixi.
When Cixi lived in the Summer Palace, one of her favorites was fishing. To please the bad-tempered and impatient lady, the devoted eunuchs would dive into the water and put live fish on her hook. Therefore, whenever she fished, she would catch a lot of fish.
Emperor Qianlong once wrote a poem to the garden, which says: "a pavilion, a path, a pace, a scene, the scene changes with each pace, and each pace is of great interest". The interests of the garden lie in the following items:
Change of Seasons
The scene varies with the change of the seasons. In spring, water in the pond is as smooth as a mirror with the weeping willows waving in the breeze. In summer, blossoming lotuses fill the pond, giving out a pleasant smell; In autumn, the pavilion and weeping willows are reflected in the water, and in winter and when snow falls, all the pavilions, corridors, and willows are covered with snow.
The Water
The water in the pond originates from the Back Lake in the Summer Palace through the bamboo groves.
The waterfall between the Back Lake and the pond, the Jade Violin Gorge, which was a copy of the Eight-Sound Brook in Jichangyuan Garden in Wuxi, creates a melodious sound effect in this garden.
The Bridge
There is a total of five small bridges in different styles in this garden. Some of them face the water, and some connect with the paths. The most famous one is the Know-the-Fish Bridge. It was known for an argument between two philosophers, Zhuang Zi and Hui Zi, about 2,500 years ago.
Zhuang Zi claimed: "Look, what a happy fish!"
Hui Zi asked: "You are not a fish, how do you know they are happy?"
Zhuang Zi retorted: "You are not me, how do you know I do not know?"
Calligraphy
There are many masterpieces of calligraphy, in the form of poems and couplets, that can be seen almost everywhere in the garden. Some are said to be written by Emperor Qianlong.
Pavilion
In the northwest corner of the garden, there is a new building. Looking from outside the garden, visitors can see a one-story structure that stands in the distance. But when looked at from inside the garden, it is two storeys. The difference in distance and height creates a different effect.
Painting
Within the gardens are hundreds of paintings in various styles. Some of them are flowers and scenery, and some are devoted to figures and historical events.
Corridors
Corridors of different styles connect the pavilions, bridges, halls, and pond in this garden. They have so many twists and turns, which help visitors view the scenery from different angles.