| The Summer Palace |
The Summer Palace, one of the finest
examples garden architecture in China, is located in the northwest
suburbs of Beijing. The 100-odd examples of traditional architecture
in the park include pavilions, terraces, temples, pagodas, waterside
gazebos, covered corridors, stone bridges and the famous marble
boat. The palace occupies a total area of 290 hectares, three quarters
of which is made up of shallow lakes.
The history of the Summer Palace dates back some 800 years when
the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Wan Yanliang, moved his capital
to the vicinity of Beijing and built his "God Mountain Palace" at
the present site of Longevity Hill. A subsequent emperor of the
same dynasty diverted the water from the nearby Jade Spring to
the Gold Mountain, naming the lake it flowed into the Gold Sea.
After the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, Gold Mountain was renamed
Jug Mountain (Wengshan), as explained in the following legend:
There was once an itinerant old man who discovered a large rock
on the slope of Gold Mountain. Breaking it open, he found an earthenware
jar hidden inside. The jar's surface was exquisitely carved with
flowers, animals and dragons. Inside the jar were many objects
of great value which the old man took away with him. Before his
departure, however, he brought the jar to the sunny side of the
mountain and inscribed it with the following couplet: "When
this earthen jar is moved, the emperor's decline shall begin." During
the Jiajing period (1522-1566) of the Ming Dynasty, the jar disappeared
and, just as the old man predicted, the dynasty fell into decay.
In 1292, Guo Shoujing, a Yuan official in charge of irrigation
work, suggested digging a riverbed leading all the springs in the
vicinity of Jug Mountain to facilitate grain transport. Spring
water from Changping, 50 kilometers north of Beijing, was thus
led to the foot of Jug Mountain, and the lake was enlarged and
renamed Jug Mountain Lake.
The names of the lake and the park and how they have changed over
the course of their long history would make a study in itself.
In the Yuan Dynasty, Kunming Lake was known as the Big Lake, the
West Sea or the West Lake. Visiting West Lake in April was already
a popular custom among the people in this period. In the Ming Dynasty
a temple was built on the south side of Longevity Hill.
Emperor Zhengde of the Ming (reigned 1506-1521) built a palace
on the bank of the lake and called it the Fine Garden for Enjoying
Mountains (Haoshanyuan). He also changed Jug Mountain's name back
to Gold Mountain and Jug Mountain Lake to Gold Sea. In the early
17th century, the infamous eunuch Zhongxian took over the entire
garden for his private use.
When Qing troops occupied Beijing in the middle of the 17th century,
the Fine Garden for Enjoying Mountains was renamed Jug Mountain
Palace. It was during the reign of Qianlong (1736-1796) that the
names of the last time. In commemoration of the 60th birthday of
Qianlong's mother, the emperor erected the Temple of Gratitude
and Longevity Hill and, following the example of the Han Dynasty
Emperor Wu Di who had conducted Kunming Lake naval exercises in
the Han capital of Chang' an many centuries before, the Gold Sea
was renamed Kunming Lake. At the same, the entire area was called
the Park pf Pure Ripples (Qingyiyuan).
The Summer Palace has fallen prey to two acts of destruction. The
first took place in 1860 when the Anglo-French forces invaded Beijing
and ravaged both the Yuanmingyuan Garden and the Park of Pure Ripples.
Every single building in the park was destroyed by fire except
nonflammable structures such as bronze pavilions and stone pagodas.
In 1888, Empress Dowager Cixi diverted 30 million taels of silver
originally designated for the Chinese navy into the reconstruction
and enlargement of the Summer Palace. She had the southern side
of Longevity Hill laid out in imitation of West Lake in Hangzhou
and the northern face in the architectural style of Suzhou. She
gave the park its present name: Yiheyuan (Garden of Good Health
and Harmony), known generally in English as the Summer Palace.
The second great act of destruction took place in 1900 when the
Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing. The great temples rebuilt
in the 1880s were completely demolished and almost every valuable
object in sight stolen by the invading troops. In 1902, when Empress
Dawager Cixi returned to Beijing from Xi' an, she ordered the reconstruction
of the park. According to historical records, she "rebuilt
the Summer Palace with unbounded extravagance and opulence, spending
some 40,000 taels of silver per day. Singing and dancing went on
without end."
After the Revolution of 1911, the Summer Palace became the private
property of the deposed Emperor Puyi, who in 1914 opened the garden
to the public. The entrance fee was so high that the palace had
very few visitors. In 1924, Puyi was forced to leave the Forbidden
City by the "Christian" General Feng Yuxiang, and the
Beijing government turned the Summer palace once again fell prey
to full-scale devastation; pavilions and covered corridors were
destroyed, lakes became silted up, vegetation withered and died,
and antiques and other objects of value were lost.
Today, older Beijing residents can still recall some of the palace's
former treasures: the statue of the Goddess of Mercy and the watermelon
made of kingfisher jade (feicui), the huge jade disc (bi) which "could
be traded for several cities," the pearl that glowed at night,
and the pearl-embroidered shoes. When the Kuomintang troops fled
the mainland, they absconded with these and other treasures, some
of which ended up in Taiwan, while he remainder was bought up by
museums and private collectors in state of total dilapidation.
After the founding of the People' s Republic in 1949, local authorities
began the painstaking task of restoration. Today, after more than
40 years of repainting and reconstruction, the Summer Palace plays
host to approximately 2 million visitors per year. |
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