The Purple Bamboo Park (ZiZhuYuan), a national AAAA-level scenic spot, was founded in 1953 and is open to the public free of charge. The park has natural landscaping and lush bamboos, making it perfect for exercise and and relaxation.
The Summer Palace (YiHeYuan), a royal garden during the Qing Dynasty, is located in the western suburbs of Beijing. The Summer Palace is a large-scale landscape garden built around KunMing Lake and WanShou Mountain and based on the design techniques of the south of the YangTze River style gardens. It is also the most complete royal palace garden in China and is known as the "Royal Garden Museum" and is a National AAAAA level scenic spot.
The boat ride along the canal between the two parks (ChangHe River) takes about 25 minutes.
In their last days as students at the Beijing University of Language and Culture, trips to the Summer Palace (YíHéYuán) and the ruins of, but still beautiful, 'Old Summer Palace' (YuanMingYuan).
These are within walking distance of each other in west Beijing and both have metro (subway) stops. In neither film are all the scenic spots visited; but then these are huge places; both are well worth a visit when you're in Beijing ...
The Forbidden City (Palace Museum), the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall (at Badaling), Beihai Park, the Botanical Garden, JingShan Park, the Olympic Park, Qianmen
Welcome to the blue-sky city ...
The blue sky city ...
Filmed by :
* Summer Palace - pavdb092
* Birds Nest National Stadium - Christopher Covington
* QianHai Lake - linditlife
* Temple of Heaven - Wen Gui Claassen
Remastered by : bjkina
Birds Nest music from the Beijing 2008 Paralympics Opening Ceremony - 'Letter to the Future'.
The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China.
As its name suggests, the Summer Palace was used as a summer residence by China's imperial rulers - as a retreat from the main imperial palace now known as the Palace Museum (or 'Forbidden City') - a pleasure-ground in the countryside, yet near to the city.
In 1860, as part of the 'Opium Wars', the Anglo-French Allied Forces invaded Beijing and set fire to many of the buildings within the original Summer Palace (YuanMingYuan).
In 1888, Dowager Empress CiXi, with funds embezzled from the Imperial Navy, restored the grand gardens. The reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace continued for ten years. After completion, she renamed the gardens 'YiHeYuan' ('Garden of Peace and Harmony').
The Empress Dowager CiXi moved her administration to the renovated YiHeYuan in 1889 and the gardens here that had long been an imperial pleasure-ground became the primary Summer Palace.
Then, shortly after, the eight allied powers invaded in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion to plunder and destroy the newly reconstructed New Summer Palace.
Only when the fugitive CiXi returned to Beijing in 1903, did full-scale restoration begin. In this way, the Summer Palaces - both old and new - are associated in popular culture with the destructive interference of foreign powers.
Today's Summer Palace is more or less the same as the palace rebuilt from 1903. It was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1990.
After the success of the 1911 Revolution, the Summer Palace was opened to the public. Then, after the last Qing Emperor PuYi was thrown out of the Palaces in 1924, the Summer Palace was turned into a park. The Summer Palace has become a popular and relaxing destination for both domestic and international tourists.
The Summer Palace is virtually a museum of traditional Chinese gardening that uses rocks, plants, pavilions, ponds, cobble paths and other garden styles to create a poetic effect between different scenes. The halls, pavilions, bridges and temples, Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill, all blend together harmoniously despite their individual styles.
Ingeniously conceived and elaborately designed, the Summer Palace, featuring the garden styles of both northern and southern China, is justifiably known as the 'Garden of Gardens'. Indeed, the Summer Palace represents a quintessentially Chinese ideal of harmony between man and nature.
Don't miss :
the beautiful Garden of Harmonious Interests (a 'garden within a garden'),
SuZhou Street and the Four Great Regions Tibetan-style temple,
and the Tower of Buddhist Incense and Cloud Dispelling Hall on the hill.
The nearest subway station is BeiGongMen ('North Palace Gate') on line 4.
The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved imperial garden in China.
Its Chinese name, YiHeYuan, translates as 'Garden of Nurtured Harmony' or 'Garden for Maintaining Health and Harmony'. With interconnected lakes and many pavilions, bridges, pagodas, halls and highly decorated corridors, it is a showcase of Chinese garden arts.
Two excerpts from one of the frequent free performances at the three-tier, open-stage theater (Grand Stage) by the Garden of Harmonious Interests :
A special for the eve of the Chinese New Year (not the best video quality, but sound is ok) :
A nicely compiled video; charming and shows quite a lot of Beijing too ...
A group of students study and travel in Beijing (May - July '09); at Beijing Normal University (LiYun apartotel - I've stayed there too :)
Part 2 :
A different group staying at ZheJiang University (HangZhou and ShangHai area) :
Places include ZhongGuanCun, the high-tech shopping area, the universities and cafes of Haidian and WuDaoKou, the CCTV Tower, with views across Beijing and the Western Hills, and the Summer Palace.