Summer Palace, Beijing's Imperial Garden

The Summer Palace is another famous tourist destination within Beijing. In December 1998 UNESCO included it on its World Heritage List. Declared as "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value."

The Summer Palace started out as the Garden of Clear Ripples, Artisans then reproduced the architecture styles of various palaces in China, at present the Summer Palace comprises of a 60-meter high Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 sq. km, three quarters of which is the Kunming Lake.

Hall of Benevolence and Longevity

The Longevity Hill was initially named Gold Mountain Palace during the Jin Dynasty but was renamed to Jug Hill, according to a legend a jar with a treasure inside was once found on the hill, however the loss of the said is said to have coincided with the fall of the Ming Dynasty as had been predicted.

Beautiful Structures in the Summer Palace

Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty gave the hill its present-day name, the Longevity Hill, in celebration of his mother's 60th birthday. The front part of the hill is rich in splendid halls and pavilions while the back part is queit with natural beauty.

Narrow Corridors and Empty Spaces

Pavilions found in the Summer Palace

Longevity Hill is adorned with an ensemble of grand buildings, The Cloud-Dispelling Temple, the Temple of Buddhist Virtue, and the Sea of Wisdom Temple form a south-north oriented axis.

Temple of Buddhist Virtue

Empty Spaces at the Summer Palace

Rugged Halls in the Summer Palace

Pavilion at the Summer Palace

 Having a moment in the Palace

The Kunming Lake is the central lake on the grounds of the Summer Palace. It was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou, the entire 2.2 sq. km lake is man made and the excavated soil was used to build the Longevity Hill.

Marble Boat on the grounds of the Summer Palace

Decorated Paifang in Summer Palace

Kunming Lake was once called Wengshan Pond and Xihu Lake. In those times the lake was used as sources of water both for the city and irrigation of fields. It was Qianlong Emperor who commissioned the transformation of the area into an imperial garden which lasted from 1750 to 1764 with a work force of almost 10,000 laborers.

Boat rides are offered to cross the man made lake.

Pods abundantly growing in the Summer Palace

My favorite part of the Summer Palace would have to be the six bridges. Many features of the Kunming Lake are inspired by natural scenery from region south of the Yangtze River. The West Dike in the Summer Palace is a recreation of the  famous Su Di Dike on the West Lake in Hangzhou.

Sunset. Perfect Post Card Picture

Two very different styles of bridges. Both aesthetically appealing.

The West Dike is connected through six bridges, each with its own distinctive style: Jiehu, Binfeng, Yudai, Jing, Lian, and Liu Bridge.

Just like a scene from a romantic movie

The water is so clear you could see right through the bottom of the lake.

Whenever I try to remember this place, the most vivid memory that comes to me would always be this scene, the sun is about to set, the sky is a mix or orange and amber, everything turns into golden colors, the wind breezes through the autumn air, the smell of crisp fresh air fill my lungs, the water shines like the sun and the only sound you hear are the chirping birds.

Qing having the moment at the Summer Palace

The largest bridge on the Kunming Lake is the 17-Arch Bridge that connects the eastern shore with Nanhu Island, which represents the mythical Penglai Island, according to Chinese legend, Yu the Great used an iron ox to prevent flooding, he specifically located the the bronze ox on the eastern dike of Kunming Lake in the direction of the Forbidden City to protect the Forbidden City from the Lake's flood.

The Seventeen-Arch Bridge

The Seventeen-Arch Bridge

Romantic Nanhu Island, solemn is an understatement

Beautiful Nanhu Island Walk way

The Summer Palace is truly a scene to experience. I am certain this is not the last time I experience this scence.

Qianmen Avenue, Beijing

Qianmen Avenue is a commercial street in Beijing, it extends from Moon Bay in the North to a platform street crossing in the South. During the Ming Dynasty it was called Zhengyangmen Avenue, but referred to in common parlance as Qianmen Avenue which literally means "Front Gate Avenue".

Infront of the Qianmen Avenue Grand Arc Entrance

Qianmen Avenue is both Old City Beijing's largest historical conservation zone and the only commercial block in the area around Tiananmen, it is perfectly aligned on the Beijing's central north-south axis along with the Tianmen and Forbidden City.Locals consider Qianmen Avenue as their Avenue des Champs-Elysees, also a prime tourist destination

Taken around 8:30 am, everything was still closed.

Since our hotel is literally behind these buildings, we only went around Qianmen Avenue only on our last day in Beijing, we passed by it every morning and every night on our way back to the hotel.  When we leave the hotel all the the establishments are still closed and when we get back most of them are closing, we decided to explore it on our last day.

Qianmen Avenue is directly in line with the Zhengyangmen

The place has undergone restoration five times, first in 1679,second was in 1900 almost 300 years later when the Avenue was burnt down when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing. The rise of commercial construction in the 1920's was the third restoration of Qianmen Avenue, followed by the 1970's restoration. The most recent restoration was done in May of 2007 in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Qianmen Avenue lights up at night

I think it is safe to say that our version of Qianmen Avenue here in the Philippines is the Bonifacio High Street, both places have a lot of similarities to name some; both comprises of restaurants and shops that are verging on too expensive hehe and both are constructed in one strip only.

Qianmen Avenue's stores get pretty busy at night.

During our last day in Beijing, I asked Qing if there are any good restaurants within our area. Qing answered as a matter of fact, there's this really famous Pecking Duck restaurant along Qianmen Avenue that we pass by everyday. I told him we should have our final dinner at a decent restaurant since all we have been having are "street food". I will make a separate entry for that dinner.

This Restaurant serves the best Pecking Duck in China - Qing

 After dinner Qing and I went on our separate ways since I didn't want to tag along while I buy souvenirs for everyone. The funny thing is a few minutes later i ended up bumping into him again, turns out we were both looking for the same things.

Hutongs of Souvenirs, really cheap and tradition chinese.

The Dang-dang trolley

Forbidden City

Forbidden - not allowed ; prohibited; not permitted by order or law. With such a negative connotation one would think a place would either be hazardous, scary, a top secret, just to name a few, but in the case of Beijing's the Forbidden City, it is the world's largest surviving palace complex. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is a rectangle located in the middle of Beijing, designed to be the center of the ancient walled  city of Beijing.

Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_City#Outer_Court

Let's do the number game :

1,000,000 ++ - required number of workers needed to build the Forbidden city

720,000- total land area in square meters of the Forbidden City.

500 -  years the palace served as the home of emperors

72 - covered area of the city in hactare

15 -  years to build the palace

Crossing Tiananmen Square

Qing got us tickets to go and see three of the museums within the Forbidden City

Traditionally, the Forbidden City is divided into two parts, the Outer Court and the Inner Court. Upon entering the Meridian Gate one is greeted by a large square pierced by the meandering Inner Golden Water River.

The Meridian Gate is the Southern and largest gate of the Forbidden City

24 -  total number of emperors who lived in the Forbidden City
14-  number of Ming dynasty emperors who lived within the city

10 - total of Qing dynasty who lived in the city

The Gate of Supreme Harmony

After the Gate of Supreme Harmony, is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, A three-tiered white marble terrace rises from this square. Three halls stand on top of this terrace, from the south, these are the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.

The middle ramp where there are engraved, phoenix and dragon is only for the Emperor.

The largest structure within the Forbidden City is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It is the ceremonial center of imperial power and is also considered as the largest wooden structure in China.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony

The Hall of Central Harmony is a smaller square hall used by the Emperor to prepare and rest before and during ceremonies. The smaller Hall of Preserving was used by the Emperor to rehearse ceremonies.

The Hall of Central Harmony

The Hall of Preserving Harmony

8,707 -  total number of bays of rooms

980 - number of buildings within the Forbidden City

Separated by an oblong courtyard, is the Inner Court. This is where the Emperor and his family resided. The center of the Inner Court is another set of three halls

Inner Court of the Forbidden City

Palace of Heavenly Purity

Hall of Mental Cultivation

961 -  meters from north to south

753 -  meters from east to west

Me posing

Qing the copycat

Alleys within the Inner Court

Near the Gate of Divine Might

After walking around the Forbidden City for the whole morning Qing and I decided to go to our next destination the Summer Palace. Will post the Summer Palace next.

The Gate of Divine Might

52 -  width in meters of the moat that surrounds the Forbidden City

6 - depth in meters of the moat that surrounds the Forbidden City

7.9 - height in meters of the city wall that surrounds the Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is surrounded by a moat.