The origin of the Summer Palace
The Haidian area at the foot of Xishan Mountain in the western suburbs of Beijing is full of springs, green peaks, beautiful mountains and waters, and picturesque scenery. From the 11th century AD, royal gardens began to be built here. By the end of the Qing Dynasty 800 years later, the total area of ??the gardens reached more than 1,000 hectares. Such a large area of ??royal gardens is rare in the world.
Among the Xishan gardens, the most famous one is "Three Mountains and Five Gardens". The three mountains refer to Xiangshan Mountain, Yuquan Mountain and Wanshou Mountain. These three mountains include Jingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Summer Palace, plus Changchun Garden and Old Summer Palace, which are the so-called Five Gardens. "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" are independent gardens, each with its own characteristics, but connected to each other and unfolding in sequence. Such a concentrated garden is the only one seen in the world. The main focus of the Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties was on building the city of Beijing and the imperial palace within the city. Therefore, most of the Xishan Gardens were privately owned. Starting from Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the inner city had no development, and royal gardens began to flock to the West Mountain. Most of the existing royal gardens were built in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
In the beginning, the royal gardens were just a place for recreation and summer vacation for the emperors, concubines, and concubines. Government affairs, sacrifices, and daily life were all within the city. After Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the garden began to look like a palace. In the end, he simply lived in the garden in the western suburbs for a long time, handling government affairs, reading, entertainment, etc. at the same time. Gardens became the heart of politics.
The Summer Palace among the "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" is one of the most extensive royal gardens in the world, with a total area of ??about 290 hectares. The Summer Palace has approximately four major scenic spots. The easternmost part is Donggongmen District. This area was originally the place where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty engaged in political activities and lived in daily life, including the Renshou Hall where ministers at court, the northern and southern court rooms, bedrooms, grand stage, courtyards, etc. Yulan Hall was the palace of Emperor Guangxu, and later became the place where he was imprisoned. You can still see the high wall that was built at that time to close the passage.
The towering Wanshou Mountain front mountain scenic spot in the middle has the most buildings and the most gorgeous ones. The entire scenic spot is governed by two vertically opposing axes. The east-west axis is the famous corridor. The north-south axis starts from the middle of the corridor and includes Paiyun Gate, Paiyun Hall, Dehui Hall, Foxiang Pavilion, etc. in sequence. The Foxiang Pavilion is the center of the whole garden, and the surrounding buildings are symmetrically distributed among them, forming a situation where stars are holding the moon, and the style is quite majestic.
Although there are fewer buildings in the Houshan Houhu Scenic Area in the northernmost part, the lush forests, winding mountain roads, and elegant and tranquil style are in sharp contrast to the gorgeousness of the front mountain. A group of Tibetan buildings and Suzhou Street with Jiangnan water town characteristics are compactly laid out and each has its own unique interest. The water surface of the Summer Palace accounts for three-quarters of the entire garden area, especially the Qianhu area in the south, with misty waves, undulating mountains to the west, and clusters of pavilions to the north; there is a west embankment in the lake with rows of peaches and willows, and 6 different buildings. There are arch bridges in the shape of it; there are also classical buildings of different forms on the three islands in the lake; the Seventeen-Arch Bridge lies across the lake, which is not only the road leading to the lake, but also an unforgettable scenic spot with a very beautiful shape .
The Summer Palace concentrates the essence of Chinese classical architecture and accommodates garden styles from different regions. It can be called a museum of garden architecture.
The main building in the Summer Palace is the Buddhist Incense Pavilion on Wanshou Mountain. The Foxiang Pavilion is built on a square platform with a height of 21 meters. The pavilion is 40 meters high, with 8 faces, 3 floors, and 4 eaves. There are 8 huge iron pear wood Optimus Pillars in the pavilion. The structure is quite complicated and is a classical style. Architectural masterpiece. Cloisters and corner pavilions are common forms in gardens. The corridor of the Summer Palace is about 728 meters long, which is the longest corridor in the world. There are more than 14,000 pictures painted on the corridor, all of which are traditional stories or flowers, birds, fish and insects. The 8-cornered pavilion with double eaves on the east bank of Kunming Lake is also the largest in China. In addition, the beamless hall on the top of Wanshou Mountain is entirely made of bricks and stones with vaults without a single support. The technical level is extremely high.
The casting and carving technology embodied in the Summer Palace is also top-notch, such as the huge iron ox on the east bank of Kunming Lake, which is lifelike in shape and has inscriptions cast on its back; the huge stone boat on the north bank of the Hubei, with carved beams and painted buildings, is wonderful Incomparable.
The architectural style of the Summer Palace absorbs the essence of architecture from all over China.
The palace area and inner court area in the east are in the typical northern courtyard style, with closed courtyards connected by verandahs; the lake area in the south is in the typical Hangzhou West Lake style, with a "Su Causeway" dividing the lake into two, full of Jiangnan style. ; The north side of Wanshou Mountain is a typical Tibetan Lama temple style, with white pagodas and bunker-style buildings; the Suzhou Street in the north is lined with shops and connected by waterways, which is a typical water town style.
History: The Summer Palace, formerly known as Qingyi Garden, was built in the 15th year of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (AD 1750) and took 15 years to complete. It was one of the famous "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" (Jingyi Garden on Xiangshan Mountain and Jingming Garden on Yuquan Mountain) in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty. , Wanshoushan Qingyi Garden, Old Summer Palace, Changchun Garden) was the last one built. In the 10th year of Xianfeng (AD 1860), the Old Summer Palace was severely damaged when the British and French forces burned it down during the Second Opium War.
Reconstruction began in the twelfth year of Guangxu (AD 1886). In the fourteenth year of Guangxu (AD 1888), Cixi embezzled naval military expenditures (raising funds in the name of naval military expenditures) to repair the garden and renamed it "The Summer Palace" , which means "supporting Taihe". The project was completed in the 21st year of Guangxu (AD 1895). The Summer Palace became the most important center for political and diplomatic activities of the supreme ruler of the late Qing Dynasty outside the Forbidden City. It was an important witness to China's modern history and the place where many major historical events took place. In 1898, Emperor Guangxu met with the reform thinker Kang Youwei at the Renshou Hall of the Summer Palace and inquired about the reform. After the failure of the Reform Movement of 1898, Guangxu was imprisoned in the Yulan Hall in the garden for a long time. In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu (1900 AD), the Summer Palace suffered another The Eight-Power Allied Forces looted the garden. The following year, after Cixi returned to Beijing from Xi'an, she once again spent a huge sum of money to restore the garden. In 1924, the Summer Palace was opened to the public.
Regional division: Cixi vigorously restored this garden for the purpose of avoiding summer heat and recuperating in old age. She only took a fancy to this treasure land with the title of "Longevity". From 1903 onwards, Cixi spent most of her time here. Because Cixi often had to meet with officials and handle government affairs here, a palace area and a living area were specially built in the front of the garden. Therefore, the Summer Palace is a combination It is a large-scale royal garden with dual functions of "palace" and "garden". The whole garden can be roughly divided into the palace area and the garden area.
Because the Summer Palace has the dual functions of palace and garden. Therefore, a palace area was built at the main entrance to the garden as a place to receive officials and handle government affairs. The palace area is composed of palaces, court rooms, duty rooms, etc., and is a complex of buildings with multiple courtyards. It occupies a small area and is relatively independent from the vast garden and forest area behind it. The two are both separated and connected. Among them, with Renshou Hall as the center, there are three large courtyards behind Renshou Hall: Leshou Hall, Yulan Hall and Yiyun Hall, where Cixi, Guangxu and their concubines lived respectively. The Deheyuan Theater on the east side of Yiyun Hall was one of the three major theaters in the Qing Dynasty.
The Yuan Forest Area is dominated by Wanshou Mountain and Kunming Lake. Wanshou Mountain is about 1,000 meters long from east to west and 60 meters high. The water surface of Kunming Lake accounts for about 78% of the entire park area. The northwest end of the lake bypasses the western foot of Wanshou Mountain and is connected to the "Back Lake" at the northern foot, forming a situation surrounded by mountains and water, closely connecting the lake and mountains. The Summer Palace starts from the Sea of ??Wisdom on the top of Wanshou Mountain, and forms a clear-cut central axis consisting of the Pavilion of Buddhist Incense, the Hall of Dehui, the Hall of Paiyun, the Gate of Paiyun, and the Yunhui Yuyufang. At the foot of the mountain is a "corridor" that is more than 700 meters long. There are more than 8,000 color paintings on the beams of the corridor, which is known as the "No. 1 Corridor in the World". In front of the corridor is the rippling blue Kunming Lake. The West Causeway of Kunming Lake is modeled after the Su Causeway of West Lake. The mountains behind Wanshou Mountain and Hou Lake are lined with ancient trees, and the environment is elegant and elegant. There are Tibetan temples and Suzhou River ancient trading streets. At the east end of Houhu Lake, there is the Huaqu Garden, which is modeled after Wuxi's Jichang Garden. It is small and exquisite and is known as the "garden within a garden."
Gardening technique: Wanshou Mountain, which belongs to the remaining veins of Yanshan Mountain and is 58.59 meters high. The building complex is built against the mountain. On the front hill of Wanshou Mountain, with the Buddhist Incense Pavilion with three floors and four eaves on eight sides as the center, it forms a huge main building complex. From the "Yunhui Yuyu" archway at the foot of the mountain, through Paiyun Gate, Ergong Gate, Paiyun Hall, Dehui Hall, Foxiang Pavilion, to the Sea of ??Wisdom at the top of the mountain, a rising central axis is formed. On the east side are the stone tablets of "Zhuanlunzang" and "Wanshou Mountain Kunming Lake". On the west side are the Wufang Pavilion and the bronze Baoyun Pavilion. There are magnificent Tibetan Buddhist buildings and multi-colored glazed pagodas standing among green trees in the back mountain. There are also pavilions and pavilions on the mountain such as Jingfu Pavilion, Chongcui Pavilion, Shu Qiuxuan, and Hua Zhongyou. You can overlook the scenery of Kunming Lake.
Kunming Lake is the largest lake among the royal gardens of the Qing Dynasty. A long embankment in the lake, the West Embankment, meanders from the northwest to the south.
The West Dike and its branches divide the lake into three waters of varying sizes, each with an island in the middle of the lake. These three islands form a tripod on the lake, symbolizing the three sacred mountains in the East China Sea - Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou in ancient Chinese legends. Due to the separation of islands and embankments, the lake surface appears layered, avoiding monotony and sparseness. The West Causeway and the six bridges on the causeway are consciously imitated by the Sudi Causeway and the "Six Bridges on the Su Causeway" of West Lake in Hangzhou, making Kunming Lake even more like the West Lake. The green waves and weeping willows along the Xidi area create a broad natural scenery. The beautiful mountain shape of Yuquan Mountain a few miles outside the park and the shadow of the Yufeng Pagoda on the top of the mountain are closely connected and are taken as an integral part of the garden landscape. Looking west from Kunming Lake and the lakeside, the scenery outside the garden and the lakes and mountains in the garden are integrated into one. This is an outstanding example of the use of borrowed scenery in Chinese gardens. The buildings in the lake area are mainly concentrated on three islands. The banks and embankments of the lake are shaded by green trees, blocking out the glimmering water, presenting a natural beauty of the mountains near the lake and far away that is full of Jiangnan style.
The southern slope of Wanshou Mountain (i.e. the front mountain) is adjacent to Kunming Lake, and the lake and mountains are connected, forming an extremely cheerful natural environment. The lakes, mountains, islands, embankments and buildings on them, combined with the borrowed scenery outside the garden, form a continuous, brocade-like landscape. The front mountain is close to the main entrance of the garden and the palaces of the emperor and empress. It is more convenient for sightseeing and going back and forth. It also overlooks the Kunming Lake area facing south, so the main buildings in the garden are gathered here. The garden architects accordingly used the method of highlighting key points in the layout of the Qianshan building group. A large and rich central building complex is built in the middle. From the lakeshore to the top of the mountain, a layer of gorgeous palaces and pavilions cover the hillside, forming a longitudinal central axis that runs up and down the front mountain. This large group of buildings includes the main buildings in the park - the "Paiyun Hall" where emperors and empresses held celebrations and meetings, and the "Foxiang Pavilion" of the Buddhist temple. The latter is the largest building in the park in terms of its size. It is about 40 meters high and stands on a high stone platform. Its octagonal shape, four-fold eaves and spiers can be seen in many places inside and outside the garden. It is majestic and towering over the crowd, becoming the center of the composition of the entire front mountain and Kunming Lake. Echoing the longitudinal axis of the central building complex is the "corridor" that meanders east and west across the foothills and along the northern shore of the lake. It has 273 rooms and a total length of 728 meters. This is the longest corridor in Chinese gardens. The buildings in the rest of the front mountain are smaller in size and are naturally and sparsely arranged on the foothills, slopes and ridges, embedded in the lush green pines and cypresses, to set off the dignified and elegant central building complex. Climbing Wanshou Mountain, standing in front of the Buddhist Incense Pavilion and looking down, most of the scenery of the Summer Palace can be seen. The lush trees set off the yellow and green glazed tile roofs and the vermilion palace walls. Directly in front, Kunming Lake is as quiet as a mirror and as green as a piece of jasper. Tour boats and boats slide slowly across the lake, leaving almost no trace. Looking eastward, you can vaguely see several ancient towers and the White Tower in the city.
The river of Hou Lake meanders on the northern slope of Wanshou Mountain, that is, the foothills of Hou Mountain. The gardener cleverly took advantage of the cramped environment between the north bank of the river and the palace wall, and built rockeries on the north bank to block the palace wall. And in conjunction with the real mountain range on the south bank, it creates a landform of two mountains sandwiched by a river. The water surface of the river can be wide or narrow, and it is closed and released at times. After boating, the lake gives people the impression of mountains and rivers returning, with willows and flowers blooming, making it an outstanding quiet waterscape in the park.
The landscape of the back mountain is completely different from that of the front mountain. It is a natural environment full of wild mountains and forests, with lush trees, winding mountain roads and deep scenery. Except for the Buddhist temple "Xumi Lingjing" in the middle, most of the buildings are concentrated in several self-contained areas, forming an exquisite small garden with the surrounding environment. They may be perched on a hilltop, leaning on a hillside, or facing the water, and can be flexibly arranged according to the landform. On both sides of the middle section of Houhu are the ruins of the "Business Street" built during the Qianlong Emperor's time to imitate the shops in Jiangnan River Street. Except for the Xiequ Garden and Ji Qingxuan, which were completely rebuilt during the Guangxu period, the rest of the buildings in the back mountain are incomplete, and the scale of that year can only be vaguely identified based on the broken walls and decaying walls. The Harmony Garden, formerly known as Huishan Garden, is a garden within a garden built in imitation of the Jichang Garden in Wuxi. The whole garden is centered on the water surface, with waterscape as the main body. Simple and elegant halls, halls, buildings, pavilions, pavilions, pavilions and other buildings are arranged around the pond, connected by winding corridors and planted with weeping willows and bamboos. The stacked rocks on the north bank of the pool form a rockery. Living water is drawn from the Hou Lake through the Yuqin Gorge and poured into the pool along the rocks. The tinkling sound of running water enters the scene, adding to the poetic and picturesque quality of this small garden.