The Beijing’s Summer Palace or Yi He Yuan, is one of the most famous Chinese classical gardens rich with pavilions, bridges and natural beauty. It is also listed as one of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites for its splendid landscaping.

The Summer Palace covers a huge area of approximately 3 square kilometers of which more than half of the area is taken up by an entirely man-made lake called the Kunming Lake, which was dug from a combinations of small reservoirs in the area that were in used for over 3,000 years by local farmers. More than 10,000 laborers were believed to be involved in construction the man-made lake in the Mid-Eighteenth Century during the time of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.

The other prominent landscape in the Summer Palace is the Longevity Hill. The 60 meter tall hill was so named by Emperor Qianlong as a gift to his mother during her 60th birthday. Legend has it that the loss of a treasure jar found on the hill was the cause of the downfall of the Ming Dynasty.


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