Get lost in Beijing’s summer Palace

Must see sights in Beijing 1. The Emperor’s Summer Palace or simply short “summer palace” as the name suggests, was an imperial garden created for the emperors of the Qing dynasty for relaxation especially during the summer months. It’s main features include: Kunming Lake, The Long Corridor, Longevity Hill, The Marble Boat, the Buddha Temple of incense. Its history is quite an interesting one. This area of about 290 hectares of land was first built in 1750 and has since then been destroyed and rebuilt twice. The first time it was destroyed was in 1860 when the Anglo-French allied forces invaded Beijing during the second opium war. In 1880, Empress Dowager Cixi rebuilt the palace with embezzled money from the navy under the guise of setting up a navy academy inside. In 1900, the palace was invaded again, this time by the the Eight power allied Forces. Empress Dowager who ran away from the palace came back in 1902 to rebuild it again. The rebuild was completed in 1903. From then till she died, Empress Dowager used the palace every year between April-October as a summer The Summer Palace was changed from an imperial garden into a public park in 1924. #summerpalace #beijing