Summer Palace – Qing emperors holiday retreat.

Intellectuals practice calligraphy using water

The Summer Palace incorporates the Fengshui ‘Mountain’ and ‘Water’, seen here with the man made Kunming Lake and the Longevity Hill made with the earth from excavation of the lake.

 

Empress Dowager Cixi the only female empress had her son under house arrest here for 10 years before poisoning him. He was succeeded by the last boy emperor.

She ran out of money to build ships for the navy so had a a Marble Boat built because it wouldn’t rot and would last forever

 

The Long Corridor, one of the longest outdoor passageways in the world where she could walk whatever the weather

 

 

The laughing linqin