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The palace, which is in the northern part of Chengde City, Hebei
Province, was where Qing emperors spent their summer day. Work on
the palace began in 1703, the 42nd year of the reign of Qing Emperor
Kangxi, and was completed in 1792, the 57th year of the reign of
Qing Emperor Qianlong. It covers an area of 5.64 million square
meters and includes 110 buildings with a combined floor space of
100,000 square meters. There is a 10-kilometer-long zig-zag palace
wall and the resort is the largest intact imperial garden and palace
wall and the resort is the largest intact imperial garden and palace
in China.
The Mountain Resort has a simple and elegant layout. It was built
by the natural mountains and rivers and copying the landscape from
southern Jiangsu Province and outside of the Shanhaiguan. The palaces
in this large-scale imperial garden were built in a style of quadruple
courtyards, with blue bricks and tiles.
There are two parts to the summer resort-the palace itself and
a scenic area. The palace was where the emperor lived, handled state
affairs and held celebrations or ceremonies. it is made up of the
Main Palace, the Crane Temple, Wanhe Songfeng and the East Palace.
The scenic area includes a Lake District, a District of Plains and
a Mountainous District. The Lake District reflects the landscape
of the fish-and-rice villages in southern Jiangsu Province. The
Rehe Springs are located in the northeast corner. The western part
of the Plain District illustrates a grassland scene from Inner Mongolia
While in the eastern part there are ancient trees like the forests
of Greater Xingan Mountain. The densely forested mountainous area
is on an undulating landscape.
To the northeast of the Mountain Resort is a monumental temple
complex composed of eight outer temples, which were built from 1713
(the 52nd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi) to 1789 (the 45th
year of Emperor Qianlong's reign). The temples are Furen Temple,
Fushang Temple (which has been damaged), Pule Temple, Anyuan Temple,
Puning Temple, Xumi Fushou Temple, Putuo Zongcheng Temple and Shuxiang
Temple. They were built in Han palace style and drew on the architectural
styles of ethnic groups such as Mongolian, Tibetan and Ugyur.
The Pule, Puning and Xumi Fushou temples are the main structures
of the complex. The Hall of Brightness in the Pule Temple, which
has a double-eaved and doom roof is similar to the Hall of Prayer
for Bountiful Harvests at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. In the
Hall of the Bodhisattva of the Puning Temple there is a 22.23-meter-high
Bodhisattva, which has 1,000 arms and 1,000 eyes. The statue weighs
110 tons and is the highest and largest wood statue in the world.
Putuo Zongcheng Temple was modeled on the Potala Palace in Lhasa
and is famous as Lesser Potala.
Included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1994.
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