The Summer Palace

“The Summer Palace is said to be the best preserved imperial garden in the world, and the largest of its kind still in existence” (Wikipedia.com). The Summer Palace was created as a get-away for the Imperial Family during the hot Beijing summers. The beautiful gardens and pavilions was a nice summer from to escape the walled city within the Forbidden Palace. Construction on the Summer Palace began in the late 18th century under the reign of Emperor Qianlong. The palace was used before then, but it was considerably renovated under his direction. Using a force of 100,000 laborers, the Emperor deepened and enlarged the lake to make it take the shape that it is today. Much of the original buildings were destroyed during the opium war, but have since then been rebuilt.

“Empress Dowager Cixi took up permanent residence here for a time, giving rise to some wonderful tales of extravagance and excess” (Wikipedia.com). Selected by the emperor as an imperial concubine in her adolescence, she gave birth to his first and only son. Her rise to power was for the worst, and she ruled with cruelty and selfishness. It is said that she killed many of her subjects just for making her angry. She seized whatever she wanted by any means, surrounding herself with money, banquets, jewels, and other luxuries (Her lavish summer palace was built partially from navy funds). When she sat down to enjoy a meal, she was served three plates of food: one to look at, one to smell, and one to eat. It is also believed that she was once served 150 different dishes at a single banquet. She lived in luxury while many of her subjects were starving. Her greed turned out to be her downfall, when the insufficient military funds led to China’s defeat by the Japanese. Empress Cixi’s final words: "Never again allow a woman to hold the supreme power in the State."
        

            For our brother/sister date this week, my sister and I started out the day in the heart of Beijing at the zoo. (Our favorite parts were the monkeys and panda’s) From there we planned to take a boat which would take us by river to the Summer Palace on the outskirts of Beijing. It was there my sister and I met a beautiful family from the country where I served my mission! It felt so good to be able to speak Chinese with a Taiwanese accent again, and not have to worry about the “er hua” that those here in Beijing use. As we talked, they told me that back in Taiwan they have often seen the missionaries riding around on bicycles in white shirt and tie. Before we parted, they promised me that when they get back they will ask these missionaries to share with them a message about eternal families! They are such a neat family and I felt that it wasn’t by chance that we ran into them today.

Wow, the Summer Palace was so beautiful! The lake is huge and would take you hours to walk around, so we ended up taking a boat across to the other side which dropped us off on a little island with a Buddhist temple. There was a wonderful view of the Summer Palace in the distance. Connecting this little island with the shore is a long bridge with many circular arcs for boats to pass underneath. From there we traveled along the edge of the lake where there is a covered walkway with beautiful paintings on the wooden beams. When we reached the palace itself, we climbed up a series of stairs to reach the pagoda at the top. Just thinking about the history of this place was incredible! The Summer Palace has to be the most beautiful place in Beijing. Leaving the park, we road to the subway in a rickshaw. It was an incredible day!