Chinese Chengde Summer

Chinese Chengde Summer

Chengde Summer resort is located to the north of the center of Chengde city, Hebei province, 230 kilometers away from the Beijing, in which Qing emperors spent time and made state affairs in the summer. Summer resort was in the built in 1703 year, took about 90 years to be completed. Compared with the Forbidden city, the summer resort was famous for its natural and pastoral style and became the largest ancient imperial palaces. The resort is divided into four parts: palace area, lake area, plain area, mountain area. The palace area is in the south of the lake with plain terrain and a place for the emperor dealing with the domestic and foreign affairs, holding ceremonies, and living. The lake section is north of the palace section and covers about 80 hectares. Unlike the Summer Palace’s Kunming Lake, which is an open expanse of water, the lakes here are smaller, more-complicated, interconnected affairs, and come in a variety of shapes and sizes and feature islets, causeways, bridges, pavilions, etc. The flatlands north of the lake section are covered with both grassland and forest. There are no buildings here with the exception of a few Mongolian yurts. The southwest corner of this section was devoted to horse riding. Emperor Qianlong often entertained Mongolian princes here, with barbeque dinners, wrestling, horse racing, and archery. Four-fifths of the Imperial Summer Villa is mountainous, sloping down from the northwest to the southeast. The mountain section is merely the most mountainous area. Sites to visit here include the Qingchui Sunset Glow Pavilion, which offers gorgeous views of Qingchui Peak at sunset, which glows under the golden rays of the setting sun.In the Hall of the Bodhisattva of the Puning Temple there is a 22.23-meter-high Bodhisattva which has 1,000 armsand 1,000 eyes. The statue weighs 110 tons,the highest and largest wood statue in the world. In 1994, Chengde summer resort and its surroundings was listed into the world heritage directory y the UNESCO.