Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ing to
kowtow
, while Qianlong was disappointed with the gifts the British had brought and,
with Manchu power at its height, rebuffed all British trade demands, remarking: “We possess
all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country's
manufactures.” His letter to the British monarch concluded, magnificently, “O king, Trem-
blingly Obey and Show No Negligence!”
Recent times
Chengde gradually lost imperial popularity when it came to be seen as unlucky after emperors
Jiaqing and Xianfeng died here in 1820 and 1860 respectively. The buildings were left empty
and neglected for most of the twentieth century, but largely escaped the ravages of the Cul-
tural Revolution. Restoration, in the interests of tourism, began in the 1980s and is ongoing.
Bishu Shanzhuang
避暑山庄
, bìshŭ shānzhuāng • Daily 8am-5.30pm • Mid-April to mid-Oct
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120, mid-Oct to mid-April
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90 •
0314 216 1132
Surrounded by a 10km-long wall and larger than the Summer Palace in Beijing,
BishuShan-
zhuang
(also referred to as the Mountain Resort) occupies the northern third of the town's
area. This is where, in the summer months, the Qing emperors lived, feasted, hunted, and
occasionally dealt with affairs of state. The palace buildings just inside the main entrance
are unusual for imperial China as they are low, wooden and unpainted - simple but elegant,
in contrast to the opulence and grandeur of Beijing's palaces. It's said that Emperor Kangxi
wanted the complex to mimic a Manchurian village, to show his disdain for fame and wealth,
though with 120 rooms and several thousand servants he wasn't exactly roughing it.
The principle of idealized naturalness governed the design of the
park
. With its twisting
paths and streams, rockeries and hills, it's a fantasy re-creation of the rough northern terrain
and southern-Chinese beauty spots that the emperors would have seen on their tours. The
whole is an attempt to combine water, buildings and plants in graceful harmony. Lord Ma-
cartney noted its similarity to the “soft beauties” of an English manor park of the Romantic
style.
Covering the whole park and its buildings takes at least a day, and an early start is recom-
mended. It's at its nicest in the early morning anyway, when a vegetable market sets up just
outside the front gate, and old people practise
tai ji
or play Go by the palace. The park is
simply too big to get overcrowded, and if you head north beyond the lakes, you're likely to
find yourself alone.
The Palace
The
maingate
, Lizhengmen, is in the south wall, off Lizhengmen Dajie. The
palacequarter
,
just inside the complex to the west of the main gate, is built on a slope facing south, and con-
sists of four groups of dark wooden buildings spread over an area of 100,000 square metres.
The first, southernmost group, the Front Palace - where the emperors lived and worked - is
