The Summer Palace is a large park north of the centre of Beijing. The site has long been a Royal Garden and underwent major development by Emperor Qianlong in the 18th Century when, with the help of about 100,000 labourers, he deepened and expanded Kunming Lake (today about 75% of the park's area).

Anglo-French Allied forces burnt the Park down in 1860 and it fell into ruins until the Empress Dowager Cixi (Tchusi) began rebuilding in 1888. Cixi was a bit of a 'character'. She started royal life as a concubine of the third rank but ended up ruling China for about 50 years. She controlled the country by manipulating the actions of, first, her own child and, then, another child emperor. She rebuilt the Summer Palace using money that had been reserved for construction of a modern navy. While she did restore one boat, it was carved out of marble and didn't exactly float. Cixi often dined on the boat and it still sits at the edge of Kunming Lake today. The palace was restored (again) in 1903, after it was attacked (again) by foreign troops 'unsettled' by the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.

I saw the Summer Palace as part of an organised tour that also visited the Great Wall at Badaling. We started our tour at the impressive East Gate. Our first stop was the imperial living quarters; in particular, the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. The living quarters were built near the East Gate to make it difficult for strangers to see into the grounds. Inside the courtyard were numerous bronze animals including the dragon and phoenix, representing the emperor and empress respectively. We continued west along the shore of the lake, passing by Longevity Hill, which was built using the dirt from the expansion of Kunming Lake. There are a number of temples on the hill including the Tower of the Incense of Buddha but we did not visit them. Apparently they cost extra.

We then came upon the Long Corridor, which runs parallel to the northern shore and joins all the separate buildings together (useful when it's raining). Another Guinness record, it is the longest (728m) painted corridor in the world! The Long Corridor is decorated with over 14000 scenes from both mythical and traditional tales. Although it was fairly long odds, I was hoping to see a scene from the famous Chinese tale 'Journey to the West' - and I actually did! (I think... ;-)

The Long Corridor ended near Cixi's boat (as well as a couple of snack stalls and souvenir shops). We then took a ride across the lake on a dragon boat. This comprised of a long, flat boat that had a dragon's head and tail - quite a novelty! The boat dropped us off near the Seventeen Arch bridge and the Bronze Ox. Unfortunately that was the end of our tour of the Summer Palace and we were led out at a nearby gate.