The Summer Palace

I have been in Beijing for two weeks now and I haven't visited the tourist spots yet. I know I have several months to see everything here, but I am hoping to avoid the massive crowds by seeing the sights during the low season. The Summer Palace is only two subway transfers from the nearest station so I thought that would be a great place to start.

I will give you a little background information on the Summer Palace, also known as Yiheyuan. Empress Dowager Cixi (Emperor Xianfeng's concubine) ruled China in place of her son after Emperor Xianfeng died in 1861. Yiheyuan was considered Cixi's pleasure ground. She rebuilt palaces after they were destroyed by foreign troops. When her son died, she installed her nephew as Emperor and imprisoned him to retain her authority.

In addition to the restoration and reconstruction of the palaces, Cixi used the Chinese navy funds to have a marble boat constructed.

The palaces are built on and around Longevity Hill and north of Kunming Lake. It is easy to get a little disoriented when wandering around this beautiful area. Paths run in every direction; some are stone and easy to follow, others seem to lead to nowhere.

There are incredible-looking rocks all over. I managed to stumble upon this boulder so I decided to have a little fun. I didn't notice the 'no climbing' sign until afterwards.. oops!

You could easily spend half a day here. I was there for nearly three hours and I missed a third of the site. I would love to make a trip back when everything is in bloom. The downside to visiting sites that have amazing garden landscaping during the winter is missing out on all its beauty. I would highly recommend visiting this site if you are in Beijing!