The History of CHINA

THE SUMMER PALACE

This is a beautiful spot with exuberant wood and grass at the foot of the West Hill in the western outskirts of Beijing. From the Ming Dynasty on, many high－taste nobles built their private gardens in this place. In the Qing Dynasty perhaps because the Manchu aristocrats who had just left their forests and grassland had not accommodated themselves to the environment of the palaces, they built great imperial gardens there. The Summer Palace that has survived calamities in history is one of those architectural masterpieces. This is a marvellous conception of a paradise on the earth.