The Summer Palace: Beijing’s Imperial Garden at Lake and Hill

Empress Dowager Cixi notoriously diverted funds intended to modernise the Chinese navy to rebuild the Summer Palace after the Second Opium War. The Marble Boat on Kunming Lake – a palace pavilion designed to look like a Western-style paddle steamer – is the physical emblem of this decision: built partly with naval funds, permanently moored on the lake, going nowhere. China’s subsequent military weakness in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 is sometimes partly attributed to the underfunded fleet. The boat is purely decorative, architecturally bizarre in its Qing-meets-Victorian-baroque hybrid style, and genuinely worth five minutes of anyone’s attention for the historical context.

The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) is a 290-hectare imperial garden and palace complex in northwest Beijing, dominated by Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill. UNESCO listed it in 1998 as a masterpiece of classical Chinese garden design. The Qing emperors used it as a cool retreat from the capital; Cixi in particular spent substantial time here in the late 19th century, governing effectively from the lakeside pavilions.

The Long Corridor

The Long Corridor (Changlang) is a 728-metre covered walkway running along the northern shore of Kunming Lake at the foot of Longevity Hill. The ceiling and pillars are covered in 14,000 individually painted panels depicting Chinese history, mythology, and landscape. This is the most memorable single element of the Summer Palace.

Arrive at opening time (7am in summer) to walk the Corridor when it’s quiet. By 9am it fills with tour groups. The painted panels reward slow inspection rather than quick coverage – the variety of scenes and the quality of preservation across thousands of separate panels is impressive in a cumulative way that a single panel doesn’t convey.

Longevity Hill

The Tower of Buddhist Incense (Foxiangge) – a four-storey bronze pavilion on a 36-metre stone base – is the hill’s centrepiece and visible from across the lake. The climb from the Corridor takes about 20 minutes through progressively more elaborate gate structures. The view from the tower’s terrace over Kunming Lake, with the Beijing skyline visible beyond, is the best panorama in the park.

The Forest of Steles above the Tower is quiet and often empty even on busy days. Stone tablets inscribed with imperial edicts and poetry stand among pine trees. Good for 20 minutes of escape from the main circuit.

Kunming Lake

The lake occupies roughly three-quarters of the total area. The Seventeen-Arch Bridge connecting to South Lake Island is 150 metres long with 544 stone lion sculptures, each different. It photographs best in late afternoon when the sun is low and the arches reflect in the water.

Rowing boats are available from several points on the lake (around 50-100 yuan per hour). Heading toward the western shore gives you quieter water than the main tourist area near the bridge.

In winter the lake sometimes freezes completely and becomes an ice skating rink – an unusual juxtaposition of heritage and recreation that Beijing residents use enthusiastically.

Practical Notes

Admission is 30 yuan (lower in winter); the Tower of Buddhist Incense costs an additional 20 yuan. Opening hours are 7am to 5pm April through October, 8am to 4pm November through March.

Metro Line 4 to Beigongmen Station, then a short walk north. About 40 minutes from central Beijing. The full lake circuit is approximately 6 kilometres; allow half a day at minimum. April-May and September-October are ideal: mild temperatures, less summer haze, cherry blossoms or autumn colour in the grounds.