Beijing Photo Gallery - Summer Palace Part 2

Located in the distant northwest part of the city but now connected by the metro, it's still a long 15km trek to reach the Summer Palace, which should be bundled with nearby Yuan Ming Yuan as an intense half day excursion.

Built as the imperial family's summer retreat, the current layout mostly dates from Emperor Qianlong's era in the 18th century. who commissioned the palace for his mother's 60th birthday in 1750. It was first destroyed by Anglo-French troops in 1860, and rebuilt with funds originally destined to modernize the navy during a time when China was losing wars against foreign countries.

After climbing up the back side of Longevity Hill, I descended down to Kunming Lake, which accounts for 75% of the park. This part is a lot more crowded with a few key sights. Kunming Lake was mostly man-made with the excavated earth used to build Longevity Hill.

The Long Corridor has over 14,000 paintings along its 728m-long covered stretch that runs along the lakeshore with 4 pavilions along the way.

It's a long climb up to the Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha for a grand view.