Hey everyone, welcome to World Heritage Journey.
For today's video, we're at the Summer Palace in Beijing, China.
The Summer Palace is a former royal residence on the outskirts of China's capital, Beijing.
As the name suggests, it was used by Emperors as their summer retreat away from the noise
and heat of the city.
Constructed mostly in the 18th century, the complex is centred on the artificial Kunming
Lake, and the artificial Longevity Hill.
And it's absolutely enormous.
The Lake is about three square kilometres, while Longevity Hill is 60 metres high.
Both are dotted with buildings, pavilions, temples and other places of interest.
The most dominating feature takes pride of place on the hill: the Tower of Buddhist Incense.
This three-tiered, 41-metre tower was modelled after the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan.
Here the emperors and empresses could pray and make offerings to the gods.
Just below the tower is the beautiful Hall of Dispelling Clouds.
This was built as a gift for Emperor Qianlong's mother, and was later used as a reception
hall for foreign dignitaries.
It's fronted by the Gate of Dispelling Clouds, which connects to the front of the lake.
On the lake's edge is the remarkable Long Gallery.
This incredible structure is just that: a long outdoor corridor that runs essentially
the entire length of the palace front, along the lake's shore - an incredible 728 metres.
This was built for obvious reasons: so that members of the imperial family could move
about the gardens in any weather: rain, hail, or shine.
There's several pavilions dotted along the corridor, and it's brightly coloured
with decorations, and paintings of famous places and scenes from China.
Nearby there's the strange Marble Boat which is exactly what it sounds like: a boat, made
of marble.
Built in the 1890s by Empress Dowager Cixi, it has a distinctly Western style to it.
And no, it obviously can't sail anywhere!
Finally, at the back of the palace was probably our favourite feature: Suzhou Street.
This is a large canal area lined with shops, in a Disney-style imitation of Suzhou, a city near
Shanghai in eastern China.
It was built in the 18th century as an entertainment spot, where the royal family could wander
"normal" streets and look in shops, just like the common folk.
It's a lovely spot, though it does have quite an odd backstory!
All up, we really enjoyed the Summer Palace.
Although many of the buildings were burned down by British and French troops in 1860
(which the signs and brochures mention repeatedly!), they were reconstructed at great expense by
Empress Dowager Cixi in the 1890s, and it's said that the cost of rebuilding the Palace
ultimately contributed to the downfall of the entire Qing dynasty a few years later.
That's quite
a legacy!