Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)

The Summer Palace is located in the western suburbs of Beijing, embracing the mountains and the water, with a wide range of meteorological features, which can be called a model of traditional Chinese gardening art, and is also the only well-preserved one among the ‘three mountains and five gardens’ of the Qing Dynasty royal gardens in Beijing. (Note: ‘Three Mountains’ in ‘Three Mountains and Five Gardens’ refers to Xiangshan Mountain, Yuchuan Mountain and Wanshoushan Mountain. The ‘five gardens’ refers to the Jingyi Garden on Fragrant Hill, Jingming Garden on Jade Spring Hill, Qingyi Garden on Wanshoushan Hill, as well as Yuanmingyuan and Changchunyuan. The Garden of Clear Ripples was the predecessor of the Summer Palace, and was the last royal garden to be completed among the ‘Three Mountains and Five Gardens’).