The Summer Palace - Beijing

After the Forbidden City, we drove outside of Beijing (with a driver that kept falling asleep at the wheel ... seriously - he kept trying to wake himself up - it was scary!) to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi (aka The Dragon Lady)! She would go here in the summer time because it would be cooler than in the Forbidden City. The Kunming Lake was manmade and it is 2.2 square kilometers. The excavated land was used to make Longevity Hill, which stands 60 meters high. All of this was done to ensure proper feng shui. She lived here with Eunuchs and servants. One meal for her could feed 3000 farmers and she didn't let anyone eat the leftovers - they were thrown out! Just a little bit excessive!!

Me in front of the main gate with one of the greenery elephants:

The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. The empress handled court affairs in here as well as received foreign diplomats - it was the main government building in the Summer Palace. They even had electricity in here!

Bronze qilin in front of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity:

A close-up of the aforementioned hall (See the hanging chandelier in the right-hand door? They really had electricity!)...

The Dragon Lady bucked the system and put the dragon on the far side of the walkway and the phoenix nearest to the walkway - evidently that was a big 'no-no' back in the day:

Michael and I standing next to the lake:

Looking at Longevity Hill:

Kunming Lake with lilies in the corner:

A gorgeous lotus flower in the lake:

Looking across the lake to the 17 arch bridge and the NanHu island with the Dragon King Temple. There are 17 arches, because from either side you count the tallest arch will be number 9:

Inside the Administration Area for the Emperor:

This is called Bankruptcy Rock. It cost the emperor loads of money and manpower to have this rock shipped in from Fangshan Mountain - when it got to the Summer Palace, they had to break down a gate to get it into the garden area, hence "Bankruptcy Rock" - this rock was strictly for feng shui purposes.

Me and Lucy having a laugh over something:

The long corridor is 728 meters long - each crossbeam is painted with something different (landscape scenes, pics depicting chinese folklore, historical and legendary figures, etc. - 14,000+ paintings):

It was so serene and beautiful to walk along the long corridor:

Me right next to the long corridor:

The outer view of one of the pavilions along the long corridor:

Looking at the top of one of the pavilions:

They had gigantic pots of flowers everywhere that were gorgeous (there were peonies everywhere!):

Us right next to the lake:

This was one of the most beautiful flower arrangements I have ever seen - it was manicured greenery and flowers in the shape of a phoenix:

Looking up at the Tower of Buddhist Fragrance on Longevity Hill:

One of the decorated gates:

Looking at the Tower of Buddhist Incense atop Longevity Hill from the bottom of the palace grounds:

The buddhist tower again:

We were really tired of taking pictures by this point :)

One of the dragon boats that could take you across the lake to the Grand Pavilion and 17 arch bridge:

Looking at the Yu Feng Pagoda across Kunming Lake:

The Dragon Lady had a marble boat built where she could enjoy the Peking Opera nightly. She had this boat built with money that had been earmarked for the creation of a modern Chinese Navy:

One of the bridges leaving the back of the palace grounds:

After the palace we went to a pearl market (they sold fresh-water pearls cultivated in Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace) - they had a picture of the Dragon Lady, Empress Dowager Cixi. Notice her long fingernails on her last two fingers - these had jade on them and when she didn't have her food testers around she would dip her fingernail with the jade on it in the food to check for poison. It is said that the jade will turn a different color if poison is present. Not sure if it is true, but it makes a good story :)