Summer Olympics News

The Summer Palace is a huge park area in the Northwest of Beijng, three quarters of which are covered by Kunming Lake. It was build in 1750 and destroyed during the second Opium War. After it was rebuilt in 1886, it served as Empress Dowager Cixis Summer Getaway. The Summer Palace also had one of Beijing’s earliest telephone lines so Cixi could talk to her nephew and adopted son, Emperor Guangxu. There’s an exhibition about those early phone lines in Shuimuziqin Hall.

Admittance to the Summer Palace is 30 Yuan ($3.8). You can also buy a ticket for 50 Yuan ($6.3), which already includes some of the attractions inside the palace that you need to pay extra money for. As the Summer Palace is really huge, unless you want to rush from sight to sight, buying just the entrance ticket and then see what you want to do inside is good enough.

At the entrance, there’s not only a weather forecast, but also a “tourist volume forecast”, which I thought was pretty funny. But at least I learned that I was one of 15200 expected visitors that day. I had no idea so many people came everyday.

I first walked around the lake and down the Long Corridor, a wooden corridor decorated and painted with colorful patterns and landscape scenes, and then went up the many stairs to “Cloud Dispensing Hall” (admission 10 Yuan, a bit more than $1). This Hall and the surrounding buildings were just renovated in 2005 and are shining in bright new colors. Unfortunately, the “Tower of Buddha Incense” was still closed when I was there because of construction, but it will be reopened for visitors on October 1, the National Day in China. Unless you are afraid of heights, Cloud Dispensing Hall is worth spending the extra buck. I can imagine that the view from the Tower of Buddha Incense must be even better.

The Tower of Buddha Incense

After I had gotten back down, I walked around the lake, eating some green bean ice cream and took a look at the big tacky marble boat sitting at the side of the lake. The Lonely Planet speculates Cixi had it put there because the Summer Palace was rebuilt using money from a navy fund… Whether this is true or not, the boat is really just, well, big and tacky, but nonetheless a very popular photo object.

Of course, the obligatory Olympics merchandize stores and ads for the Olympics, which can be found at all major tourist sites, weren’t missing. They blend in perfectly with the architecture of the summer palace…

You can rent pedal boats at the lake for 30 Yuan (a bit less than $4) for 4 people or 60 Yuan ($7.5) for 6 people, plus a deposit. Since I was by myself this time, it was not worth renting one, so I decided to cross the lake on of the many “Pleasure Boats” instead (rides 8 Yuan, $1). There’s nothing all too spectacular about the boat ride except being taken from one side of the lake to the other, but it’s a good shortcut in case you are tired of walking, plus it gives you a good opportunity to take a picture of the impressive Tower of Buddha Incense.

The boat ride took me to South Lake Island, a small island connected to the lake shore by a bridge. I checked out the photo exhibition there about Puyi, the last emperor, and Empress Dowager Cixi. Except for the introductory note and a Mao quote about Puyi and why the Party did not kill him, not many other inscriptions were in English though. Neither was the “Taking photos strictly prohibited” sign, so you can pretend you didn’t know.

Finally, I fought my way through hords of tourist groups all wearing bright orange hats and had a quick glance at the “Hall of Benevolence and Longevity” right next to the entrance/exit, where court affairs were handled under Cixi and Guangxu.

There are various other exhibitions and attractions at the Summer Palace, so you can easily spend the whole day there and just walk around und pick what you want to see or relax at the lake. Or you can try and walk all around the lake and let me know if that’s possible. I’ve been meaning to do that, but have always given up somewhere on the way so far.