An Afternoon at the Summer Palace

Throughout our trip thus far in China, I have consistently talked about wanting to visit the Summer Palace. Making a trip there was in my top three of must sees along with The Great Wall and The Forbidden City. Every Chinese person I meet in Beijing always asks me if I have visited it yet, and I was getting a little bit worried that we wouldn't have time to go there. Since we started our trip to the Great Wall so early, we had almost a full day to explore the Summer Palace. It was very easily accessible by subway and only took about 20 minutes to get there.

The Summer Palace was used as a summer residence by Chinese imperial rulers as a retreat away from the Forbidden City. The gardens that became the Summer Palace date back to the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). It was expanded throughout the next few centuries by many different rulers, but Empress CiXi added most to its decadence in the late 1800s after it was partially destroyed by Anglo-French Allied Forces. What you see at The Summer Palace today is more or less the same as the rebuilt palace of 1903. Basically, it is a HUGE, absolutely stunning park set around the Kunming lake.

There were so many things to see while we were there, and I think we did a great job taking advantage of it. Since we weren't in any sort of hurry, we spent several hours exploring each part of the palace. I'll make note of some of the most interesting parts:
1. The Garden of Harmonious Virtue: This is known as on of the best Peking opera houses in the country. There was a group of Chinese musicians playing here when we entered, and we were able to stay and watch them perform for awhile.
2. The Long Corridor: Basically, this is a beautifully decorated, covered hallway that runs around the lake- it was built so the emperors and empresses could walk around the lake outside without being affected by any weather conditions.
3. The Marble Boat: Cixi, one of the most decadent empresses, squandered all of the navy's money on her own intricately designed boat. We were able to take an awesome ferry ride from one side of the lake to the other to go see the boat and other parts of the palace.
4. Buddha Temple: This was one of the coolest things I have seen so far in China- located at the top of a huge hill is a giant hall designed to hold an enormous statue of Buddha. The statue has three heads, so that you can approach it from several different directions. I wasn't able to take any pictures since it is considered a very holy place for many people even till this day. There were several people praying around it as we entered- it was a very special experience.
5. The Mirror Bridge- This bridge connects the main island to Southlake Island where there were a bunch of beautiful buildings like the Dragon King Temple, where the empress used to go to pray for rain and to watch the sunrise and sunset.
The Summer Palace was pretty much one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. Up until now, my favorite historical place I have visited on earth was Versailles, but The Summer Palace is now right up there with it. It makes me a little bit sad that the United States lacks the history that China and most European countries have because things like The Summer Palace are great representations of their identity as a country and something for them to be very proud of.

Later that night, we all went out to dinner together and FINALLY tried some stick food. Stick food is really popular in Beijing- pretty much you can get any sort of delicacy on a stick from squid, to chicken, to crab apples. Matt, Kaitlin and I decided to try the crab apple (it seemed like the safest choice) and it was GREAT. Basically it was tiny, little candied apples placed on a stick; how can that not be wonderful, right?

I will fill you in on my past two days at the tennis center as soon as possible!