Ancient Chinese architecture The Chengde Summer Resort
2 min readThe Chende Summer Resort
The Chende Summer Resort or the Imperial Summer Villa of Chengde or the Temporary Imperial Dwelling Palace in Rehe was started 1703 by Emperor Kangxi and lasted 89 years.
It is situated in the north of the city of Chengde in Hebei Province and 230 kilometers from Beijing. The whole garden covers 564 hectares, about twice the size of the Summer Palace and is surrounded by a 10-kilometer-long wall.
It is an ideal summer resort with an average temperature of 24.5℃in the hottest part of July, cool and pleasant. Kangxi, Qianlong and a succession of other emperors after them used to spend five to six months there each year, engaged in political activities, administering affairs of the state and receiving leaders of the minority nations or foreign diplomats.
The resort comprises two parts, the palace area and the scenic area.
The palace area is in three building complexes, in the southern part of the park. The main palaces arranged symmetrically on an axial line. It consists of the Front Palace, the Pine Crane Chamber, the Pine-Soughing Valleys and the East Palace. The Front Palace is the residential quarter for the emperor and his harem. The Pine and Crane Chamber is for the Empress Dowager to live in summer. The East Palace, situated to the east of the Pine and Crane Chamber, is a three-floor theatre which was destroyed in 1945.
The scenic area extends from southeast to northwest，including three scenic parts:lake，plain and mountains，where 120 buildings and 72 scenic wonders are scattered.Thirty-six of the scenic wonders in the villa were named and inscribed by Emperor Kangxi，all in four-character phrases.Another 36 were named and inscribed by Emperor Qianlong who，to show deference from his grandfather Kangxi，used three-characterphrases only.With gardens contained in gardens，and scenery in scenery，the entire resort，taking up 70%of the whole resort，forms a richly variegated，three dimensional picture scroll.
Various buildings like pavilions，temples，towers，corridors，bridges，halls，etc.are constructed naturally and harmoniously.
