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The Summer Palace (late 18th century onward)

The Summer Palace is an excellent place to cool off during Beijing's hot Summer months. As it's name implies, it was used as a summer residence by China's Imperial rulers. The Palace began to assume its present shape during the reign of Emperor Qianlong who ruled in the late 18th century. Using an army of 100,000 laborers, the Emperor enlarged and deepened the lake, creating a network of small islands connected by dikes doubling as bridges. The layout is inspired by Taoist legends of immortal islands in the middle of misty lakes—the Chinese version of the Fountain of Youth myth.

The Dowager empress Cixi took an interest in the palace at the end of the 19th century. Using embezzled funds from the Imperial Navy, she restored a marble boat permanently moored at the lakeside, and rebuilt the halls beginning in 1888. Unfortunately, most of the complex was burned to the ground in an unwarranted display of foreign aggression by Anglo-French forces reacting to the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

The palace rotted for nearly fifty years, when it was restored soon after the Communist takeover. Nowadays most of the buildings have been completely restored, including a pleasant recreation of a Suzhou-style canal district at the north side of the site.