The Summer Palace is the largest and best-preserved royal garden in China. It has a history of more than 800 years. Early in the Jing dynasty, an imperial palace named Golden Hill Palace was built on the present site of the Summer Palace. Through the centuries, portions of the grounds and buildings were destroyed during warfare, then restored or redesigned. The Summer Palace of today is more or less the same as the palace rebuilt in 1903. After the Qing emperor, Puyi, was thrown out of the Summer Palace in 1924, the garden was turned into a park. Surrounded by lovely Kumming Lake and classic Chinese gardens, the palace halls and pavilions are filled with ornate furnishings and fine art work. It encompasses approximately 700 acres.

Panoramic view of the Summer Palace

Tower of Buddhist Incense

Emperor's Theater

Contemporary Chinese historians wax indignant that under the Qing dynasty, funds appropriated for the imperial navy were siphoned off to make the Summer Palace an ever more luxurious private park. Among the items on which the Empress Dowager Ci'Xi squandered the naval budget is an astonishing double-decker marble boat beached at the edge of the lake.

Marble Boat

Me and Ginger hanging out at the Summer Palace