Chinese gardens are constructed to recreate and miniaturize larger natural

landscapes. Traditionally, Chinese gardens blend unique, ornate buildings with

natural elements.
Just about every Chinese garden contains architecture, like a building or
pavilion; decorative rocks and a rock garden; plants, trees and flowers;
andwater elements, like ponds. Most Chinese gardens are enclosed by a wall and
some have winding paths.
Chinese gardens arent just thrown together. Instead, theyre deliberately
designed and visitors should walk through them in the particular order that the
garden was laid out.
The History of Chinese Gardens
For the past 3,000 years, everyone in China, from emperors and government
officials to scholars and poets, have built their own Chinese garden. The first
Chinese gardens were built in the Yellow River valley. Kings and members of the
nobility during the Shang Dynasty (16001046 BC) hunted and planted fruits and
vegetables in their gardens. There were two types of gardens: one where animals
were kept and one for plants and gardening.
Layout and Design of Classic Chinese Gardens

Every scene in Chinese garden is wellplanned.

Chinese gardens arent laid out in a way that you can see the entire garden all at
once. Instead, small scenes are set up so that as you wander through the garden,
you come upon several intimate settings to view. Every scene is well-planned and
framed.
Some elements that arent actually in the garden are part of the design as well. For
example, some gardens purposely have a view of a mountain from one of its many
scenes.

Chinese Garden Walls and Enclosures

Classical Chinese gardens were surrounded by a white wall. The stark color
contrast sets a nice backdrop for the trees and flowers. Green leaves and colorful
blooms really stand out against a white setting.
Having a wall surrounding a garden makes the area seem secluded, even if its
not. Sectioning off the garden makes the elements of the area stick out and
appear even more vibrant. Walls will also block out surrounding buildings that would
otherwise interfere with the serenity of the garden.
Architecture in a Chinese Garden

Unique architecture in a Chinese Garden

The types of buildings that are included in a Chinese garden have to do withwhose
garden it is. For example, a scholar may have a library in their garden. Some
buildings have connected hallways and pavilions, each of which will have a view of
a different area of the garden. Other Chinese gardens have temples, bridges,
galleries and towers.
Ideally, the buildings and structures in a Chinese garden will complement the
setting instead of dominating it. The larger the garden, the more buildings it will
contain.
Types of Structures
Ceremony halls, located near the entrance of the garden, have their own
courtyard and are used for family celebrations. Principal Pavilions are for receiving
guests and celebrating big holidays with a large crowd.
The Pavilion of Flowers is traditionally close to the residential home and is filled
with flowers and plants. Some flower pavilions will have a small rock garden as well.
Pavilions with movable walls offer a panoramic view of the entire garden. Large
gardens will have guest rooms and housing.

Seasonal Pavilions
Some gardens contain a Pavilion of Mandarin Ducks, which is divided into two
seasonal sections. One section will face north, toward a lotus pond. Cool air will
blow into this part of the pavilion during the summertime. The other section will
face south, toward a pine tree-filled courtyard and plum trees. When the plum trees
blossom, it means that spring is on the way.
There will also be a pavilion set up for viewing autumn foliage and small
pavilions to escape to when it rains.
Rock Gardens and Rock Decor
Every Chinese garden has some type of rock element. Some designers opt for a
simple rock garden, while others construct miniature mountains from a collection of
rocks. Sometimes gardeners make mountains from both rocks and dirt. Large,
classic Chinese gardens will have a huge faux mountain with a pavilion located at
the summit.
Rocks are chosen based on their shape, texture, substance, color and softness.
Limestone rocks that have taken strange shapes due to erosion are among the most
valued rocks for Chinese gardeners.
Meaning of Rock Mountains
Including a miniature mountain in the Chinese garden isnt just for esthetic appeal.
Mountains have symbolic meaning in Chinese culture, too. Mountain peaks
symbolize virtue and stability. They also symbolize belief in the philosophy laid out
by Confucius. Also, the legend of the Isles of the Immortals had a mountain peak as
its main focus point, which is why the mountain is a central unit in several Chinese
gardens.
Plants, Flowers and Trees

Green trees in Yu Garden, a famous garden

in Shanghai

Plants are chosen carefully, dependent on their texture, shape, color and fragrance.
Some Chinese gardens have a lotus pond with a nearby lotus pavilion. Chinese
gardeners choose the different plant elements for their garden largely due to
fragrance.
Chinese gardens typically always have fragrant flowers to set the atmosphere.
Flowers and trees also contrast with sharp, harsh architectural lines. Sound is
another element of Chinese gardens, and when rain falls on the leaves of trees and
bushes, it creates a soothing sound.
Water Elements
The most common water element of a Chinese garden is a pond. The pond is usually
situated in the center of the garden. Larger gardens will have a lake instead of a
pond. The other elements of the garden will be arranged around the pond. Some
ponds have fish in them, like goldfish.
In China, water symbolizes communication and dreams. A water element is
also a welcome complement to the rock garden and mountains.
Borrowed Scenery
The term borrowed scenery refers to the elements of a Chinese garden that
actually lay outside the garden walls. For example, if a pavilion looks directly out to
a faraway mountain top, this would be considered borrowed scenery. These views
are often unexpected, because most people dont think to look outside the garden
walls when in a Chinese garden. The views are deliberate, however, and the garden
is usually arranged purposefully.

The Chinese garden is a landscape garden style which has evolved over three thousand years. It
includes both the vast gardens of the Chinese emperors and members of the imperial family, built for
pleasure and to impress, and the more intimate gardens created by scholars, poets, former
government officials, soldiers and merchants, made for reflection and escape from the outside world.
They create an idealized miniature landscape, which is meant to express the harmony that should
exist between man and nature.[1]
A typical Chinese garden is enclosed by walls and includes one or more ponds, rock works, trees
and flowers, and an assortment of halls and pavilions within the garden, connected by winding paths
and zig-zag galleries. By moving from structure to structure, visitors can view a series of carefully
composed scenes, unrolling like a scroll of landscape paintings.

History[edit]

Beginnings[edit]
The earliest recorded Chinese gardens were created in the valley of the Yellow
River, during the Shang Dynasty (16001046 BC). These gardens were large
enclosed parks where the kings and nobles hunted game, or where fruit and
vegetables were grown.

Early inscriptions from this period, carved on tortoise shells, have three Chinese
characters for garden, you, pu and yuan. You was a royal garden where birds and
animals were kept, while pu was a garden for plants. During the Qin Dynasty (221
206 BC), yuan became the character for all gardens.[3] The old character for yuan is
a small picture of a garden; it is enclosed in a square which can represent a wall,
and has symbols which can represent the plan of a structure, a small square which
can represent a pond, and a symbol for a plantation or a pomegranate tree.[4]

A famous royal garden of the late Shang dynasty was the Terrace, Pond and Park of
the Spirit (Lingtai, Lingzhao Lingyou) built by King Wenwang west of his capital city,
Yin. The park was described in the Shijing (Classic of Poetry) this way:

The Emperor makes his promenade in the Park of the Spirit,

The deer are kneeling on the grass, feeding their fawns,
The deer are beautiful and resplendent.
The immaculate cranes have plumes of a brilliant white.
The Emperor makes his promenade to the Pond of the Spirit,
The water is full of fish, who wriggle." - translation in Jardins de Chine, ou la qute
du paradis[5]
Another early royal garden was Shaqui, or the Dunes of Sand, built by the last
Shang ruler, King Zhou. (1075-1046 BC). It was composed of an earth terrace, or tai,
which served as an observation platform in the center of a large square park. It was
described in one of the early classics of Chinese literature, the Records of the Grand
Historian (Shiji).[6]

According to the Shiji, one of the most famous features of this garden was the Wine
Pool and Meat Forest (). A large pool, big enough for several small boats,
was constructed on the palace grounds, with inner linings of polished oval shaped

stones from the sea shores. The pool was then filled with wine. A small island was
constructed in the middle of the pool, where trees were planted, which had skewers
of roasted meat hanging from their branches. King Zhou and his friends and
concubines drifted in their boats, drinking the wine with their hands and eating the
roasted meat from the trees. Later Chinese philosophers and historians cited this
garden as an example of decadence and bad taste.[7]

During the Spring and Autumn period (722481 BC), in 535 BC, the Terrace of
Shanghua, with lavishly decorated palaces, was built by King Jing of the Zhou
dynasty. In 505 BC, an even more elaborate garden, the Terrace of Gusu, was
begun. It was located on the side of a mountain, and included a series of terraces
connected by galleries, along with a lake where boats in the form of blue dragons
navigated. From the highest terrace, a view extended as far as Lake Tai, the Great
Lake.[8]

The Legend of the Isle of the Immortals[edit]

A miniature version of Mount Penglai, the legendary home of the Eight Immortals,
was recreated in many classical Chinese gardens
An ancient Chinese legend played an important part in early garden design. In the
4th century BC, a tale in the Shan Hai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas)
described a peak called Mount Penglai located on one of three islands at the eastern
end of the Bohai Sea, between China and Korea, which was the home of the Eight
Immortals. On this island were palaces of gold and silver, with jewels on the trees.
There was no pain, no winter, wine glasses and rice bowls were always full, and
fruits, when eaten, granted eternal life.

In 221 BC, Ying Zheng, the King of Qin conquered other rival states and unified
China under the Qin Empire, which he ruled until 210 BC. He heard the legend of the
islands and sent emissaries to find the islands and bring back the elixir of immortal
life, without success. At his palace near his capital, Xianyang, he created a garden
with a large lake called Lanchi gong or the Lake of the Orchids. On an island in the
lake he created a replica of Mount Penglai, symbolizing his search for paradise. After
his death, the Qin Empire fell in 206 BC and his capital city and garden were
completely destroyed, but the legend continued to inspire Chinese gardens. Many
gardens have a group of islands or a single island with an artificial mountain
representing the island of the Eight Immortals.[9]

Han dynasty (206 BC220 AD)[edit]

Under the Han dynasty (206 BC 220 AD), a new imperial capital was built at
Chang'an, and Emperor Wu built a new imperial garden, which combined the
features of botanical and zoological gardens, as well as the traditional hunting
grounds. Inspired by another version of Chinese classic about the Isles of the
Immortals, called Liezi, he created a large artificial lake, the Lake of the Supreme
Essence, with three artificial islands in the center representing the three isles of the
Immortals. The park was later destroyed, but its memory would continue to inspire
Chinese garden design for centuries.

Another notable garden of the Han period was the Garden of General Liang Ji built
under Emperor Shun (125144 AD). Using a fortune amassed during his twenty
years in the imperial court, Liang Ji build an immense landscape garden with
artificial mountains, ravines and forests, filled with rare birds and domesticated wild
animals. This was one of the first gardens that tried to create an idealized copy of
nature.[9]

Gardens for poets and scholars (221618 AD)[edit]

The calligrapher Wang Xizhi in his garden, the Orchid Pavilion

After the fall of the Han dynasty, a long period of political instability began in China.
Buddhism was introduced into China by Emperor Ming (5775 AD), and spread
rapidly. By 495, the city of Luoyang, capital of the Northern Wei dynasty, had over
1,300 temples, mostly in the former residences of believers. Each of the temples
had its own small garden.[10]

During this period, many former government officials left the court and built
gardens where they could escape the outside world and concentrate on nature and
literature. One example was the Jingu Yuan, or Garden of the Golden Valley, built by
Shi Chong (249300 AD), an aristocrat and former court official, who in 296
completed a garden ten kilometers northeast of Luoyang. He invited thirty famous
poets to a banquet in his garden, and wrote about the event himself:

I have a country house at the torrent of the Golden Valley...where there is a spring of
pure water, a luxuriant woods, fruit trees, bambo, cypress, and medicinal plants.
There are fields, two hundred sheep, chickens, pigs, geese and ducks...There is also
a water mill, a fish pond, caves, and everything to distract the look and please the
heart....With my literary friends, we took walks day and night, feasted, climbed a
mountain to view the scenery, and sat by the side of the stream.

This visit to the garden resulted in a famous collection of poems, Jingu Shi, or Poems
of the Golden Valley, and launched a long tradition of writing poetry in and about
gardens.[11]

The poet and calligrapher Wang Xizhi (307365) wrote in his excellent calligraphy
the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion introducing a book
recording the event of the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, another famous poetry setting
at a country retreat called the "Orchid Pavilion". This was a park with a meandering
stream. He brought together a group of famous poets, and seated them beside the
stream. Then he placed cups of wine in the stream, and let them float. If the cup
stopped beside one of the poets, he was obliged to drink it and then compose a
poem. The garden of the floating cup (liubei tang), with small pavilions and artificial
winding streams, became extremely popular in both imperial and private gardens.
[10]

The Orchid Pavilion inspired Emperor Yang (604617) of the Sui dynasty to build his
new imperial garden, the Garden of the West, near Hangzhou. His garden had a
meandering stream for floating glasses of wine and pavilions for writing poetry. He
also used the park for theatrical events; he launched small boats on his stream with
animated figures illustrating the history of China.[12]

Tang dynasty (618907), First Golden Age of the Classical Garden[edit]

The Tang dynasty (618907 AD) was considered the first golden age of the classical
Chinese garden. Emperor Xuanzong built a magnificent imperial garden, the Garden
of the Majestic Clear Lake, near Xian, and lived there with his famous concubine,
Consort Yang.[13]

Painting and poetry reached a level never seen before, and new gardens, large and
small, filled the capital city, Chang'an. The new gardens, were inspired by classical

legends and poems. There were shanchi yuan, gardens with artificial mountains and
ponds, inspired by the legend of the isles of immortals, and shanting yuan, gardens
with replicas of mountains and small viewing houses, or pavilions. Even ordinary
residences had tiny gardens in their courtyards, with terracotta mountains and
small ponds.[10]

These Chinese classical gardens, or scholar's gardens (wenren yuan), were inspired
by, and in turn inspired, classical Chinese poetry and painting. A notable example
was the Jante Valley Garden of the poet-painter and civil servant Wang Wei (701
761). He bought the ruined villa of a poet, located near the mouth of a river and a
lake. He created twenty small landscape scenes within his garden, with names such
as the Garden of Magnolias, the Waving Willows, the Kiosk in the Heart of the
Bamboos, the Spring of the Golden Powder, and the View-House beside the Lake. He
wrote a poem for each scene in the garden and commissioned a famous artist, to
paint scenes of the garden on the walls of his villa. After retiring from the
government, he passed his time taking boat trips on the lake, playing the cithare
and writing and reciting poetry.[14]

During the Tang dynasty, plant cultivation was developed to an advanced level, with
many plant species being grown by means of plant introduction, domestication,
transplantation, and grafting.[15] The aesthetic properties of plants were
highlighted, while numerous books on plant classification and cultivation were
published.[15] The capital, Chang'an, was a very cosmopolitan city, filled with
diplomats, merchants, pilgrims, monks and students, who carried descriptions of the
gardens all over Asia. The economic prosperity of the Tang dynasty led to the
increasing construction of classical gardens across all of China.

The last great garden of the Tang dynasty was the Hamlet of the Mountain of the
Serene Spring (Pingquan Shanzhuang), built east of the city of Luoyang by Li Deyu,
Grand Minister of the Tang Empire. The garden was vast, with over a hundred
pavilions and structures, but it was most famous for its collection of exotic-shaped
rocks and plants, which he collected all over China. Rocks of unusual shapes, known
as Chinese Scholars' Rocks, often selected to portray the part of a mountain or
mountain range in a garden scene, gradually became an essential feature of the
Chinese garden.[16]

Song Dynasty (9601279)[edit]

The Lake of the Clarity of Gold, an artificial lake and pleasure garden built by
Emperor Huizong of Song at his capital, Kaifeng

The Blue Wave Pavilion in Suzhou (1044), the oldest extant Song Dynasty Garden

The Master of the Nets Garden in Suzhou (1141) was a model for later scholar's
gardens.
There were two periods of the Song dynasty, northern and southern, and both were
known for the construction of famous gardens. Emperor Huizong (10821135) was
an accomplished painter of birds and flowers. A scholar himself, he integrated
elements of the scholar garden into his grand imperial garden. His first garden,
called The Basin of the Clarity of Gold, was an artificial lake surrounded by terraces
and pavilions. The public was invited into the garden in the spring for boat races
and spectacles on the lake. In 1117 he personally supervised the building of a new
garden. He had exotic plants and picturesque rocks brought from around China for
his garden, particularly the prized rocks from Lake Tai. Some of the rocks were so
large that, in order to move them by water on the grand canal, he had to destroy all
the bridges between Hangzhou and Beijing. In the center of his garden he had
constructed an artificial mountain a hundred meters high, with cliffs and ravines,
which he named Genyue, or "The Mountain of Stability." The garden was finished in
1122. In 1127, Emperor Huizong was forced to flee from the Song capital, Kaifeng,
when it came under attack by the armies of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. When he
returned (as a captive of the Jurchens), he found his garden completely destroyed,
all the pavilions burned and the art works looted. Only the mountain remained.[17]

While the imperial gardens were the best known, many smaller but equally
picturesque gardens were built in cities such as Luoyang. The Garden of the
Monastery of the Celestial Rulers in Luoyang was famous for its peonies; the entire
city came when they were in bloom. The Garden of Multiple Springtimes was
famous for its view of the mountains. The most famous garden in Luoyang was The
Garden of Solitary Joy (Dule Yuan), built by the poet and historian Sima Guang
(10211086). His garden had an area of eight mu, or about 1.5 hectares. In the
center was the Pavilion of Study, his library, with five thousand volumes. To the
north was an artificial lake, with a small island, with a picturesque fisherman's hut.
To the east was a garden of medicinal herbs, and to the west was an artificial
mountain, with a belevedere at the summit to view the surrounding neighborhoods.
Any passer-by could visit the garden by paying a small fee.[18]

After fall of Kaifeng, the capital of the Song dynasty was moved to Lin'an (presentday Hangzhou, Zhejiang). The city of Lin'an soon had more than fifty gardens built
on the shore of the Western Lake. The other city in the province famous for its
gardens was Suzhou, where many scholars, government officials and merchants
built residences with gardens. Some of these gardens still exist today, though most
been much altered over the centuries.

The oldest Suzhou garden that can be seen today is the Blue Wave Pavilion, built in
1044 by the Song dynasty poet Su Shunqing. (10081048). In the Song dynasty, it
consisted of a hilltop viewing pavilion. Other lakeside pavilions were added,
including a reverence hall, a recitation hall, and a special pavilion for watching the
fish. Over the centuries it was much modified, but still keeps its essential plan.

Another Song dynasty garden still in existence is the Master of the Nets Garden in
Suzhou. It was created in 1141 by Shi Zhengzhi, Deputy Civil Service Minister of the
Southern Song government. It had his library, the Hall of Ten Thousand Volumes,
and an adjacent garden called the Fisherman's Retreat. It was extensively
remodeled between 1736 and 1796, but it remains one of the best example of a
Song Dynasty Scholars Garden.[19]

In the city of Wuxi, on the edge of Lake Tai and at the foot of two mountains, there
were thirty four gardens recorded by the Song dynasty historian Zhou Mi (1232
1308). The two most famous gardens, the Garden of the North (Beiyuan) and the
Garden of the South (Nanyuan), both belonged to Shen Dehe, Grand Minister to
Emperor Gaozong (11311162). The Garden of the South was a classic mountainand-lake (shanshui) garden; it had a lake with an Island of Immortality (Penglai dao),
on which were three great boulders from Taihu. The Garden of the South was a
water garden, with five large lakes connected to Lake Taihu. A terrace gave visitors
a view of the lake and the mountains.[20]

Yuan dynasty (12791368)[edit]

The Lion Grove Garden in Suzhou (1342), known for its fantastic and grotesque
rocks
In 1271, Kublai Khan established the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty in China. By 1279, he
annihilated the last resistance of the Song dynasty and unified China under Mongol

rule. He established a new capital on the site of present-day Beijing, called Dadu,
the Great Capital.

The most famous garden of the Yuan dynasty was Kublai Khan's summer palace and
garden at Xanadu. The Venetian traveler Marco Polo is believed to have visited
Xanadu in about 1275, and described the garden this way:

"Round this Palace a wall is built, inclosing a compass of 16 miles, and inside the
Park there are fountains and rivers and brooks, and beautiful meadows, with all
kinds of wild animals (excluding such as are of ferocious nature), which the Emperor
has procured and placed there to supply food for his gerfalcons and hawks, which
he keeps there in mew. Of these there are more than 200 gerfalcons alone, without
reckoning the other hawks. The Khan himself goes every week to see his birds
sitting in mew, and sometimes he rides through the park with a leopard behind him
on his horse's croup; and then if he sees any animal that takes his fancy, he slips his
leopard at it, and the game when taken is made over to

feed the hawks in mew. This he does for diversion."[21]

This brief description later inspired the poem Kubla Khan by the English romantic
poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

When he established his new capital at Dadu, Kublai Khan enlarged the artificial
lakes that had been created a century earlier by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty, and
built up the island of Oinghua, creating a striking contrast between curving banks of
the lake and garden and the strict geometry of what later became the Forbidden
City of Beijing. This contrast is still visible today.[22]

Despite the Mongol invasion, the classical Chinese scholar's garden continued to
flourish in other parts of China. An excellent example was the Lion Grove Garden in
Suzhou. It was built in 1342, and took its name from the collection of fantastic and
grotesque assemblies of rocks, taken from Lake Tai. Some of them were said to look
like the heads of lions. The Kangxi and Qianlong emperors of the Qing dynasty each
visited the garden several times, and used it as model for their own summer
garden, the Garden of Perfect Splendor, at the Chengde Mountain Resort.[23]

In 1368, forces of the Ming dynasty, led by Zhu Yuanzhang, captured Dadu from the
Mongols and overthrew the Yuan dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Yuan palaces
in Dadu to be burned down.

Ming dynasty (13681644)[edit]

Jichang Garden in Wuxi (15061521)

The most famous existing garden from the Ming dynasty is the Humble
Administrator's Garden in Suzhou. It was built during the reign of the Zhengde
Emperor (15061521) by Wang Xianchen, a minor government administrator who
retired from government service and devoted himself to his garden. The garden has
been much altered since it was built, but the central part has survived; a large pond
full of lotus blossoms, surrounded by structures and pavilions designed as
viewpoints of the lake and gardens. The park has an island, the Fragrant Isle,
shaped like a boat. It also makes good use of the principle of the "borrowed view,"
(jiejing) carefully framing views of the surrounding mountains and a famous view of
a distant pagoda.[24]

Another existing garden from the Ming dynasty is the Lingering Garden, also in
Suzhou, built during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (15731620). During the Qing
dynasty, twelve tall limestone rocks were added to the garden, symbolizing
mountains. The most famous was a picturesque rock called the Auspicious CloudCapped Peak, which became a centerpiece of the garden.[24]

A third renowned Ming era garden in Suzhou is the Garden of Cultivation, built
during the reign of the Tianqi Emperor (162127) by the grandson of Wen
Zhengming, a famous Ming painter and calligrapher. The garden is built around a
pond, with the Longevity Pavilion on the north side, the Fry Pavilion on the east side,
a dramatic rock garden on the south, and the creator's study, the Humble House, to
the west.[24]

Garden of Cultivation (1541)

The Humble Administrator's Garden in Suzhou (15061521)

The Lingering Garden in Suzhou (1593), like many Ming dynasty gardens, is filled
with dramatic scholar rocks

Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai (1559)

Qing dynasty (16441912)[edit]

The Marble Boat pavilion in the garden of the Summer Palace in Beijing (1755). After
it was destroyed by an Anglo-French expedition in 1860, the Empress Dowager Cixi
diverted money from the Beiyang Fleet to have it rebuilt.
The Qing dynasty was the last dynasty of China. The most famous gardens in China
during this period were the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace in Beijing.
Both gardens became symbols of luxury and refinement, and were widely described
by European visitors.

Father Attiret, a French Jesuit who became court painter for the Qianlong Emperor
from 1738 to 1768, described the Jade Terrace of the Isle of Immortality in the Lake
of the Summer Palace:

"That which is a true jewel is a rock or island...which is in the middle of this lake, on
which is built a small palace, which contains one hundred rooms or salons...of a
beauty and a taste which I am not able to express to you. The view is admirable...
[25]

Their construction and improvement consumed a large part of the imperial treasury.
Empress Dowager Cixi famously diverted money intended for the modernization of
the Beiyang Fleet and used it to restore the Summer Palace and the marble
teahouse in the shape of boat on Lake Kunming. Both the Summer Palace and Old

Summer Palace were destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion and by punitive
expeditions of European armies during the nineteenth century, but are now
gradually being restored.

In addition to the Old Summer Palace and Summer Palace, between 1703 and 1792
the Qing emperors built a new complex of gardens and palaces in the mountains
200 kilometers northeast of Beijing, to escape the summer heat of the capital. It
was called the Chengde Mountain Resort, and it occupied 560 hectares, with
seventy-two separate landscape views, recreating landscapes in miniature from
many different parts of China.[26] This enormous garden has survived relatively
intact.