One of the Imperial Buildings at the Mountain Resort 避暑山庄 in Chengde 承德
For all the touble I went through just trying to get here, I actually didn’t know much about the Mountain Resort 避暑山庄 at Chengde 承德. Sure, it is an imperial rest house but what really makes it so special? Unlike the more famous landmarks in China, I have never heard of this place. I was only going through the list of world heritage sites in China when I stumbled into this one. It was only two hours away from Beijing, so I figured I might as well pay it a visit.
A Look at One of the Imperial Study Rooms in the Mountain Resort 避暑山庄
I was totally unprepared for this visit as I was astounded to know how large the area was. The emperors of Qing had this place built as a miniature reproduction of China. There were a few spots here which were copied from other places in China, since it would be too far for the emperor to visit the real thing. Just getting here from Beijing is already a chore by bus. I wonder how long the emperors took to get here back then. For starters, the Mountain Resort is built with two general sections, the lowlands with lakes and rivers and the highlands with mountains. I decided to explore the lowlands first. The maps were a bit far in between and with me having lost my research material, could only rely on these maps.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/MountainResort.kmz} zoom=19]