First up is the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace of course is the place that was made by the emporors of China for their vacation retreat. And yeah, I said "made" not built. That massive lake? Manmade. That hill with the building on top? Manmade. Benefits of having unlimited slave labor? You're very own to order summer residence on a lake where there is no lake.
I'm going to start out by saying that for all of that, the summer palace was probably the place we visited that I enjoyed the least. Though, to be fair that wasn't because it wasn't impressive, but because it was probably the place where it was the most hot, and most humid of anywhere we went. Plus, it was packed. Hot, humid, and crowded, no thank you. On top of that, the visit here felt... rushed. We never got to take a boat out onto the water or go visit the part of the palace that was up on the hill. Small things perhaps, but, it all added up to the least exciting place to visit.
The coolest thing about the place though was its history associated with the Dragon Lady. The Dragon Lady was the western name for the Dowager Empress of China that ruled in the late 19th century. Supposedly she came to power as a favored concubine, and then when the Emperor died, she managed to maneuver herself into regent for her son, the new emperor. And then when he died at a young age, she again managed to set up another puppet emperor. That being said it's hard to determine if she was a good ruler or a bad ruler based on what was told. Some blame her for the fall of the Chinese imperial house, as right after her rule the imperial house collapsed. (Note: watch the move the last emperor of china). On the other hand she was a powerful ruler that ruled during an important part of history, and helped establish many relationships with the West.
There is lots to be said about her, but alas with respect to the Summer Palace, this was where she would keep the Emperor while she was ruleing. Making it his prison more or less. At the same time we were shown where The Dragon Lady's rooms were, and we were told, but weren't able to go through, a secret tunnel that connects her room to the head Eunuch room, who they theorize wasn't really a eunuch....
Anyways, here be pictures! Again in slide show form....
Next up was the Temple of Heaven.
This was the place where the Emperor would go every year to pray, to whatever God he prayed to, for good harvest and good rule and the like. Not much more to say about this. The whole compound, mainly including the grounds, was larger than the Forbidden City. The buildings themselves significantly smaller.The really cool thing about the Temple of Heaven was just that the building, as seen in the background in the picture above, was made out of wood, without using a single nail. It is considered the pinnacle of this Chinese wood building technique where they don't use nails. It really was very nice, and quite beautiful. Supposedly it is the only building in China with that three tiered roof design.
