Brief Introduction
The Mountain Resort is also called Chengde LiGong or ReHe Palace,
which is located in the northern center of Chengde city, a place
where the emperors of Qing Dynasty spent summer and handled
political mandate. It lies in a long-narrow valley along the
bank of Wulie River, 230kilometers from Beijing. Its construction
began in 1703, through 3 emperors¨ effort of Qing Dynasty: Kanghsi,
Yongzheng and Qianlong, ended after some 90 years. Compared
with Beijing Zijin Cheng, the Mountain Resort is relatively
simple and elegant with its unique nature of the mountain village.
It is based on Chengde¨s natural landscape and adapted characteristics
of Jiangnan scenery, now the largest ancient imperial palace
in China.
On the way northward to inspect his land, Emperor Kanghsi
found Changde was an ideal place with good local topography,
pleasant weather and beautiful scenery, especially on the
right way to the cradle of Qing Dynasty, really an entrance
to the emperor¨s hometown. Right here, the emperor could easily
control the whole China inside Shanhaiguan Pass as well as
handling every part of Mongolia, so Rehe XingGong was decided
to be built on this land. In 1703 (the 42nd year after Kanghsi¨s
enthronement), the construction began. In 1713, Kanghsi 36
Scenes and the enclosing wall were completed. Its construction
stopped during Yongzheng ruling period. The construction was
resumed in 1741 and in 1792 the Mountain Resort was completely
finished with the added Qianlong 36 Scenes and the outlying
temples. Covering 564 hectares, the Mountain Resort is a unique
royal garden with magnificent scale, a precious landscape
architectural masterpiece left by our ancestors.
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