Introduction
Hebei Province, 233km (146 miles) NE of Beijing
If you can do only one overnight side trip from Beijing, make it Chengde -- the summer camp of the Qing emperors. Here, in a walled enclosure containing numerous palaces, pavilions, and pagodas as well as a vast hunting park, they escaped Beijing's blazing summer temperatures, entertained delegations from home and abroad, and practiced the mounted military skills which had originally gained them their empire. The design of the resort, built between 1703 and 1794, was shaped by its varied diplomatic functions. Some buildings are plain and undecorated to show visiting tribesmen that the emperors had not lost touch with their roots or been too softened by luxury; others were copies of some of China's most famous and elegant buildings; and some were giant edifices with hints of minority architecture, intended both to show the emperor's sympathy for the traditions of tributary and border-dwelling peoples, and to overawe their emissaries....
more local info
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Bishu Shanzhuang (Mountain Resort for Escaping the Heat)
While the "Winter Palace," as Beijing's Forbidden City was sometimes called, was the creation of the indigenous Ming dynasty, the summer palace...
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- Landmarks
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Xumifushou Miao (Temple of Happiness and Longevity at Mount Sumeru)
Partly inspired by Tashilhunpo in Tibet, this temple was constructed to make the Panchen Lama, number two in the Tibetan religious hierarchy, feel...
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Pule Si (Temple of Universal Joy)
Tibetan advisors were employed in the design of this temple, built to receive annual tributary visits from defeated Mongol tribes. But the most...
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