By Paul S Bryers, September 2016
The Summer Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is located in West Beijing, and is easily accessible by subway. The Palace consists of beautiful buildings, made-made lakes and gardens. The walk along the shore of the main lake offers plenty of shade, either from the avenue of trees or beneath the painted ceiling of the open-sided corridor – the longest such structure in the world. Access to the inside of the Palace buildings is very limited, but their beauty is, in any case, apparent from their external architecture and decoration. There is much talk of the Empress Dowager Cixi in the Palace literature as the Dragon Lady, due to her apparent ruthlessness. I’m not sure she was any worse than any of the Emporers.
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