Chapter 28 Part III Celebrating Festivals and Viewing Lanterns Section 28 Spring Tour to the Summer Palace (1)

Beijing has a history of 800 years.Working people used their industriousness and wisdom to build many large-scale and beautiful palaces, temples and gardens in the suburbs of Beijing, leaving them to our future generations.Among them, the garden building is the largest, the flower and tree pond is the most artistically thoughtful, and the equipment is exquisite. What is also particularly famous in the world is the "Old Summer Palace" built in the western suburbs during the reign of Kangxi and Qianlong 250 years ago.This world-famous large garden was intentionally set on fire after the foreign barbarian army looted all kinds of important and precious cultural relics and all the precious furnishings in thousands of houses in the garden a hundred years ago.The garden was built relatively late, and it was the Summer Palace in the western suburbs.Although some buildings were already in scale during the Qianlong period, the main building complex was only completed 70 years ago.The economic source of building this large garden is tens of millions of taels of silver scraped from the people under the pretext of restoring the national defense navy.After the garden was completed, it was only regarded as the private property of the family of the last dynasty.Although it has been opened after 1911, the ticket is as high as 4 yuan per ticket.According to the prices at that time, ordinary citizens and poor students from various provinces who came to Beijing to study in colleges could only buy a visit ticket for their monthly food expenses.Therefore, apart from foreigners, there are only a very small number of dignitaries and dignitaries who can visit the Summer Palace.Moreover, the two large courtyards on both sides of Paiyun Hall, except one side was occupied by the clan of the Qing Dynasty, and the other side was occupied by Yuan Dagongzi, who encouraged Yuan Shikai to become emperor, was not driven away until after liberation. Only when it truly becomes the public property of the people can the large garden that has been abandoned for half a century be refurbished and gradually restored to its original appearance.The number of visitors to the Summer Palace is proof: in 1949 there were more than 266,800 visitors; in 1955 it reached more than 1,787,000.People who visited the Summer Palace 40 years ago often felt that the garden was too big and too spacious.In fact, there are too few people who can play, so everywhere is always empty.Many places are still very desolate, and wild fox fur can often be found in the back mountain area.Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the main income of the Summer Palace depended on the natural production of the large reed fields in the west of Huxi and Hunan. Without this income, the management office would not be able to pay the salaries of the staff.Although the promenade in the Summer Palace is already a mile long, it is full of people every Sunday. Even if it is doubled and doubled in length, it may still not be enough.

In spring, the flowers and trees of the Summer Palace, such as winter jasmine, magnolia, crabapple, peach blossom, apricot blossom, pear blossom, elm leaf plum, forsythia, and yellow tea, gradually bloom.In addition to thousands of tourists who come to see the flowers every day, there are also many primary and middle school students from suburban schools who go outing in the garden and carry out various activities that are beneficial to the body and mind.Coupled with the fragrance of birds and flowers in the new green leaves full of vitality, the Summer Palace itself looks more beautiful and youthful!

Anyone who visits the Summer Palace can get a lot of help by purchasing a brochure introducing the scenery in the garden at the ticket office.But how can we visit all the important places in the Summer Palace in a relatively economical time?I would like to share my personal experience of living in this big garden in the past few years before and after two summers, and my impression of the buildings and trees in the garden in spring and autumn, as well as the four seasons of the year, the morning and evening of the day, and the different climates. Based on the different impressions obtained, some suggestions for visiting the garden are put forward.

It seems that we can divide the Summer Palace into five or six large units to visit, which takes less time and leaves a deeper impression without being too tiring. The first is the building complex after entering the gate.In addition to the main hall in the middle, this building complex includes the Grand Theater Building to the east, the Leshou Hall to the west, and the Yulan Hall to the front.According to legend, Yulan Hall was the place where Guangxu was imprisoned by Empress Dowager Cixi. The courtyard was isolated from other buildings and became a small unit of its own.People who come here can also understand the history of internal conflicts in the late Qing Dynasty in the decade before Xinhai from the explanatory sign at the entrance.If you don't know how to go around the corridor to the north when you visit the Grand Theater, you have to go back to the east.This high and three-story stage is somewhat related to the development history of modern Chinese opera.Seventy years ago, Tan Xinpei, Yang Xiaolou, Sun Juxian, the most outstanding actors of Chinese Peking Opera, etc., all performed on this stage.The stage is divided into three floors, and there is also a particularly spacious and tidy backstage and basement, where various organ sets are prepared.For example, when performing "Monkey King Havoc in Heaven" or "The Legend of the White Snake·Water Man Jinshan Temple", the stage will spray water and smoke when necessary.Actors can also use technical equipment to rise together into the air, or sneak into the ground, invisible and elusive.The stage area is much larger than the theater hall, because these plays are mainly performed for the emperor and a small number of nobles and bureaucrats (it is said that among the Han ministers, Meng Xu went to the garden to spend the summer, and in the late Qing Dynasty, Qu Hong, the military minister, was the only one. ).There are more than a hundred actors and actresses on stage, and there may be only twenty or thirty people watching the play except Lafayette Nala.The society is developing, and seventy years have passed, and the emperor's husband and these famous artists have turned into dust.The unique skills of artists who are loved by the people continue to live in people's memory, and the younger generations are eager to learn and develop.From the Grand Theater Building to the west, you can reach the Le Shoutang, which is the place where Empress Dowager Cixi celebrated her birthday sixty years ago.In the furnishings of the Summer Palace, there are many vulgar and vulgar places of semi-colonialization in the 19th century. Most of them were made by Sheng Xuanhuai, who was in charge of foreign affairs in Guangdong, Shanghai and other treaty ports at that time, to flatter and celebrate birthdays.There are also some that are a stepping stone for foreign invasion of China.There is also a kind of yellow-green glazed ink-painted flowers and birds in the late Qing Dynasty, with wisteria and okra as the theme, and large and small official kiln porcelain with the inscription "Heaven, Earth, One Family Spring" written horizontally, which was also produced in this period.The courtyard of Le Shoutang is spacious. Although the building is not particularly tall, it looks bold and generous.In this courtyard and a small courtyard to the west, magnolias and crabapples bloom extraordinarily lushly in spring.

The second part is mainly composed of the whole promenade, cloud-dispelling hall and Buddhist incense pavilion, surrounded by buildings on the left and right.This is the most noticeable part of the entire garden building at present, and it is also the essence of the national architecture.There are many small building units, or a courtyard house, or a group of houses, all of which are arranged very carefully, with flowers and trees enclosing corridors, each with its own ingenuity.But speaking from the whole or in part, some of the buildings in this complex are only for scenery, some are suitable for close viewing, and some are only suitable for distant viewing.If you want to get an overall impression in a nutshell, you have to rent a small cruise ship, row the boat straight to the center of the lake, and then turn around and look at the building complex to understand the intention of the entire design.Because there is not much space behind Paiyun Hall and the mountain is too steep, many buildings are inevitably crowded together.For example, the Qiongdao Chunyin Zhuanlunzang in the east, and another small building complex in the west, including the Tongting Pavilion, are a bit out of place.The Foxiang Pavilion on the front and the back is even more crowded. Although thanks to the clever construction workers' idea of ​​dividing the road to the Foxiang Pavilion into two sides and circling upwards in a zigzag pattern, the terrain is still too tight.The buildings in the middle reaches of the painting, which are a little further to the west, are also particularly exquisite and small due to the narrow ground.You have to go to the lake to see the intention of the construction workers. At that time, this part of the building was originally made to match the scenery of the whole mountain.When the boat arrives at the center of the lake and looks south, the Dragon King Temple and the Seventeen-hole Hongqiao in a mirror-like blue wave are very cordially waving to tourists: "Come, come, come, this place is also very interesting." Looking at Wanwan from here Shoushan, although the distance is a bit far, but the unreasonable impression of those buildings is also ignored.

The third part is the building complex on the isolated island in the center of the lake, and the Dragon King Temple is the main body.The 17-hole white stone rainbow bridge that connects the Dragon King Temple and Liuyin Road rests in the vast expanse of blue waves all year round. The background is a clear blue sky unique to Beijing. It really deserves to be called an "artificial rainbow".Whether you look at this white stone bridge from a distance, look up close, or turn the boat to the bottom and look up, or stand on the bridge and look around, it is satisfying.It used to be a small airy hall with no decorations on all sides. The wood seemed to be made of solid precious ironwood, but after painting, it became more vulgar.There is also a copper bull on the bank not far from the east of the bridge, which was created by copper casting workers two hundred years ago.It's just too easy to arouse the childlike innocence of tourists, who just want to ride for fun, so they are covered with wire cages, which can't help but make people feel uncomfortable.

The fourth part is the area around the back mountain, where there are many ruined buildings. Forty years ago, there were several painted archways, which were probably all demolished after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.There are not many well-preserved houses. It is obvious that they have not been restored after being burned and destroyed by several historical events.From the ruins of Suzhou Street by the Houhu Bridge, to a series of palace foundations up the mountain, to the two stupas in the middle of the mountain, according to legend, they were also destroyed when the Old Summer Palace was burned.After crossing the bridge, there is a mountain gate in the back mountain. It used to be the main entrance to the park, but it was changed to the back gate after Gengzi. It is not far from Qinglongqiao Town.The most important thing at the moment is that there are several winding small mountain roads, which are quiet and secluded, and are most suitable for walking.There are also several white stone bridges of different forms and newly repaired red railing wooden bridges. The lake water passes under the bridges in twists and turns. The environment is very quiet, and it is very interesting to row a boat.