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1997
Route in China (CHINA - Beijing)
Bec2004-09-19 16:26:59
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Beijing
For the sake of security, the Emperors rarely came out of the inner sanctum of the forbidden city where they lived a cloistered life surrounded by wives, concubines and eunuch attendants. They had no first hand experience of the world they ruled but were kept informed by a constant flow of reports and petitions. Their seclusion in the Forbidden City was somewhat alleviated when they moved to their Summer Palace north west of Beijing.
This gate controled access to the second Summer Palace from the eastern shore of Kunming Lake.
The first Summer Palace dating from the 13th century was looted and razed by Anglo-French troops in 1860. The decadent Dowager Empress Ci Xi then expended scarce resources to build a second Summer Palace and extensive gardens around Kunming Lake, a few kilometers to the east.
This new palace also had to be rebuilt after being torched by allied troops during the Boxer war in 1900.
Now the Summer Palace and Kunming Lake complex is just another park where European tourists stroll and go for a cruise in these dragon boats with very little thought about its past in colonial times.
Today's Chinese also give little thought to the bad times when their country was partitioned between European colonial powers. Most of them have also forgotten the difficult years of communist orthodoxy which culminated in the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.
Unlike their ex-soviet counterparts who look to the past with sad nostalgia, modern Chinese are positive thinking and are feel certain that their children will have a better life than their own. They are hard working but they do take the time to enjoy themselves as this group does, dancing in a night market close to the Jing Hua Hotel.
Another of Beijing's historically important landmarks is the Lama Temple (Yonghe Lamasery) the south gate of which is shown here. Below left, the Wanfuge pavilion houses a
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See photographs from:
China Gallery
