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 the Qing Dynasty spent summer and handled political mandate. It lies in a long-narrow valley along the bank of Wulie River, 230 kilometers from Beijing. Its construction began in 1703, through 3 emperors' effort of the Qing Dynasty: Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, ended after some 90 years. Compared with Beijing Forbidden City, 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 Kangxi found Chengde was an ideal place with good local topography, pleasant weather and beautiful scenery, especially on the right way to the cradle of the 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 Kangxi's enthronement), the construction began. In 1713, Kangxi 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 China's ancestors.
The Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples in Chengde was included in “the World Heritage list” in 1994 (No.200-011) according to the selection criteria for cultural heritage C. |
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