Beijing Parks - Part 2

My intention for Part 2 of Beijing parks was that I would present a short overview of each park, highlight some new parks, and of course include photos! However...

As I was walking in a park one day

On a very hazy day in May

I fell off a raft, and injured my calf ...

Resulting in my park report delay!

So instead I will give you some historical trivia and tidbits that will remain in your memory and help to identify some parks, as you wait for the complete listing in Part 3 -- next month.

Inside the 2nd Ring Road

Some ingredients of a great park!

800-year-old Beihai Park originally was part of the Forbidden Gardens or West Garden. This large area was the private pleasure garden of Chinese rulers during many dynasties. Thought to be the site of Kublai Khan's court, a hall at the southern entrance protects an enormous jade jar that supposedly held the Khan's wine. Empress Dowager Cixi had a miniature railway built between Zhongnanhai and what is now known as "Studio of Quieting the Mind." It is rumored that after the engine exploded, eunuchs pulled the train along the tracks!

In the center of Beihai is a huge Tibetan-style white pagoda, symbolizing Buddhism and the consolidation of the rule of the Qing Dynasty. Juliet Bredon describes the pagoda as -- "the palladium of the Middle Kingdom; a mighty monument glowing like a phantom lotus bud in the sunshine."

Beihai Park, being half covered with water, used to be the site of Bannermans' skating parties; and they say that the ice bubbles on the lake were smoothed with hot irons! 

Beihai holds seasonal displays from the earliest lotus blossoms, summer's hundred flowers to winter ice carvings and brilliant lanterns after New Year's festival.

Yuanmingyuan Memorial.

Housanhai or Shichahai (referring to ten Buddhist temples that once were along the shores) is not actually a park. However throughout history, its popularity as a place of restful pleasure begs that I include it in this article. The three back lakes have many nicknames but Ming history tells us, the one due north of Beihai Park was named Shicha, the next long and narrow lake that you enter by passing under Yindingqiao (Silver Ingot Bridge) was called Houhai and the third was called Jingye or Jiushuitan, sometimes also called Western Lake. Apparently the horses of the imperial stables were ritually washed in Shichahai; and a Buddhist exorcism ritual included burning paper boats and floating lanterns on the lake.

From the bridge, Houhai resembles a silver finger pointing westward at the Western Hills glowing crimson in the setting sun.

"Gazing at the mountains from the Silver Ingot."

Jingshan Park, now known as Coal Hill or Prospect Hill Park, used to be a hillock heaped with coal during the Yuan Dynasty. During the Ming, the mud and silt collected from the moat around the Forbidden City was piled on the hillock, and a hill called Wansuishan was formed with splendid views over the city and beyond.  Wansuishan was a private imperial park and it was here that the last Ming Emperor, Chongzhen, reportedly hanged himself on a locust tree to avoid capture by the troops of the peasant leader Li Zicheng. It is written "he fled in his nightshirt, a single borrowed slipper, his hair flying and without his crown, hands covered in the blood of his concubine and princesses, and bemoaning the fact that he was alone as he sacrificed himself."

Jingshan was rumored to have been an idle playground for philandering eunuchs and coquettish maids and ladies, and it was there this verse was penned.

"Like floating clouds her silken robes,

Like swaying willow boughs her grace.

But may I even dare compare,

The dazzling sunshine to her face."

Jingshan was opened as a public park in 1949 and has numerous flower gardens, hundreds of varieties of trees, many beautiful pavilions and halls. Winter is especially lovely in Jingshan Park. If you are around during a snowfall, head for the top of the hill; the views of the Forbidden City's golden rooftops laced with freshly fallen snow are awesome and rare!

Studio of Quieting the Mind in the Beihai Park.

Zhongshan Park, to the west of the Tiananmen rostrum, was originally the site of a temple, and was later part of the imperial pleasure grounds. During the Ming Dynasty, the Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain was built; and the area later became the first public park in Beijing. It was frequented by the wealthy, well-dressed and well-educated society who liked to hobnob on the ancient grounds near the Forbidden City. The lovely area has memorable gardens and cypress trees that are over 1,000 years old. Try to find the "embrace of the scholar tree and the cypress." You can discover quiet areas to read or contemplate by straying north or east of the altar.

Working People's Cultural Palace, formerly Taimiao, is symmetrically east of Zhongshan Park. It was the Great Imperial Ancestral Temple for China's emperors, and was located in the most auspicious location -- the southeast quarter of the Imperial City. Built in the early Ming, the temple grounds are laid out with lovely paths lined with ancient trees and flowerbeds. Stories tell us the park has always been a nesting place for crows. Hence the expression "At the time the crows call ..." replaced "At dawn ..." for Beijing people. This park has very quiet corners to rest in.

Tiantan, or the Temple of Heaven, was built during the Ming in 1420, and was the altar where the Emperor went twice a year to pray for good harvest and fine rain. The ceremony included sacrifice, much praying and ritual. The gardens surrounding the buildings are dotted with ancient trees, pools and flower gardens. It was a place of ceremony that was a cornerstone of imperial rule, symbolizing the Emperor's close relationship to the "Supreme Ruler of the Universe." The main building, called the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, is recognized as one of the architectural wonders of the world. Supported entirely by its own ingenious puzzle of beams, the structure has no nails, cement or other joinery aids. Cosmological representations of seasons, months, divisions of time, and constellations combine in this circular building -- a symbol of Heaven.

It is said that Beijing wakes up in Tiantan. The Chinese people believe the places selected by the Emperor, in which he would perform sacred rites, must be the most perfect places under Heaven. And so, early morning finds many solitary devotees of qigong practicing in the heavily wooded parkland. Throughout the day old men meet to play checkers and card games, walk their birds and enjoy the music of various "buskers." And of course there are the throngs of tourists who tour the temples, the famous echo wall and souvenir shops. Look for the bronze statue holding a sign with the "Rules of the Fast." It is said that the statue is modeled after a Tang Dynasty official who was so bold that he pointed out the Emperor's faults!

Daguanyuan, Grand View Garden, was once the south imperial vegetable garden during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It fell to ruin and finally, in 1984, a proposal was put forth to use the area to build a set for a film depicting the famous ancient novel A Dream of Red Mansions. A magnificent mansion complete with parks, courtyards, ponds, pavilions, bridges and so on was constructed to exactly replicate the imperial villa described in the novel. It later was opened to the public and is a wonderful, dreamy place to visit, especially if you are familiar with the tale.

"Enfolding hills and streams laid out with skill-

What labor went to build this pleasure ground!

For these, the finest sights of earth and heaven,

No fitter name than 'Grand View' can be found."

- from A Dream of Red Mansions

Taoranting Park originally was a temple on relatively high ground. During the Qing Dynasty it was a favorite drinking place of scholars who gathered together to write poetry.

"Let us wait until the chrysanthemums are golden

 and our home-brewed wine matured,

 then with us all shall be intoxication and joy."

 -Bai Juyi

Taoranting was a large wooded place where the common people were freely allowed to go. The area's chequered history includes stories of hangings, gang hideouts and suicides. Later it became the location of secret meetings and political discussions.

Today Taoranting has been transformed into a park that somewhat resembles the exaggerated descriptions of those inebriate Qing scholars.

Inside the 3rd Ring Road

Zizhuyuan, known as Purple Bamboo Park, is lovely. Meandering bridges crisscross the lakes that once were a reservoir for Beijing's water supply. Situated with a river running along the northern edge, Zizhuyuan was the site of an imperial resting place en route to the Summer Palace. During one period the area was used as growing fields. Now the park is renowned for lush bamboo groves of many varieties and is a quiet, shady place to spend a lazy day.

Ditan, Ritan, Yuetan are well-known parks in the north, east and west directions from the Forbidden City. Originally all were altars for sacrificial ceremonies to the earth, and to the Gods of the sun and the moon. 

"In Rivers Ju and Qi

Fish in warrens we see.

There are sturgeons large and small,

Mudfish, carp we enthral

For temple sacrifice

That we may be blessed twice."

-Book of Songs

With rich history as its soul, each park has its own charm and has become the backyard of local people for exercise, chatting with friends, renewing good health. 

Dongwuyuan, commonly known as the Beijing Zoo, was once the private manor of a Ming imperial family. During the Qing it became a private garden villa of a kinsman, later an experimental farm and then the private zoo of Empress Dowager Cixi. Wanshengyuan as it was named, was filled with animals and birds collected in Germany as gifts by a Shanxi viceroy. There is a museum containing the stuffed remains of most of those animals.

Today it is the largest zoo in China and its location in the western part of the city is accessible to all by bus and subway. A winter ramble through the zoo is pleasant as it is filled with trees, and the lake offers winter refuge for hundreds of varieties of exotic ducks and geese.

Yuyuan Lake Park is also called Diaoyutai. Diaoyutai was a pleasure spot of the Emperor as far back as the Jin, and a favorite fishing spot of a few. Later, during the Ming, it became the personal villa of a nobleman. During the last days of the Empire, Puyi gave the park to his teacher, Chen Baochen, as a gift! It was a splendid natural park.

"Grass grows lushly on Yuyuan Lake,

The gurgling spring flows into distant streams,

Weeping willows line the dikes before the darkening hills,

Peach blossoms float on the water at sunset."

Inside the 5th Ring Road

Yiheyuan, or the Summer Palace as we often call it, was first built in 1151 as the "Gold Mountain Travelling Palace," a short stay palace for the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty. Afterwards it was expanded many times. The meaning of the name is rest and harmony. During one period in the 17th century, the entire park was taken over by a scallywag eunuch named Wei Zhongxian.

Wengshan Lake was the first man-made Beijing reservoir and later was enlarged and renamed Kunming Lake. The Summer Palace became the private property of Emperor Puyi who opened it to the public with an exorbitant entrance fee. In 1924 Yiheyuan was taken over by the Republican government and was open to the public for an entrance fee of one piece of silver. At a value of a few hundred bags of wheat flour, the fee ensured that admittance was limited to all but noblemen and government officials. 

Today Yiheyuan covers a vast area and is one of the most popular destinations for local people and visitors. The parklands are dotted with temples, ancient halls, pavilions, hillocks, and streams, thousands of trees, flowerbeds and rockeries. Kunming Lake is very large with islands connected to shore by ancient marble bridges.

"I knew now that I had felt the soul of the Summer Palace.

...In this holy solitude all that is eternal sinks away."

-- Henri Borel

 You can enjoy romantic boat rides or boisterous tours. The covered walkway is an interesting gallery of paintings, many depicting well-known folk tales of China.  Suzhou Creek is a delightful canal complete with ancient style shops, teahouses and eateries. 

Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace as some call it, actually includes three gardens, one of which bears the same name. Translated as the Garden of Perfect Splendor, the vast lakes, gardens and forested areas were favorite destinations of most of the imperial family. Legend tells us, in one of the north lakes Emperor Qianlong discovered a giant clam that held a magic pearl the size of a bull's eye.  The pearl was set into Qianlong's crown and whenever he put it on his head, he became as light as a feather and walked in the air! So started the tradition of pearls set in the hats of court officials, the pearl's size denoting the official's rank.

During the early 1700's, in the reign of Emperor Kangxi, replicas of Western style palaces were constructed at great expense in a northern area of the gardens. The beauty of Yuanmingyuan was unmatched.

"...Calm water, grasses unconcerned.

At sunset, when birds cry in the wind,

Petals are falling like a girl's robe long ago."

-Du Mu

During the late 1800's, Yuanmingyuan was destroyed beyond recognition.

Today much of Yuanmingyuan still lies in ruins. The stories of the destruction of the palaces and gardens are still controversial, fascinating to say the least. Exploring is thought provoking and fanciful. Wandering through woods, discovering remains of exquisitely carved bridges, end pieces and roof tiles from ancient buildings excites anyone. A photographer's dream, a children's wonderland, an escape that you surely will enjoy!

Outside the 5th Ring Road

Xiangshan, or Fragrant Hills Park, is a popular destination during all seasons. In the countryside west of Beijing, it was the site of the Xiangshan Temple and a traveling lodge for the Emperor. Renowned for forests of fiery red Smoke trees in the autumn, the hills are covered with fragrant blossoming trees in spring and elegant evergreens throughout the winter.

"The red leaves of the Western Hills,

Become even redder as the frost thickens."