Chengde Mountain Resort(承德避暑山庄), Ligong (离宫) or Rehe Xinggong (热河行宫) was the place where emperors of the Qing Dynasty once spent their summers and dealt with political affairs. Its political purpose was to comfort and unite the ethnic minorities on the borders and consolidate the uniformity of the whole country.

The summer resort was initially constructed in 1703 during Emperor Kangxi’s reign in the Qing Dynasty and accomplished in the 50th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (Qianlong was the grandson of Kangxi). The construction of the resort lasted for 89 years and the resort occupied an area of 5,640,000 square meters. The wall surrounding the whole resort is as long as 10,000 meters and the resort is so far the largest classical imperial garden of its kind left in China.

Chengde Mountain Resort was once the summer palace of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty. This scenic spot is about 180 km away from downtown Beijing and consists of palaces and chambers of the past emperors, imperial gardens and magnificent temples. The entire layout can be generally divided into two parts: palace area and scenery area which is further divided into three parts: lakes, plains and mountains. In there resort each visitor can view the 72 scenic spots personally appointed by Emperor Kangxi and Qianlong. This resort is among the top three classical buildings in China, and the most stunning feature of it is there are gardens in the hills and vice verse.

In China there are four famous gardens and Chengde Summer Resort is among them, and other three gardens are the Summer Palace in Beijing, and Zhuozheng and Liuyuan Gardens in Suzhou.

Opening hours: 8:00 - 7:30

Admission: 145 yuan from April 1 to Oct. 31; 90 yuan from Nov. 1 to March 31

Suggested time for travel: 4 - 6 hours

Location: Chengde, Hebei Province

Best time to visit: Summer

Getting there: Take Train No. K7704/K7705 at Beijing Railway Station to Chengde Station (6 hours), and get on Bus No. 5 or 15 and get off at Bi Shu Shan Zhuang Zhan (避暑山庄站).