Seventeen-Arch Bridge

Founded in the period of Emperor Qianlong and rebuilt in the period of Emperor Guangxu, Seventeen-Arch Bridge spans between the Kuoru Pavilion on the eastern dike and the Nanhu Island in the Kunming Lake. It, 150m long and 8m wide, can be rated as the biggest bridge in China's gardens. This bridge has 17 arches in total, so it is called as Seventeen-Arch Bridge. In the 17 arches, the biggest arch in the middle is just the "ninth" one from either side, and then the ones, turning smaller one by one, on two sides are arranged symmetrically. The stone carvings on the bridge are very exquisite and elegant, and each bridge railing's columns are engraved with stone lions with different facial expressions, totaling 544 lions, what's more, there is a stone-carved beast at the bridgehead, looking vivid. A bronze ox was located to the east of the bridge. With the arches of different size, the bridge deck has a certain gradient and looks like a bow.

The Long Corridor

The long corridor is located in the southern foot of the Longevity Hill, with its frontispiece confronting the Kunming Lake, north leaning to the Longevity Hill, east leading from the Gate for Greeting the Moon (Yao Yue Men), and west stopping at the Marble Boat, a landmark lakeside pavilion. With a total length of 728 meters, and a capacity of 273 rooms, it is recognized as the world's longest promenade, and was listed in the "Guinness book of world records" in 1992. Four octagonal-eave pavilions symbolizing spring, summer, autumn and winter are built in the middle of the corridor. Each square beam along the corridor is painted. There are altogether more than 14000 pictures, including landscape, flowers, birds, fish, insects, and figures allusions. Many of the images are the views facsimiled by the emperor Qianlong when during his southern touring. Most of the figure paintings are derived from stories in the classical Chinese literary masterpieces: A Dream of Red Mansions, Journey to the West, All Men Are Brothers, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Dark Tales and the Apotheosizing Tales. Therefore, the corridor is also an art gallery.

Longevity Hill

Longevity Hill, located in the central part of the Summer Palace, integrates the court function, religious function and landscape function. Starting from the middle wharf on the north shore of Kunming Lake, the hill orderly passes through nine levels: Yunhui Yuyu Archway, Gate of Dispelling Clouds, Golden Water Bridge, Second Palace Gate, Hall of Dispelling Clouds, Hall of Moral Glory, Tower of Buddhist Incense, Ream of Multitudinous Fragrance, and Sea of Wisdom Temple, forming a vertical central axis from the water surface to the top of the mountain.

Tower of Buddhist Incense

The Tower of Buddhist Incense is built on a 21-meter high stone foundation half way up the Longevity Hill, high standing on the ridge of the Hill. The 41-meter-high tower is an octagonal, 3-storied and quadruple-eaved wood-constructed Pavilion with eight big ironwood pillars supporting the tower. It is the excellent one of classical architecture. It was burned down by the Anglo-French Allied Forces in 1860 and rebuilt in its original style in 1891 with a cost of 780,000 taels of silver and finished in 1894. It was the biggest reconstruction project in the Summer Palace. A "Guiding Buddha" was offered in the Tower for burning incense by the imperial family.

Suzhou Street

Suzhou Street, originally trading street, was built in the period of Emperor Qianlong by reference to the water towns south of Yangtze River and was a special street dedicated for sightseeing by emperors and queens in the Qing Dynasty. It was burnt by the Anglo-French Allied Force in 1860 and rebuilt on the ruins in 1990. The street is more than 300m long and along the banks, there are more than 60 shops, including tea houses, restaurants, pharmacies, money shops, hat shops, jewelry shops and dessert shops, centrally reflecting the commercial and cultural atmosphere of the Yangtze River Delta in the 18th century.

Marble Boat

It is also called as Qingyan Boat. It is near the western foot of the Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace and was first erected in 1755 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. The body was made from a base of large stone blocks with total length of 36m, which is a famous treasure above the water in the Summer Palace. The Chinese-style superstructure was destroyed by the Anglo-French Allied Forces. It was restored in 1893 under the order of the Empress Dowager Cixi. In this restoration, a superstructure was designed which incorporated elements of European architecture. Taking the meaning of the quiet river and peaceful sea, it was called as Qingyan Boat.

Tower of Literary Prosperity

Founded in the period of Emperor Qianlong, Tower of Literary Prosperity is located in the north end of the eastern embankment of Kunming Lake and to the southeast of Pavilion of Heralding Spring in the Summer Palace. It was a 3-story tower at first and was rebuilt into a two-story tower during the reign of Guangxu Emperor. The name of Tower of Literary Prosperity means prospering literature. Located to the east of the Tower of Literary Prosperity, Gallery of Literary Prosperity is the biggest and highest-grade cultural artifacts exhibition hall. The gallery contains six thematic exhibition rooms, exhibiting bronzeware, jadeware, chinaware, handicrafts made of gold, silver, bamboo, wood, ivory, horn and lacquer, furniture, paintings, calligraphy, ancient books, enamels, clocks and other miscellaneous items.

Eastern Palace Gate

The Eastern Palace Gate was named Great Palace Gate when the Sumer Palace bearing the name of Qingyi Garden. It faces the east, with a gold-lettered plaque engraved "Summer Palace" after the fashion of Guangxu Emperor's writing hanging over the doorhead, 9 gold-plating round nails both horizontally and perpendicularly on each door, and four decorative cylinders. There was sloping footsteps in front of the gate originally. On May 24, 1937, a block of stepping-stones with dragon-design engraving was removed here from the ruins of Anyou Palace in the Old Summer Palace, and settled down in the center of steps. On each side of the gate, a pair of bronze lions squat on white marble sumeru foundations, the female on the left and the male on the right. There is a suspended peak cover doors on the right and left of the gate respectively. In Qing Dynasty, the emperor and queen entered through the main door in the middle, and others through side doors on both sides.