Hall for Listening to Orioles (Tingli Guan) sits at the southern slope of the Longevity Hill (Wanshou Shan), and west to the Gate of Dispelling Clouds (Paiyun Gate) in the Summer Palace. It is built with gable-sloped footsteps at the outside, and decorated with an elegant and demure three-meter-wide-square Chinese character, “Shou” (meaning longevity), on the wall facing the gate. The halls around the courtyard are connected by veranda, with a grand opera house sitting in the middle, smaller than the Great Stage of Dehe Garden.

This was where the Emperor Qianlong accompanied the Empress Dowager to appreciate opera songs and music. Built beside mountains and a lake, it boasts a beautiful landscape. As people in ancient times often compared pleasant music to the chirps of orioles (pronouncing “Huang Li” in Chinese), this place is named “Ting Li Guan”.

Address: The Summer Palace, Haidian District