This summer's sweltering heat, think of how the ancient people faced the sweltering heat? According to historical records, the ancients had their own good way to cool off. There are both ice extraction methods and precipitation methods. After the Qing Dynasty entered the Customs, as a dynasty established by a northern tribe, there were many places for the Qing Dynasty's royal family to cool off, but the Chengde Mountain Resort was the main place for the Qing Dynasty to absorb the heat. The summer resort was built by Kangxi and accompanied the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Why did the Qing Dynasty not go to the sea or the north to find a summer place, but used Chengde as a summer retreat?
For military training
The construction of the summer resort in the Qing Dynasty was determined by the Kangxi Emperor, and when the summer resort was built, it was at the time when Wu Sangui launched the "San Fan Rebellion". The Chengde Mountain Resort was gradually built during the turbulent years of the Qing Dynasty.
Chengde was originally only a palace in the Qing Dynasty, and after Kangxi became emperor, although he quelled the "Rebellion of the Three Domains" and unified the whole country. However, in the previous wars of the Qing army, Kangxi found that the Qing army had lost the "tiger and wolf" wind outside the Guan, and the combat effectiveness was weakened.
Kangxi was an emperor with a sense of distress, and in the face of the weakening of the Qing army's combat effectiveness, he decided to build a hunting ground to improve the combat effectiveness of the Qing army through hunting, so he chose Chengde, which is closer to Beijing, as the royal hunting ground.
Therefore, the original positioning of Chengde was Kangxi's military training ground, but there must always be a place to eat and live to train troops, so the Kangxi Emperor began to build a palace in Chengde. Kangxi built 12 palaces, of which Chengde was only one of them.
The construction of the Chengde Palace began in the forty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty and was divided into two phases, the forty-second year of the Kangxi Dynasty to the fifty-eighth year of the Kangxi Dynasty was the ground-breaking stage, during which according to Kangxi's ideas, artificial lakes were excavated and some islands were also created. After more than ten years of construction, the palace began to take shape.
The second phase of the Chengde Palace was built during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, and was mainly built and repaired, and the functions of the Chengde Palace were more perfect. The Chengde Mountain Resort formed an important place for the Qing Dynasty to train troops and handle administration, equivalent to the "second Forbidden City", and its status was very important.
In addition to the Yongzheng Emperor, starting from the Kangxi Emperor, many emperors of the Qing Dynasty trained troops and hunted here, handled government affairs, and cooled off.
Consolidation of border defenses
In addition to being a military training place of the Qing Dynasty and a place for the imperial family to cool off, chengde mountain resort is not only used for summer, but is used by the Qing Dynasty all year round. The establishment of the Chengde Palace in the Qing Dynasty also has an important strategic significance in it.
Judging from the geographical location of Chengde, Chengde is close to Mongolia, although it is not a border defense of the Qing Dynasty. However, after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it was already wary of the Mongol tribes. The Mongols have submitted to the Qing Dynasty, but some Mongol tribes did not obey the Qing Dynasty, judging from the Kangxi quelling of the rebellion of Dzungar and others, after the Qing Dynasty entered the Customs, the powerful Mongol tribes have always been eyeing the Qing Dynasty.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it still used the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Beijing's stability has benefited from the stability of the north, and if the north is unstable, it will be difficult for Beijing to hold on. Therefore, the Kangxi Emperor realized this, and he nominally chose Chengde as a place for military training and summer spending, and in fact the imperial power of the Qing Dynasty was further moved north, which could effectively deal with the disobedient tribes in the north and consolidate the northern territory of the Qing Dynasty.
In the Treaty of Nebuchu signed between the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia, the Qing Dynasty minister reported to Kangxi on the negotiations with Russia in Chengde. After that, when Kangxi pacified Dzungar and returned to the rebellion, he used Chengde as the command center.
In 1788, the Qianlong Emperor quelled the Lin Shuangwen Uprising and also used Chengde as the command center. Later, when Qianlong pacified Annan and the Qing-Burma War, Chengde and the Forbidden City became the command center.
Judging from the distance between Chengde and Beijing, it is only more than 230 kilometers, and now this distance is very close. But in ancient times, when marching and fighting, more than two hundred kilometers was a day's journey. Therefore, with Chengde as the government affairs and military command center, the Qing Emperor could handle the affairs of the capital with ease, and even if the capital was lost, Chengde could quickly rescue it. If the Qing Dynasty chose the summer resort on the northern seashore, it would be far from the capital and would not be conducive to the Qing Dynasty's military training.
Judging from these historical factors, the Qing Dynasty chose the summer resort mainly to assume the role of stabilizing the north.
Promote solidarity
After the establishment of the Chengde Palace, Kangxi received the Mongol princes and ministers in Chengde, and even crowned the Mongol princes here to appease them. Moreover, Kangxi also received Mongolian Buddhist lamas in Chengde.
During the Qianlong period, when Turbat returned, Qianlong received the leader of Turbat in Chengde. Qianlong was very happy about the return of Turbat, and he wrote two articles, which were carved on stone tablets in four languages: Han, Mongolian, Manchu, and Tibetan, and stood in Chengde.
Qianlong also received and canonized the Sixth Panchen Lama, the leader of the Tibetan political and religious leaders, in Chengde, and Chengde became a gathering place for various ethnic groups and religions. Qianlong built many temples and palaces in Chengde, and from the perspective of architectural style, it absorbed some architectural styles of Han, Mongolia and Tibet, and realized the organic combination of northern and southern architectural styles. For example, although the architectural style of the Outer Eight Temples is based on a Han-style palace, the interior absorbs the architectural characteristics of Mongolia, Uighurism and Tibet.
It can be seen from this that Kangxi established a palace in Chengde, mainly using its unique geographical advantages near Mongolia to promote the unity and integration of the four ethnic groups of Han, Mongolia, Manchuria and Tibet, and promote national unity.
epilogue
As the last dynasty in history, although the Qing Dynasty had the weakening and humiliation of the end of the Qing Dynasty, it also signed many treaties that lost power and humiliated the country, and some territories were forced to be ceded. As a dynasty in Chinese history, it has to be said that the Qing Dynasty has made contributions to China's territory and other aspects. If the Qing Dynasty did not have such a large territory at the earliest, would China's territory become smaller?
From the construction of the Chengde Summer Resort in the Qing Dynasty, we must not only see the luxurious side of the imperial family, but also see the strategic positive factors of the Qing Dynasty.