At first glance at this question, it feels a little funny, why build a summer resort? It is said that it is a summer escape, that is not the emperor of the Qing Dynasty is afraid of heat, so it is necessary to build a cool and comfortable place for yourself to enjoy.
But is the truth really as simple as we literally see?
As we all know, the Royal Summer Resort of the Qing Dynasty, located in the north of chengde city center in Hebei Province, on the west bank of the Wulie River, is a narrow valley on the west bank of the Wulie River, which is the place where the emperors of the Qing Dynasty took refuge in the summer and handled government affairs.
Chengde Mountain Resort, also known as "Chengde Palace" or "Rehe Palace", was built in the 42nd year of Kangxi, and it was not completed until the 57th year of Qianlong, which took a total of 89 years and experienced the three generations of emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. The interior of the villa is mainly composed of the royal palace and various garden scenic spots, which are divided into four major areas: palace area, lake area, plain area and mountain area.
The whole mountain villa is watery in the southeast and mountainous in the northwest, which is not only the epitome of China's natural landform, but also a brilliant milestone in the history of Chinese gardens, a masterpiece of Classical Chinese garden art, and the highest example of Classical Chinese gardens. Among them, the landscape of the palace scenic spot and the lake area is the most beautiful and spectacular, which can be said to be the highlight and essence of the entire villa.
In addition to these four areas, the park has also built 28 yurts of different specifications and shapes, as well as exquisite buildings such as the royal library, Yongyou Temple, and Chunhaoxuan, which have high ornamental value. Of course, in addition to the man-made architectural landscape, the natural scenery inside the villa is also very charming, all kinds of rare flowers and plants, pine and cypress weeping willows, as well as the wild woods and fields of the mountain village, all of which add a fresh and simple light beauty to the villa.
The natural scenery between the mountains and rivers, coupled with the beautiful landscape of the South of the Saiwai River, it can be said that each landscape condenses the ingenuity of the Craftsmen of the Qing Dynasty, and is also a high-standard model of ancient garden art.
As the second largest administrative center of the Qing Dynasty government besides the Forbidden City, Chengde Mountain Resort is one of the largest and longest-consuming royal buildings established during the Qing Dynasty, and the largest existing imperial palace in China.
Seeing this, perhaps everyone also has doubts, such a big project, it took so long to build a palace, is it really a place for the emperor to hide from the cool? This is also too extravagant. In fact, the reason why the Qing Dynasty spent decades and used a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources to build this summer resort is for a reason.
It is embodied in the following three aspects:
First, Qing rule originated in the northeastern region outside Guanwai, where temperatures were lower and temperatures throughout the year were much lower than in Beijing. The imperial family of the Qing Dynasty also liked the cold and did not like the heat because of the long-term life outside the Guan, and the tolerance for high temperatures was also limited. Therefore, after the Manchu Qing Entered the Customs, officials at all levels of the Qing Dynasty said: Beijing is located in the North China Plain, the temperature is high, especially in the summer, it is even more unbearable and unbearable.
Therefore, the regent Dorgon proposed: let the relevant departments begin to study the solution to the problem of summer high temperatures. After deliberation, everyone decided to build a beautiful royal palace outside the Guanxi to give the royal personnel a cool off and cool off in the hot summer. Therefore, the construction of the summer resort is indeed because the royal family had the need to escape the summer at that time, but the role of the summer resort is definitely not just a simple summer escape.
Secondly, throughout the ages, all the ethnic minority forces that entered and ruled the Central Plains would basically build some administrative centers outside the Great Wall to ensure control over the areas outside the Seychelles, such as: Daliao, Dajin, Yuandu, and so on.
Therefore, the Establishment of the Summer Resort in the Qing Dynasty also had such a purpose in it. The construction of a summer resort in Chengde could help the Qing government maintain its dominance over the Mongol tribes at all times. When faced with relevant problems, it can also respond in a timely manner to avoid affecting the handling of relevant administrative affairs due to its remote location in Beijing.
Third, in order to maintain the strong physique of the Qing Dynasty warriors who were good at riding and shooting and fighting. As we all know, before the Qing government entered the customs, it was a nation that fought on horseback and was good at riding horses and archery, which was also a tradition of the Manchus. Even after the Qing Dynasty imperial family entered the customs, it still maintained this habit and tradition of hunting outside the seychelles, so the construction of the summer resort was to build a paddock station for the Qing government.
At that time, the Qing government used the Mulan Yard, the Summer Resort, and Beijing as strategic locations. At the same time, on the pretext that the emperor was supplying materials, more than twenty additional palaces were built, and since then, a stable strategic area has been formed to ensure the rule of the Qing government and the stability of the Qing regime.
Finally, it is so that the surrounding pilgrimage countries can worship on time.
When the Qing army had just entered the customs, when the smallpox virus was raging in the capital, during this period, the Shunzhi Emperor also died of smallpox infection. Therefore, such an epidemic has made everyone feel extremely panicked.
At that time, the princes and nobles of the Mongols, as well as the officials and chiefs of ethnic minorities in other places, were afraid of entering the capital for pilgrimage, of course, for fear of being infected with the heavenly flowers. However, as the surrounding dynastic states, it was impossible to break the regular entry into the capital to meet the pilgrimage, so the Kangxi Emperor decided to build a large-scale high-level palace in the saiwai area, so that the leaders of the surrounding dynastic states could come here as scheduled to worship the Qing Dynasty and maintain tributary relations.
Later, the rule that the leaders of the surrounding ethnic minorities came to the Chengde Summer Resort to meet the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty was retained, even after the smallpox virus was contained, this rule did not change. However, for the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the summer resort seemed to be an "ominous place". There were only 12 emperors in the Qing Dynasty, but two emperors died violently at the summer resort: one was the Jiaqing Emperor and the other was the Xianfeng Emperor.
Today, Chengde Mountain Resort is not only a famous tourist attraction in China, but also a world cultural heritage, a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction, a national key cultural relics protection unit, and one of the four famous gardens in China.
Resources:
["Chengde Summer Resort", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 6, Benji 6, Shengzu", "Records of Emperor Qingrenzong"]