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Chengde
Chengde, a small country town 250km northeast
of Beijing, is surrounded by the Yunshan mountain range.
On its outskirts are remnants from its glory days as the
summer retreat of the Manchu emperors. In recent years it
has once more become a summer haven, filling up at weekends
with Beijingers escaping the hassles of the capital.
The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD) emperors,
starting with the revered Kangxi, truly appreciate the cooling
charms of the little village of Rehe or Jehol. The Qing
court used to live here between May and late October every
year, till the warming comforts of the capital lured them
back.
Kangxi visited Chengde in the late sixteenth
century. With his troops in tow, he passed through the region
on the way to the hunting grounds in Mulan, and the peaceful
calm of the region appealed to his imperial sensibilities.
In 1703, he began the construction of
a summer palace, that gradually grew into plans for 36 constructions
(temples, palaces, pagodas etc.). A wise ruler, Kangxi perceived
the region as a place to entertain emissaries from all over
China, especially from the more troublesome regions to the
north and northeast.
Many of the constructions were later built
with this plan in mind, either in the form of replicas of
minority architecture from around the country, such as the
"Tibetan Sumero Temple inspired" Puning si, or
with obvious naming policies, such as the deviously hopeful
Temple for Distant Security.
Qianlong (1736-1796), Kangxi's grandson,
followed to build another 36 constructions. The golden days
of Chengde had arrived, and thousands of visitors, from
all over China and beyond, flocked through the region to
pay their respects to his imperial majesty. These visitors
were charmed with the homelike buildings and some of the
best hunting grounds in China, wooed with dance troops and
song, as well as fascinated by seemingly limitless courses
of banquets. Some of the most famous visitors included the
Sixth Panchen Lama, who was housed in a temple that resembled
the Tashilhunpo Monastery.
The death of Qianlong in 1796 was preceded
by another hundred years of floundering Qing rule. Although
later emperors still took Chengde as their summer resort,
the area was gradually to become considered unlucky after
the deaths, within the villas grounds and in a short period
of time, of the two emperors, Jiaqing (1820) and Xianfeng
(1862). In the 1860s, the court was moved from it permanently.
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