Hebei · The Qing Empire’s Second Capital
Chengde Mountain Resort (避暑山庄)
The Qing court spent months of every year here, and it was not a holiday. This is where the dynasty did business with the Mongols and the Tibetans, and where a British embassy was received in 1793.
Quick Facts
The Short Version
| What it is | A walled imperial garden and palace of about 5.6 square kilometres, with lake, plain and hill sections, plus a ring of temples outside the wall |
|---|---|
| Where | Chengde, in the hills of northeastern Hebei, about four hours from Beijing by road or under two by high-speed rail |
| When | Built between 1703 and 1792 under Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. UNESCO inscribed the resort and the outlying temples in 1994 |
| Why it existed | It was the summer seat of government and the place the Qing conducted relations with Mongol and Tibetan leaders, away from Beijing |
| The temples outside | Eight temple complexes ring the resort, built in Tibetan and Mongol styles. Putuo Zongcheng is modelled on the Potala in Lhasa |
| Booking | Ticket for the resort; the outlying temples are ticketed separately or as a combination. Buy at the gate |
| Time needed | A full day for the resort. Two days to include the main temples |
| Terrain | Flat around the lake, hilly at the back. Shuttle carts cover the long sections |
Why Go
A Garden That Was a Policy
1. Why the court came here
The Qing were a Manchu dynasty ruling a Chinese empire while also holding authority over Mongols, Tibetans and other peoples of Inner Asia. Those constituencies did not share a language, a religion or a political tradition with the Chinese bureaucracy in Beijing, and managing them from inside the Forbidden City was neither practical nor appropriate.
Chengde was the answer. The court moved here for several months a year, the hunting grounds at Mulan lay to the north where Mongol nobles were received in the field, and the resort itself was built as a garden rather than a palace: low unpainted timber buildings, wide lake, grassland, and hills, laid out to resemble the landscapes of the empire in miniature.
2. The temples say it out loud
Around the outside of the wall the Qianlong emperor built a ring of temples in Tibetan and Mongol architectural styles. Putuo Zongcheng, which dominates the group, is modelled on the Potala in Lhasa; another follows a Tibetan monastery at Shigatse. They were built to receive and accommodate visiting lamas and khans, and they state the Qing position in stone: to a Tibetan or Mongol visitor the emperor appeared inside a Tibetan or Mongol frame, not a Chinese one.
Standing in the resort you see restrained Chinese garden architecture. Walking half an hour out of the gate you see a Tibetan palace facade on a Hebei hillside. The distance between those two things is the most useful half hour anywhere for understanding how the Qing actually worked.
The catch. The resort is very large and mostly landscape. The lake section at the front is walkable and handsome; the plain and hill sections behind it are kilometres of ground with widely spaced buildings, and visitors who set out to walk them run out of day. Take the cart for the back half, or decide in advance to do the lake and the temples instead.
Orientation
Lake, Plain, Hills, Temples
The resort divides into three. The palace and lake section is at the southern end and holds the buildings, the bridges and most of what a short visit sees. North of it the plain section is open grassland with scattered pavilions. Behind that the hill section rises into wooded valleys and takes the rest of the day.
The temples are outside the northern and eastern walls, each with its own entrance. Putuo Zongcheng and Xumi Fushou are the two to do if you are choosing, and they are next to each other.
Practical
Things Worth Knowing
Two days, not one
The resort alone is a full day and the temples are the half that explains it. Compressing both into one day means doing neither.
Take the cart into the back
The plain and hill sections are kilometres deep. Walking out and riding back is the usual compromise.
It really is cooler
The name means escaping the heat and the reason the court came in summer still applies: Chengde runs several degrees below Beijing and the nights are cool.
The train, not the road
High-speed rail from Beijing takes under two hours and the road takes four. This changed recently enough that older guidance still says otherwise.
Timing
When to Go
| Season | The case for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| July to August | The season the site was built for, with lotus on the lake and the plain at its greenest | The busiest months, and the resort is a domestic favourite |
| September to October | Colour on the hills, clear air, and the temples at their best against it | The first week of October is the national holiday |
| April to June | Green returning, mild, and much quieter than high summer | Spring wind, and the lake planting has not filled out |
| November to March | The lake freezes, the structure of the garden is visible, and there is almost nobody there | Cold, genuinely. This is the edge of the Mongolian plateau |
Context
Two Things That Happened Here
In 1793 a British embassy under Lord Macartney travelled to China to seek trade terms and a resident minister in Beijing. It was received not in the capital but here, at Chengde, during the Qianlong emperor’s summer residence. The negotiation over whether Macartney would perform the full ceremonial prostration, and the edict Qianlong sent back to George III declining the requests, are among the most quoted documents in the history of European contact with China.
In 1860, when British and French forces entered Beijing and burned the imperial gardens northwest of the city, the Xianfeng emperor left the capital and came here. He never went back. He died at Chengde in 1861, and the succession struggle that followed his death, settled in this complex and on the road back to Beijing, put the Empress Dowager Cixi into the position she held for the next half century.
The resort was little used after that. The buildings that survive are Qing, the planting has been maintained, and the temples outside the wall have been restored over recent decades. What is not obvious on the ground is that this was, for most of a century, where the empire was actually run for several months of every year.
Nearby
Other Stops on the Same Trip
Temples · outside the wall
Putuo Zongcheng and the outer temples (外八庙)
Tibetan and Mongol style temple complexes ringing the resort, one of them modelled on the Potala. The half of the site that carries its meaning.
Spot · 130 km southwest
Jinshanling Great Wall (金山岭长城)
A long unrestored stretch of Ming wall with dense watchtowers, on the road back toward Beijing.
City · 230 km southwest
Beijing (北京)
The capital the court came here to get away from, and returned to in the autumn.
Where to Base
Chengde (承德)
The town grew up around the resort and still sits against its wall, which makes this one of the few major Chinese sites you can walk to from a hotel breakfast. High-speed rail from Beijing takes under two hours.
Two nights is the right shape: the resort on one day, the temples on the next, and the Jinshanling wall on the road back if you are driving.
Experiences
What You Can Actually Do Here
On site · half day
The lake section on foot
Bridges, pavilions and borrowed southern garden views, walked rather than ridden.
Outside the wall · half day
Putuo Zongcheng and Xumi Fushou
A Tibetan-style temple complex on a Hebei hillside, built to receive lamas and khans.
Guided · 2 days
How the Qing ran Inner Asia
The resort, the temples and the hunting grounds to the north, with someone who can explain why the court spent half the year up here.
Worth two days and worth doing the temples. The resort on its own is a large handsome garden; the resort plus Putuo Zongcheng is an argument about how a Manchu dynasty held a multi-ethnic empire together, made in architecture. Take the train, not the road.
Plan a Chengde Route With the Temples Included
Tell us your dates and what you are after, and our local team will build the route: the resort’s lake section on foot, the Tibetan-style temples outside the wall, and the Jinshanling wall on the road back to Beijing.