Chengde is an old mountain resort in Hebei province, set aside as an imperial summer retreat and hunting grounds during the Qing Dynasty. At 564 square kilometers it’s the world’s largest imperial garden, though almost half of its area is taken up by the city of Chengde.
The resort is a vast complex of palaces, administrative buildings and temples – more than 100 buildings in total – divided into the palace zone and the garden zone and enclosed by a wall 10,400 meters long. The whole thing took 89 years to build. The Rehe River, the shortest river in the world with a length of only 14.7 kilometers, runs through the resort.
The Qing emperors would leave behind the heat of the city and retire to Chengde for the hottest months of the year. And it’s easy to understand why: the temperature in Chengde is about three degrees cooler than Chengde city, which is itself cooler than Beijing. For their comfort the palace complex was designed along the same lines as the Forbidden City, with an outer court where the emperor would receive high officials, nobles, and foreign envoys, and an inner court with bed chambers for the royal family.
Outside fo the palace grounds, there stands the largest temple complex in China today. Originally, these were 11 temples constructed in a semi-circle and the slopes of a tall hill, but unfortunately only seven temples remain standing. It is said that the leaders of various minority groups would come to meet with the emperors here, some to live and others to conduct religious ceremonies.
Puning Temple, one of these seven, contains a 22.28 meter state of the Buddha. His waist is 15 meters around, he has 42 arms and he weighs 110 tons. He’s the largest Buddha statue in the world today.
Chengde’s gardens and scenic spots are what make it truly impressive though. Many of these scenic outlooks were copied from famous gardens in South China. For instance, the main building on Green Lotus Island, the ‘Tower of Mist and Rain’, is a replica of the tower on Nanhu Lake in Zhejiang province.
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