The Summer Palace is a great place to spend a couple hours. The site is large enough that it seems far less busy than some of the other WHS in Beijing. What we see today is largely from 1886-1902, a rebuilding project to celebrate the Empress Dowager Cixi's 60th Birthday. The Summer Palace is an incredible example of Chinese garden design, but its also one of the last great works of the declining Qing Dynasty.
The dynastic cycle ended only 12 years following the last rebuilding of the Summer Palace. This begs the question, how much was the current Summer Palace even used by Qing royalty? Famously, much of the funds (taels of silver into the millions) to re-build the palace were allegedly taken from the Qing Navy (this has been questioned by Historians). Perhaps the Qing Dynasty was destined to collapse after rebellions and foreign invasions, regardless of Imperial folly and overindulgence. Rightly or wrongly, the Summer Palace to some degree has become a symbol of Imperial decadence and ultimately the end of Qing rule.
What are we left to ponder strolling this sumptuous palace and garden? For me it was a blend of Imperial grandeur and elegant design; yet the knowledge of the slow death of the Qing dynasty was there as well.
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