My Trip to Chengde ( Second Day )
Puning Temple Hotel is not international enough. International TV channels are not available. I do have a good sleep last night though the bed is a little too hard. They offer a set breakfast per person instead of buffet due to the fact that there are not so many tourists during this season. All the staff are dressed in Tibetan clothes. 
All staff at Puning Temple Hotel dressed in Tibetan style clothes.
My highlight visit in Chengde today is Mountain Resort. I get up very early and try to take in some fresh air. The Mountain Resort opens at 6:0am and closed for ticketing at 5:00pm. Mountain Resort was started to built in 1703 and its building latested 90 years during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Emperor Yongzheng and Emperor Kangxi. There are several following factors why the Mountain Resort was built in Chengde according to my research:
1) Mountain Resort was on the middle way to Mulan Weichang. You know, almost each year, Emperor Qianlong or Kangxi would come to Mulan Weichang to train his troops by hunting on the grassland. On the 500-km way from Beijing to Mulan Weichang were constucted temperary palaces for emperors' living. Chendge was the most important place along the way. So the Mountain Resort was later built in Chendge.
2) The area where the Mountain Resort was located boasts of beautiful scenery, river, mountains and plain.
3) Chengde was far enough to escape the smallbox epidemice rupted in the capital city of Beijing. Three of the twelve emperors who reigned in Beijing died of smallbox.
4) Chengde was located on the area between the inland China and the minority nationalities in the norhwest. So Chengde was the frontier, a strategic place of protecting the inland China. The building of Mountain Resort and its outlying eight Tibet-style temples was the smart policy by the emperors in Qing Dynasty to comfort and unify the minorty nationaities.
The 220000 Sqaure Meters Mountain Resort is divided into four sections: Palace Section, Lake Section, Mountain Section and Plain Section. The Palace Section was where the emperors lived and handled state affairs.
The main entrance - Lizheng Gate (Gate of Beauty and Righteousness) to the Mountain Resort
The Hall of Frugality and Simplicity ( Dan Bo Jing Cheng ) as the main building of the palace built
1711 where the emperore handled his state affairs and held grand ceremonies. It was rebbuilt with namu wood
1754.
The Hall of Refreshing Mists and Waves ( Yan Bo Zhi Shuang ) built 1711 used as emperors' living place
This was the temperary living house for Dowdger Cixi. In 1861, Emperor Xiangfeng died in the mountain resort and at the same time a palace coup began. From then on, a young girl of 27 began to ascend the Chinese political stage. She seized all the powers of Qing kingdom became an important figure in Chinese history. She had a far-reaching influnce on China.
Most of the lake area in the Mountain Resort was copied from famous landscaped gardens in Southern China. For example, the main building on Green Lotus Island, "Tower of Mist and Rain," is a copy of a tower in Nanhu Lake at Jiaxing in Zhejiang Province. Jinshan Tower is the replica of the same name tower in Zhengjing in Jiangsu Province.
The replica Jinshan Tower
"Rehe River" ( Hot River ) is the name of the short river in the mountain resort. The river was so named because it did not freeze in the winter. Chengde's older name of Rehe came from the name for the river.
The view in the mist
the lake and lotus
Beautiful lake and pavilion
a nice wooden bridge
Plain Secrion is on the northern part of the mountain resort and the foot of the mountain. The plain is a spacious area, covered with thick grass and trees.
The green grass and the tree
The grass and trees at the foot of the mountain
Yurts on th grassland
Mountain Section is in the northwest of the Mountain Resort, taking up for 80% of the mountain resort. Various pavilions, temples and other building dot the mountain slopes and valleys. Most visitors skip the mountain area since it is too big. Now the mountain resort has been equipped with special buses going around the mountain on the fixed itinerary. The one circle bus ride takes about one hour.
the mountain and a pavilion
the bus station for the mountain ride
After the mountain resort, I take a taxi to visit Pule Temple ( Temple of Universal Happiness ). Pule Temple was built in 1766. The temple is composed of two parts - front part and rear part. The main rear part was built after the model of the Hall of Prayer of Temple of Heaven.
The temple was constructed mainly for the nobles and celeberities of Hazak,Uygur, Kurkez, and other minorities to worship when they came to Chendge to meet the Qing emperors. It was the area of Qing Government to unite the minority nationalities.
The main entrance to Pule Temple
The front hall of the temple
The rear hall of the Pule Temple
Taking a public bus to my lodging hotel is a kind of experience in Chengde. After a hot bath, I check out and take a cab to Chengde Railway Station. A bit earlier for the train back home, I enter a local Shanxi noodle restaurant. It offers very delicious Shanxi noodle.
Taking a public bus is a kind of experience in Chengde
I enjoy the Shanxi noodle at a small noodle restaurant on the west of the square in front
of the station
Line up for ticket checking and return home
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