Brief information on Chengde Mountain Resort  

Situated in the north of Chengde urban district in Hebei province, Chengde Mountain Resort is the largest imperial garden in China, twice the size of Summer Palace in Beijing. It is also known as Chengde Rehe Imperial Palace, where the emperors of Qing Dynasty spent summer holidays and handle governmental affairs. Mountain Resort was built in 1703 and completed in 1790. It was listed as the World Heritage by UNESCO in 1994.

Chengde Mountain Resort covers an area of 564 hectares, contains over 110 architectural structures surrounded by a 10-km-long outer wall, and is divided into two sections: a palace section and a garden section.

Palace section:
The palace area is located in the southern part of the resort, which is made up of the Main Palace, Pine-Crane Hall, Pine Soughing Valley and East Palace. The Main Palace is comprised of the Front Court and the Back Imperial Bedroom. The main hall of the Front Court is made of nanmu and was the place where all important ceremonies were held during the emperors staying in the mountain resort. The Back Imperial Bedroom is the place where emperors would deal with state affairs and live during their holidays at the Summer Resort.

Garden section:
The garden section can be further divided into a lake section, plains section, and mountain section. The lake section is on the north of the palace section and covers about 80 hectares; going north, you will get to the plains section where the Qing emperors held banquets and recreational activities. This area is mainly covered with grassland and woods; the mountain section is located in the northwestern part and four-fifths of the Mountain Resort is mountainous, sloping down from the northwest to the southeast.

*You can download the bilingual note to show it to a taxi driver or someone else to find your way to Chengde Mountain Resort if you plan to visit Chengde Mountain Resort and have language problems.