Yiheyuan

This is a detail of the magnificent Long Corridor at the Summer Palace(Yiheyuan) with 728 metres in lenght. It has crossbeams under the roofwhich divides the corridor into 273 sections, all of which are richlydecorated with art. When the Qianlong Emperor authorized theconstruction of a palace garden in 1750, he also commissioned thebuilding of the Long Corridor at the Summer Palace for his mother.This was so that she could enjoy a walk through the gardens, and atthe same time be protected from the elements by a shelteredpassage-way. It took 15 years to complete. Following its destructionin 1860 the Long Corridor was included in Empress Dowager Cixi'srebuilding program.

In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its WorldHeritage List