Weiliduode Hotel

Summer Palace - Mountain Resort of Chengde

by snuggie

The Mountain Resort is located in Chengde City and is the largest imperial garden in today China. It covers a total area of 564 square kilometers and is twice as large as the Summer Palace in Beijing. This resort was built in the Qing Dynasty and took 89 years (1703 - 1792) to complete.

The Mountain Resort is also a summer resort and is an place of wonderful scenery and pleasant climate. There are grand palaces, temples, mountains and exquisite pavilions etc..

Puning Temple - Mayahana Hall

by Willettsworld

This hall is the most famous within the Puning Temple as its here that the world's tallest wooden sculpture of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (22.28 meters high and weighing 110 tons), is housed. The statue shows a thousand different eyes and a thousand different arms stretched out from its frame (in various sizes). The statue itself is made from five kinds of wood, including pine, cypress, elm, fir, and linden. Photos are not allowed inside but you can buy a postcard of the statue for RMB10.

Open: 8am-5.30pm. Admission: RMB50

Chengde

by y_lyn

"Little Potala"

On the 5th day, after sending some of the tour members to the airport (they took up 5 days Beijing trip only), we proceeded with our itinerary to Chengde. It was a long journey, about 5 hours. We left for Chengde around 2pm and reached our destination at around 7pm, just right for dinner. After dinner, we checked-in to our hotel. Basically, there is not much night life in Chengde so we just stayed in the hotel after that.

The next morning, we had a local guide, Xiao Su to bring us to the imperial resort at Chende and also, Little Potala Palace which is modelled on the actual Potala Palace in Lhasa. We only spent half a day at Chengde which I think is a bit too short, then we took another 5 hours back to Beijing.

A bit of history about Chengde: Around the end of 17th century, the Qing emperors began to look for a place where they can go for retreat during the hot summer. They found this place. Emperor Kangxi ordered the building of the summer palace here in 1703.

Putuo Zongcheng Temple - Part 1

by Willettsworld

The Putuo Zongcheng Temple complex was built between 1767 and 1771, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735-1796). It is located to the north of the Mountain Resort. Along with the equally famed Puning Temple, it is one of the Eight Outer Temples of Chengde. The temple was modeled after the Potala Palace of Tibet, the old sanctuary of the Dalai Lama built a century earlier. Hence the Putuo Zongcheng has been nicknamed the "Little Potala Palace". Since it was modeled after the Potala palace, the temple represents a fusion of Chinese and Tibetan architectural styles. The temple complex covers a surface area of some 220,000 square meters, making it one of the largest in China.

The Putuo Zongcheng Temple was originally dedicated to Qianlong in order to commemorate his birthday, as well as provide Hebei with a temple of equal size and splendor as the Tibetan Potala Palace. It is a must-see-thing when in Chengde.