Chengde (Chinese: 承德; pinyin: Chéngdé) is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province,
People's Republic of China, situated northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort,
a vast imperial garden formerly used by the emperors of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1703, Chengde was chosen by the Kangxi Emperor as the location for his summer residence.
Constructed throughout the eighteenth century, the Mountain Resort; literally meaning
("avoiding the heat mountain villa") was used by both the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors.
1. Summer Palace : The Emperor spent his summer here to escape the heat of Beijing.
Those days it took 8-9 days to reach Chegde from Beijing. Built between 1703 and 1792,
the Mountain Resort took 89 years to complete. It covers a total area of 5.6 km²,
almost half of Chengde's urban area. It is a vast complex of palaces and administrative
and ceremonial buildings. Temples of various architectural styles and imperial gardens
blend harmoniously into a landscape of lakes, pastureland and forests.
2. Little Potala Temple : The Putuo Zongcheng Temple is a Qing Dynasty era Buddhist temple
complex built between 1767 and 1771, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735-1796).
It is located near the Chengde 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".