签9.颐和园万寿山山前景区（长廊；中轴线建筑群；山前东侧之紫气东来城关；山前西侧之听鹂馆及石肪）
The Long Corridor lies in front of Longevity Hill.It starts from the Gate of Greeting the Moon in the east, and ends near the Pavilion of Mr.Stone.There are four double-eaved octagonal pavilions along the Long Corridor, which symbolized the four seasons of the year.The Long Corridor was first built in 1750 by Emperor Qianlong for his mother to enjoy the rainy scenes on Kunming Lake and to shade her from the sunshine in summer.The Long Corridor is 728 meters long with 273 sections, it’s the longest, biggest and most famous one in China and even in the world.What’s more, it covers more than 14,000 paintings and pictures on the top of the Long Corridor.Of the 14,000 paintings, there are over 8,000 large paintings.Each of these painting is different from one another.Most of the beautiful flowers, birds and landscapes were copied from the scenery of the West Lake in Hangzhou.In 1990, the Long Corridor was listed in the “Guinne World Records” as the longest painted corridor in the world, and in 1988, it was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Please look at this gate, it’s located in the center of the Long Corridor, and it was the main entrance to the Hall of Dispelling Clouds.The phrase “Dispelling Clouds” comes from a poem written by a famous poet, describing an immortal coming out from the clouds and seeing a gold and silver platform, thus indicating this hall as the place for the immortal Empre Dowager Cixi to live in.The Hall of Dispelling Clouds was the place where Empre Dowager Cixi used to celebrate her birthday in the 10th day of the tenth lunar month each year.Inside this hall, there is a large oil painting of Empre Dowager Cixi.This picture was painted in 1905 to celebrate her 70th birthday.
The tower of Buddhist Incense is the symbol of the Summer Palace.it was first built in 1758.The tower fo Buddhist Incense was built on a 21-meter high square platform of solid stone, with a wooden tower of 36 meters on the top.The tower is a three-story octagonal wooden structure, with four tiers of eaves, standing in the center of the whole imperial garden.Empre Dowager Cixi used to come and worship Gods here on the 1st and 15th day of each lunar month when she was living in the Summer Palace.Now, on the first floor is enshrined with the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva standing with a thousand hands and eyes.On the second floor, there is a big note: “ Note of the Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake” in Emperor Qianlong’s handwriting.The portraits of Buddha of Three Ages are also kept on the second floor.On the third floor, there are 8 paintings on the wall depicting fairies and goddees flying in heaven.
In front of the Temple of the Sea of Wisdom, we can see a colored glazed arch with three doorways.It’s actually the entrance to the temple behind it.The Temple of the See of Wisdom, a stone structure, is located on the top of the hill.The name of this temple “the Sea of Wisdom” came from Buddhist scriptures and means, “the wisdom of Buddha is as vast as the sea”.This building is also known as “Beamle Hall”, because it was built without using a single beam or column in its structure.With the yellow and green glazed tiles outside, there are rows of 1,008 exquisite Buddha statues carved on the outer wall of the temple.Inside the temple, the statue of Guanyin is enshrined and placed in the center.The temple of the Sea of Wisdom is the highest point of Longevity Hill.This two-story tower structure, on the east of the Longevity Hill, was built during Emperor Qianlong’s reign.The inscription on the south gate-tower “Ziqidonglai” means “the purple clouds come from the east.” This phase comes from a story about an ancient Chinese philosopher named Lao Zi.The four Chinese characters on the north gate-tower, “Chichengxiaqi” means “the rosy clouds rising in Chicheng Mountain.” Chicheng is the name of a place in Zhejiang Province.This phrase describe the gate-tower shining from the morning sunshine.While the inscriptions on both sides of the tower were written by Emperor Qianlong.
Now, this building in front of us is the Hall for Listening to Orioles.it used to be a two-story stage built by Emperor Qianlong, just for his mother to enjoy Peking Opera and performances.The stage was later used by Empre Dowager Cixi.Orioles is a kind of bird, and it has a very sweet voice and pleasing sound.Now, this building is a very nice restaurant for both Chinese and foreign tourists.
The Marble Boat is located at the end of the Long Corridor, near the Stone Pavilion.It is 36 meters long and has two decks.The base deck was built of large stone blocks of marble, while the upper part was made of wood.The purpose for building this big marble boat was to stand for the stability of the Qing Dynasty and symbolize the Qing Dynasty would be as solid as rock and never be overturned.In the late Qing Dynasty, Empre Dowager Cixi had the Marble Boat rebuilt, she ordered to have two water wheels added in the outside.Then a European-style wooden superstructure was built on the boat.The floor was paved with colored bricks, and all the windows were decorated with multi-colored gla.Four hollow marble columns were built on four side corners of the boat.Whenever it rains, the rainwater flows down through the four hollow fillars and poured into the lake from the mouths of the four mable dragonheads.During the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Qianlong often came here with his mother for captive fish and birds.Later Empre Dowager Cixi often came here on a rainy day, and sat in front of the mirror, sipping tea and enjoying the mirror’s reflection of the beautiful rainy scenery on the lake.
