Complete Map of the Mountain Retreat for Escaping Summer's Heat

Qing dynasty (1644�1911), Guangxu period (1875�1908), undated, ca. 1900

Horizontal hanging scroll, ink, color, and white pigment on paper (with identification labels in ink on red paper affixed to scroll); 212.0 x 382.5 cm

Inventory number: 074.45/(211.911)/1900-2

The Bishu shanzhuang (Mountain Retreat for Escaping Summer's Heat) is located about 250 kilometers northeast of Beijing in the town of Rehe (Jehol; modern-day Chengde).The palatial retreat enclosed by a long wall was begun in 1703 by the Kangxi emperor (r. 1661�1722) and later expanded by the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736�95) through 1792.Nominally a summer retreat, it actually functioned as a secondary capital for the Qing court which spent parts of every summer and autumn there.Although the palace complex proper contained mostly Chinese-style buildings and gardens, the preferred architectural language for the monumental structures was Tibetan. Between 1713 and 1780, 11 Lamaist temples were built on the hills east and west of the retreat complex; the surviving ones are known as the Eight Outlying Temples.

This massive map was drawn during the Guangxu period, around the turn of the century.It features the imperial retreat, the Eight Outlying Temples, and the scenic landscape of the surrounding hills.The 36 scenic spots with four-character names bestowed by the Kangxi emperor and the other 36 scenic locales with three-character names by the Qianlong emperor are labeled in ink on red paper and mounted individually on the map.These named areas evoked the scenery in different regions of the Chinese empire and, along with the outlying temples and monasteries, were part of a microcosm of the vast realm controlled by the Qing rulers.