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.
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