[2025 Beijing Attraction] Travel Guide for Garden of Harmonious Interest (Updated Mar)

| The apricot blossoms at Jiqingxuan are in full bloom!. 🌼 I know everyone wants to know what's blooming at the Summer Palace. 👉 Latest report: The apricot blossoms at Jiqingxuan in Xiequ Garden are now in full bloom! 🌟Many people mistake this huge blossoming tree for a peach tree, but it's actually an apricot tree with fresh white blossoms. 🍀Xiequ Garden | Seeing is believing Xiequ Garden is a famous garden within a garden located at the foot of Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace. Modeled after the Jichang Garden in Wuxi, it features pavilions, terraces, towers, mountains, water, and winding corridors, offering picturesque views at every turn. It boasts excellent feng shui. 🌈Xiequ Garden offers different and interesting scenery throughout the year. You can start by climbing the small slope behind the hill to visit Jiqingxuan, considered by many to be one of the most beautiful pavilions. 🌸The wooden structure of the pavilion has been repainted and re-carved, with clearly visible painted pillars and Dougong brackets, making it extremely beautiful. 🌿In front of Jiqingxuan stands a tall apricot tree, integrated with the surrounding corridors. The ancient architecture and spring blossoms complement each other, creating a romantic scene. The structure, built along the mountain slope, forms a huge, undulating circular corridor with distinct layers. 🐾After leaving Jiqingxuan, you can visit the four waterside pavilions of Xiequ Garden, where the calligraphy is all the work of Empress Dowager Cixi. 🌟Xiequ Garden and the Old Summer Palace were originally similar. On-site investigations and comparisons of their structures reveal that the sentiment and style of Xiequ Garden and Jiqingxuan can only hint at the former glory of the Old Summer Palace. 🌸Xiequ Garden | Plum blossoms in full bloom Entering from the East Palace Gate of the Summer Palace, on the way to the Ziqi Donglai City Gate, many spring flowers are already in bloom. In particular, the pink plum blossoms bloom one after another. Set against the gray tiles and stones of the ancient buildings, they are even more vibrant and captivating. Plum blossom lovers should not miss this spot. 🌼In addition to plum blossoms, winter jasmine flowers are already blooming all over the mountains, growing in clusters. 🩷Today, the Spring Equinox, marks the beginning of the most beautiful spring blooming season at the Summer Palace.

👍The Summer Palace's landscaping blends Chinese painting, poetry, and literature, creating a grand, colorful royal garden in harmony with its natural surroundings. 📌We entered through the North Palace Gate, directly accessible via Subway Line 4. 🌈The Four Continents: This distinctive architectural complex, covering 20,000 square meters, is a group of Han and Tibetan buildings in the central part of the back hill of Longevity Hill. The Four Continents and Eight Small Continents are arranged around the Xiangyan Zongyin Pavilion on Sumeru, symbolizing the center of the world. Four Tibetan lamaseries, representing the "Four Wisdoms" of Buddhist scriptures, stand in the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest of the pavilion, colored red, white, black, and green, respectively. The Four Continents here share the same blueprint as those at Puning Temple, one of the Eight Outer Temples of the Chengde Mountain Resort, making them identical. 🌈Walk east along the Suzhou River to reach the Harmonious Interest Garden, a beautiful replica of the Jichang Garden in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

If you want to experience the style of Jiangnan gardens in Beijing, you should visit Xiequ Garden in the Summer Palace. It is the most magnificent and elegant garden within the Summer Palace. Located in the east corner of the Summer Palace, it is not very famous, but it has a unique charm and profound historical heritage. Xiequ Garden was built in imitation of Jichang Garden in Huishan, Wuxi, a famous garden in Jiangnan. The garden is surrounded by a square pond, with garden buildings such as pavilions, halls, and bridges built along the pond. The corridor is one of the main features of the garden, consisting of a hundred connected corridors. The garden is well-arranged, with different views every few steps, in various shapes and full of fun. Xiequ Garden brings the charm of Jiangnan water towns to the royal garden in a unique way, making people linger. 🌟 Zhiyu Bridge: It spans the pond, and when the sun sets, the golden afterglow falls on the bridge and the water, creating a beautiful scene. 🌟 Hanyuan Hall: This is where Empress Dowager Cixi fished and played. The hall is exquisitely furnished and full of royal style. 📍Address: No. 19, Xinjian Gongmen Road, Qinglongqiao Street, Haidian District, Beijing 🏝️Booking Guide: Book Summer Palace tickets on the Changyou Park WeChat account. Peak season: CNY 30, off-season: CNY 20 🚗Transportation Guide: Take Subway Line 4 to Beigongmen Station Bus: Take Bus 303, 332, 346, or 584 to the Summer Palace 💗Other Tips: 1. Xiequ Garden in the Summer Palace is closest to the East Palace Gate. 2. It is a great place to see lotus flowers in summer and leaves in autumn.