The Imperial Summer Villa, located in the city of Chengde in northeastern Hebei province, is China’s largest imperial garden. Twice the size of Beijing’s Summer Palace, construction spanned nearly ninety years, beginning under Emperor Kangxi in 1703 and lasting through the greater part of Emperor Qianlong’s reign.The Imperial Summer Villa covers some 564 hectares featuring well-manicured gardens and over 110 architectural structures surrounded by a 10-km-long outer wall that rises and falls with the surrounding hills. The Imperial Summer Villa can be divided into two sections: a palace section and a garden section.
