Urban Impression

[Billy]

The history of the Summer Palace dates back some 800 years when the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Wan Yanliang, moved his capital to the vicinity of Beijing and built his "God Mountain Palace" at the present site of Longevity Hill. A subsequent emperor of the same dynasty diverted the water from the nearby Jade Spring to the Gold Mountain, naming the lake it flowed into the Gold Sea. After the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, Gold Mountain was renamed Jug Mountain (Wengshan), as explained in the following legend: There was once an itinerant old man who discovered a large rock on the slope of Gold Mountain. Breaking it open, he found an earthenware jar hidden inside. The jar's surface was exquisitely carved with flowers, animals and dragons. Inside the jar were many objects of great value which the old man took away with him. Before his departure, however, he brought the jar to the sunny side of the mountain and inscribed it with the following couplet: "When this earthen jar is moved, the emperor's decline shall begin." During the Jiajing period (1522-1566) of the Ming Dynasty, the jar disappeared and, just as the old man predicted, the dynasty fell into decay.

Before the people of palace run business on the street, made by the style of Suzhou architecture.