The scenery and historical allusions of the West Embankment of the Summer Palace complement each other. The following is a detailed introduction of the scenery and historical allusions of the West Embankment:
Landscape characteristics
1. Natural scenery
Four seasons: The West Causeway is a concentrated display of the four seasons of the Summer Palace. In spring, peach blossoms are in full bloom on both sides of the West Embankment. The pink petals dance gently with the wind, and the green willow is set off. In summer, the lush willows propped up a piece of shade for pedestrians, the lotus on the lake competed to open, pink and white, standing jade; When the autumn wind is cool, the golden ginkgo leaves are interwoven with the fiery red maple leaves, which will dress up the West Causeway in a picturesque way; In winter, after the snow, the snow-covered West Embankment is more simple and elegant.
Plant landscape: The west embankment is full of peach willow plants, spring willow green peach, pleasant scenery. In addition, there are lotus, reed and other aquatic plants dotted among them, adding more natural charm to the West Embankment.
2. Bridges and buildings
Six Bridges on the West Embankment: there are six bridge pavilions on the West embankment, namely Jiechu Bridge, Binwu Wind Bridge, Yubelt Bridge, Mirror Bridge, Lianqiao and Liuqiao. These Bridges are exquisitely designed and varied in shape, adding more landscape layers to the West Embankment. Among them, the Jade Belt Bridge was built in the Qianlong period, the arch is high and thin, the bridge body and the bridge fence are built with blue and white stone and white marble carving, the curve shape, like a jade belt, is one of the most famous Bridges on the west embankment.
Jingming Building: between Liuqiao and Lianqiao, Jingming Building is built, which is taken from the sentence of “Spring and Jingming, calm and tranquil” in Fan Zhongyan’s Yueyang Tower Record, adding a cultural flavor to the West Embankment.
Historical allusion
1. Build an imitation of the Su Causeway
Qianlong’s Jiangnan complex: Emperor Qianlong had six visits to Jiangnan and had a soft spot for Jiangnan gardens. He modeled the Su Causeway in the West Lake of Hangzhou and built this west Causeway in the Kunming Lake of the Summer Palace to express his infinite longing for the south.
Water conservancy function: In addition to being a garden landscape, the West Embankment also has certain water conservancy functions. It separates Kunming Lake from Tuancheng Lake and Fengsheng Lake to form a ladder water storage and realize the water conservancy project.
2. Naming and meaning of bridge
Intemination Wind Bridge: when Qingyi Garden was named Sangzhu Bridge, in Guangxu period, to avoid Xianfeng Emperor’s name, it was changed to the present name, taken from the Book of Songs, which reflected the agricultural life of the ancient working people – Intemination Wind. The name of the bridge, “Mulberry Ramie” or “intemination wind”, is to show that the emperor attaches great importance to agriculture and mulberry.
Jade Belt Bridge: The arch of the bridge is high, thin, light and straight, just like the white air dance, but also like the meniscus water dance. Qianlong took a boat to Yuquan Mountain through this bridge, the bridge is engraved with Qianlong couplets, meaning far-reaching.
Other Bridges: Jiechu Bridge, Mirror Bridge, Lianqiao, LiuQiao, etc., also have their own naming meanings and historical stories, which together constitute the rich cultural connotation of the West Embankment.
