There are some interesting stories about the Summer Palace.

Little-known anecdotes about the Summer Palace

Birthday wishes, Weng Shan changed his name.

The name of Wanshou Mountain was decided when Qianlong celebrated the birthday of his mother, the Empress Dowager, more than 230 years ago. Wanshou Mountain was originally named Weng Mountain. According to legend, an old man once dug up a stone Weng at the foot of the mountain, hence the name Weng Mountain. During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the stone Weng was lost, but the name of Wengshan has been circulated. In A.D. 1494 (the seventh year of Hongzhi in Ming Dynasty), the emperor's foster mother helped his holy wife, Luo Shi, to build a large-scale Yuan Jing Temple on the back of Mount Weng, and its former site is the location of Paiyun Temple in the Summer Palace today. 175 1 year (the 16th year of Qing Qianlong) coincides with the "prosperous time of Qianlong", which happens to be the 60th birthday of the cow of Qianlong to Empress Lu. In order to show his filial piety, Qianlong changed Wengshan to Wanshou Mountain in this year.

Cixi visited the lake, decorated with lotus lights.

After Cixi rebuilt the Summer Palace, there were several large and small dragon boats in Kunming Lake, which were specially designed for Cixi to swim in the lake for the summer. Every time she goes to Kunming Lake by boat, she first goes to the Longwang Temple on Nanhu Island to burn incense and worship Buddha, so that Wang Long can bless her to play safely on the water. Especially when you visit Kunming Lake at night, a large number of lotus lanterns are placed in the lake according to different seasons, and they are used to form different patterns. Lanterns should be hung on the stone railings on the promenade and lakeshore. Thousands of lanterns are flashing up and down, people are cruising in the lake and watching the night scene in the garden. The promenade is like a dragon, and the lake is like a dragon palace. It's really interesting. 1924, after the Summer Palace was converted into a park, some ordinary cruise ships were added to Kunming Lake for ordinary tourists to visit.

Izumo, Shouxie Renfu.

The word "Paiyun" comes from the poem "A fairy leaves a cloud, you see the golden platform" written by Guo Pu, a poet in the Jin Dynasty. Paiyundian is like the fairy mountain Qiongge in the fog. The clouds cleared and the gods came. This temple was built on the site of yanshou temple. When Cixi renovated the Summer Palace, she planned to use Paiyun Hall as her bedroom. But when she finished, she said that Cixi was ill. Considering that there are Buddhist temples and pure land of Buddhism above Paiyun Hall, she was afraid of getting too close to offend the Buddha, so she built Leshou Hall into her bedroom all the year round, and Paiyun Hall was only used on her birthday in October every year. On the tenth day of October, Empress Dowager Cixi celebrated her 10th birthday, and the emperor had to get up early to salute at Paiyun Hall. Cixi got into the sedan chair from Leshou Hall in a dress, walked along the corridor to Paiyun Hall and went to Dongnuange to rest.

There are many places of interest in the picturesque Summer Palace. The bronze bull beside the 17-hole bridge is particularly attractive to Chinese and foreign tourists, who are full of praise for its exquisite shape and realistic expression.

There is an interesting legend about this bronze cow! Words have to start from the expansion of the Summer Palace by Empress Dowager Cixi.

When Cixi was building the Summer Palace, she wanted to learn from the Queen Mother, so she handed down an imperial edict to build the Summer Palace into a "heaven and earth". The Buddha Pavilion symbolizes the Heavenly Palace, Kunming Lake is like Tianhe, and the area around Bafangge and Longwang Temple is human. Since there is Tianhe, of course, there are cowherd and weaver girl. So under the Bafang Pavilion on the lakeside of Kunming, a bronze cow was placed to symbolize the cowherd. Another Weaver Girl Pavilion was built next to the stone boat. The bronze bull's body faces east, and its head turns to the northwest, facing the direction where the Zhinv Pavilion is located. With Kunming Lake as the boundary, there is a formation of "Cowherd" on the left and "Weaver Girl" on the right.

From then on, this "bronze cow" watched "Weaver Girl" day and night. July 7, a year, is the day when the cowherd and the weaver girl are in the sky. The bronze cow suddenly came to life. It left its original position, walked into the lake step by step, and then swam to the Weaver Girl Pavilion. However, Kunming Lake was too big, and the bronze bull sank to the bottom of the lake in the middle of swimming, and could never get out again.

Someone reported this miracle to Cixi. At first, she didn't believe it. She came to the 17-hole bridge and saw with her own eyes that the bronze cow was gone. What shall we do? Tianhe can't live without the cowherd! So he sent someone to make a bronze cow and put it in its original place. Afraid it would run again, he chained it.

On the seventh day of July of the following year, the second bronze cow moved again and the chain could not be locked. Cixi quickly sent a few strong bodyguards to hold it down. These strong men tried their best to pull the cow's tail. The tail snapped off because of too much force. At this time, someone found a thicker chain, too many cooks, and finally locked the bronze cow. Since then, a copper cow with a broken tail has been left by the lake in Kunming. However, this is the second one. Where is the first one? Still under Kunming Lake!