Archive for February 27th, 2008
China Travel – Summer Palace
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
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The Summer Palace, a world-renowned imperial garden, is situated 15 kilometers from downtown Beijing. It was first named the Garden of Clear Ripples, which was burnt down by the allied forces of Great Britain and France in 1860. It was rebuilt in 1888 with an investment of 30 million taels of silver and renamed the Summer Palace. Covering 293 hectares, the Summer Palace mainly consists of the Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake, and boasts more than 3,000 various buildings. The garden can be divided into three parts, namely, administration, residence and scenery area.
The administration area, taking the Halls of Benevolence and Longevity as its principal part, is the place where Empress Dowager Cixi dealt with state affairs and received officials. Behind the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity are three large-scale quadrangles: Hall of Joyful Longevity, Hall of Jade Billows and Chamber of Mortal Beings, which used to be residence of Cixi, Emperor Guangxu and Empress Longyu, the wife of Emperor Guangxu, respectively. To the East of the Chamber of Mortal Beings is the Garden of Virtue and Harmony, which, covering an area of 3,000 sqm, mainly consists of the Theatre Building and the Hall of Nurtured Joy.
The scenery area is the essential part of the Summer Palace, consisting of the Kunming Lake and the Longevity Hill (Front Hill and Rear Hill).
Longevity Hill, located on the northern bank of the Kunming Lake, is divided into two parts, the Front Hill and the Rear Hill. The structures in the Front Hill begins in the Gate of Dispelling Clouds, passes the Hall of Dispelling Clouds, the Hall of Moral Brilliance and the Tower of Buddhist Incense in turn, and finally ends in the Sea of Wisdom on the mountaintop, forming an axis of the whole garden. At the foot of the hill is the Long Corridor, renowned as the First Corridor in the World, which is more than 700 meters long and features over 8,000 colored paintings. Besides the gallery lies the Kunming Lake,
The Rear Hill, different from the Front Hill, is quiet and elegant. A path circles down the hill with trees and brooks scattering here and there. Main structures in the Rear Hill include the Suzhou Market Street, the Garden of Harmonious Interests, etc. On the eastern part of the Rear Hill lies the Garden of Harmonious Interests, which was built in imitation of Jichangyuan Garden in Wuxi of Suzhou City during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. The garden is small and exquisite and thus renowned as the Garden within a Garden.
Ingeniously conceived and elaborately designed, the Summer Palace, concentrating the features of the gardens in southern and northern China, is reputed as the soul of the Chinese gardens.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
Beijing Olympic – Beijing’s new Railway Station to become a major transport hub
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
The 320,000 square meter-Beijing South Railway Station will become a comprehensive transportation hub integrating high-speed railway, subway, inter-city railway, bus and taxi.
The process of final decoration and equipment installation is underway. According to the plans of the Railways Ministry, a test run of the electromechanical equipment will be held on April 25 this year. On June 25, it will be delivered for use and on August 1, it will be fully operational. The largest in Asia, the station is the starting point of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and the Beijing-Tianjin Inner-city Line.
The station is a two-story building with a three-tier underground facility. The subway lines 4 and 14 lie on the second and third tiers underground. When put into regular operation, they will carry more than 50 percent of the passengers, hopefully relieving the traffic pressure on the surrounding areas.
The station strives to be convenient, comfortable and efficient. There will be no more annoying ticket or departure queuing: instead airline-typed service will be offered.
At the passenger waiting hall and transfer hall, a total of 36 automated ticket machines will be available, in addition to more than 100 manual ticket counters. The passengers will enter the station through subway-like entrances.
To facilitate movement, the station has installed 103 elevators, including some for disabled people.
To meet the requirements of modern design, the station’s steel structure comprises close to 1 million pieces, using a total of 57,000 tons of steel, larger than the National Stadium or the “Bird’s Nest”.
The railway lines through Tianjin and Shanghai will take the extensive public transport mode, bringing the station’s peak handing capacity to 500,000 passengers per day. For instance, there will be 144 trains traveling between Beijing and Tianjin every day, and the minimum operating interval will gradually be shortened from 15 minutes to three minutes, close to the operational status of the subway. For the Beijing-Shanghai line, which is as long as 1,000 kilometers, the operating interval will be 15 minutes to 30 minutes.
Timeline of reconstruction and expansion of Beijing South Railway Station:
December 24, 2005 – The project is officially launched
May 31, 2007 – Underground structure is topped off
June 19, 2007 – Construction of steel structure for the main building in full swing
September 21, 2007 – The steel structure of the main building is topped off
August 2008 – The station is put into operation
(Source: ebeijing.gov.cn)
