The Summer Palace & the hills of northwest Beijing
On my field trip, I travelled from the open water of Kunming Lake to the formal side of Longevity Hill, then to the western shore and the back gardens — and beyond, to the Fragrant Hills whose springs and stone channels once fed the imperial lakes. Water organised every direction and rhythm of the walk.
A conversation with Li Weimin
Li Weimin is a distinguished Chinese landscape architect and founder of Beijing Tuanlin Landscape Architecture Design. Driven by a philosophy of creating poetic living environments, he weaves modern architectural principles into traditional Chinese garden culture. In this conversation he outlines the historic and spatial parameters of Beijing's imperial gardens — the city, royal authority and garden construction as one interwoven system.
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Twelve sounds of water and shade
Recorded along the imperial water system and around the Fragrant Hills — the stone channel that once fed Kunming Lake, a hillside cascade, quiet villas, a banquet hall, a street market and I. M. Pei's hushed atrium. Tap any card to play the sound.
Five short films
Handheld clips from the walk — corridors, pavilions, ponds and people. Tap a card to play the film.
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Twelve field notes
From the glazed roofs above Longevity Hill to I. M. Pei's atrium at the Fragrant Hill Hotel — the journey in still frames, each with a short note.
Yellow glazed tiles, ridge beasts and pine crowns above Longevity Hill.
A three-tiered pavilion climbs artificial crags above the covered corridors.
A moss-grown retaining wall meets the painted wall of the imperial precinct.
Water pours from a carved stone spout into the pond — water touched at hand level.
Koi cross the green water in a loose diagonal — colour moving through stillness.
A red pavilion among rocks; lily pads and ducks below the wooded hill.
Pink lilies open on the dark mirror of the pond.
Leaves glisten with raindrops against a softly blurred path.
I. M. Pei's atrium: a modern moon gate framed in glass and white geometry.
A cloud-pruned pine stands before a whitewashed wall above pond rocks.
The Fragrant Hill Hotel facade mirrored in its still front pond.
A plum-blossom leak window frames the garden from the teahouse interior.