Travel in China – Summer Palace | SuZhou Street

If you ever get a chance to go to Beijing, be sure to check out Summer Palace, also known as Yihe Yuan among Chinese. Summer Palace was once served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, ruling for 48 years from her husband’s death in 1861 to her own death in 1908.

Two major landscapes of Summer Palace were Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. But today I am going to post pictures about SuZhou Street which I consider a gem of Summer Palace even though it is less known or visited, even by the locals. SuZhou Street was built to replicate the canal streets commonly found in Jiangnan-a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

In Qing Dynasty, the royal families would visit the place to shop for fun because they could not visit the streets outside of the Forbidden City. There are a variety of shops (60+) including jewelry store, cafe,  tea house, hat store. We also check out live performance of calligraphy on a Chinese scroll.

Unlike the main scenic sites near Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, SuZhou Street is not as crowded. We spent some quality time there enjoying the ambiance of the place. Here are 2 shots taken at SuZhou Street.