Two Emperors Died Here: The Palace That Became Qing China’s Graveyard-Chengde Mountain Resort

This is China's Chengde Mountain Resort. Most people think this was just a summer getaway. It was not. It was imperial China's summer capital. Every year, the Qing emperors left the Forbidden City and brought half the court to Chengde, reviewing memorials, meeting nobles, and managing broader and foreign affairs. Why did the Manchus build a second center of power deep in the hills? Today, we will walk from the palaces and uncover the logic behind it. All right, let's lay the map on the table. Chengde Mountain Resort sits in today's Chengde, Hebei Province. It's about 200 kilometers from Beijing, but already in the Yanshan Mountains. Higher altitude, cooler air, and far more comfortable summers. It was closer to a strategic frontier, Mongolia. From here, the Chinese Qing emperors could still control the capital, while moving meetings and diplomacy with Mongol leaders closer to the Steppe and the Nasen Corridors. Chengde Mountain Resort is, as it is called, a palace. By Qing imperial convention, ordinary Manchu and Han officials and Mongol princes could not just ride in. They had to dismount their houses or step down from their satin chairs. On both sides of the palace gate, there are dismounting stillers inscribed in Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian, telling visitors exactly that they must dismount or step down respectfully. The dismounting stiller carved in four languages also reflects the Qing empire's multi-ethnic character. Building a palace in Chengde made sense for climatic reasons. In 1644, the Qing entered China proper and began using the Forbidden City in Beijing. At that time, the defector ruler was Prince Regent Dorgon. After living in Beijing for a period, Dorgon found the winters tolerable, but the summers simply too hot. From then on, he hoped to build a summer residence somewhere between Beijing and the Qing homeland in the northeast, a seasonal imperial lodge where the court could escape the heat. But it was not until the reign of his nephew, the Kangxi Emperor, the summer imperial residence was officially launched in 1703. As one of the empire's official imperial palaces, many symbols and images of the capital were also brought here. The main palace gate of the mountain resort is called Lizheng Gate, a name that covers the sense of radiant beauty and also upright, proper authority. And in Beijing, the front gate, Zhengyang Gate, was once also known as Lizheng Gate. This overlap in naming again suggests that in Qing China, Chengde, like Beijing, took on the function of a political center. The most striking feature of Lizheng Gate is its plaque. It is written in five scripts, Manchu, Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, and the Uyghur-Turkish script. These five scripts represent the empire's major peoples at the time, and these five major ethnic groups form the ethnic foundation of China today. Passing through Lizheng Gate, we still haven't reached the emperor's walking area. We have only entered the first checkpoint of a seminal corridor, the outer wumen gate. This space outside the outer wumen was where ordinary imperial officials handled business and waited to be summoned. After passing through the outer wumen gate, we enter the inner wumen area. Since I filmed this video during China's summer vacation, the place is absolutely packed, students everywhere along with their parents. But this is actually a place that symbolizes the Qing Dynasty's martial tradition. In this very square, the emperor would hold inspections, watching the princes demonstrate their skills in horseback riding and archery, a reminder that the dynasty must never forget its martial tradition. On the eastern side of the square stands a powerful bronze lion, finely crafted, imposing and solemn, an emblem of the Qing Empire at its height. Above the main entrance of the inner wumen, hangs a plaque reading Bishu Shanzhuang. In Chinese, these characters literally mean a mountain resort for escaping the summer heat, written in the Kangxi Emperor's own calligraphy. In traditional China, the building immediately behind the main gate is always the main hall of the entire palace complex. Behind the inner wumen stands the Danbo Jingcheng Hall. This is the core of the mountain resort's palace complex, the place where the emperor held court, handled the state affairs, and received high-ranking Mongol princes and foreign envoys. In function, it closely resembles the Qianqing Palace in Beijing's Forbidden City. The name Danbo Jingcheng carries the ideal the Qing rulers set for themselves to remain detached from fame and profit, yet be renovant and sincere toward heaven and toward the responsibilities of governing. Historically speaking, the rulers of the Qing Empire were indeed among the most diligent emperors in Chinese history. This magnificent wooden ceremonial hall was built with golden-threaded nanmu wood. In traditional China, nanmu wood symbolized prestige and was also believed to ward off evil, so it was frequently used in imperial architecture. Even the window panels feature nanmu carvings of bats. Because in Chinese, the word for bat sounds like fortune, making it a classic symbol of blessing and good luck. Inside the hall, the most striking sight is the imperial throne. Its design carries strong Manchu, Mongol, and Tibetan influences. The bright yellow cushions and the black dress made it easy for the emperor to sit cross-legged, a posture that echoes the Manchu people's earlier mobile hunting and fishing life beyond the Great Wall. The more relaxed posture also helped narrow the distance between the emperor and officials from different peoples. During the Kangxi Reign in 1701, the Qing state began compiling a massive encyclopedia known as the Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng, literally Template Collection of Illustrations and Writings from the Earliest to Current Times, a sweeping official effort to organize traditional knowledge, and on the bookshelves to the east and west of the throne, this monumental work is preserved in full. Continuing along the central axis, our next stop is the emperor's private study, the Sizhi Study. At its core, this was a military command room. Its name comes from the Qianlong Emperor. Sizhi, the Four Knowings, means a ruler should grasp what is subtle and what is clear, and know when to be soft and when to be firm. In other words, it's about seeing both details and the bigger picture. In 1787, the Lin Shuangwen Rebellion broke out in Taiwan, driven by local corruption and sharp class tensions between peasants and landlords. When this news reached the emperor, Qianlong was in Chengde, staying at the mountain resort. Here, he convened military discussions and deployed forces to cross the street and suppress the uprising. Friends who have watched my earlier tomb episodes may already know this. In both China's classical palace architecture and its imperial mausoleums, the layout is typically divided into two parts, the front court and the real residence. The front court is where state business is handled, or where rituals are performed. The real residence is where the emperor and empress rest, and in the case of tombs, where their spirits are meant to dwell. The palace zone of the mountain resort is no exception. The row of buildings we are looking at right now is the dividing line between the front court and the real residence. At the same time, it served as the living quarters for the accompanying eunuchs and palace maids, known as the Wansui Zhaofang, literally His Majesty's Duty Rooms. And beyond this line, behind these buildings, begins the real residence area of the palace complex, and in a quiet, almost invisible way, the Qing dynasty served from strength to decline. Behind the Wansui Zhaofang begins the first hall of the real residence area, Yanbo Zhishuang Hall. This was the monarch's main bedroom and resting space. The name is fascinating. In Chinese, it invokes a scene of shimmering water, misty air, and refreshing mountain and lake views, something that clears the mind and lifts the spirit. Here, we are mainly describing the breathtaking scenery of Chengde. Yet, this place witnessed not only the empire's glory, but also its clamors. The Jiaqing Emperor, the fifth Qing ruler to govern China, reigned from 1796 to 1820. In the early years of his reign, the empire was shaken by the severe White Lotus Rebellion. After suppressing it, Jiaqing could only struggle to keep the state afloat. He was relatively overweight and loved drinking. On September 2, 1820, he died suddenly, struck by a heat-triggered cardiovascular and cerebrovascular crisis. On this bed in the western warm chamber of Yanbo Zhishuang Hall. At that moment, China's defeat in the Opium War and the cession of Hong Kong to Britain was only 22 years away. Forty-one years later, in 1861, his grandson, the Xianfeng Emperor, the seventh Qing ruler to govern China, came here as well. By then, Beijing had already been occupied by the Anglo-French forces. Xianfeng fled to the mountain resort with his two empresses, Cixi and Ci'an, and the young prince Zaichun. On August 22, Xianfeng also died on the same bed of Yanbo Zhishuang Hall, ending his life at just 30 years old. At that moment, the 1911 Republican Revolution was only 50 years away. So, this single hall became a silent witness to the full downward arc of the Qing Empire. Behind Yanbo Zhishuang Hall, there is a two-story building called Yunshan Shengdi. In Chinese, the name means something like a scenic place above the clouds and mountains, and its design is just as clever. To reach the second floor, there is no conventional staircase. Instead, you climb up from the east using steps built into an artificial rockery, an ingenious solution that reflects the creativity of Qing craftsmen. The Qing leader was also a golden age for traditional Chinese theater, with Peking Opera, Jingju, becoming especially prominent. And down here on the first floor was where Qing emperors came to watch performances. On August 21, 1861, the day before the Xianfeng Emperor died, this 30-year-old ruler was still sitting here in front of the stage, watching what would become his final palace opera performance. The next day, he passed away. The Xianfeng Emperor was the last mile monarch in Chinese history to hold real power. After his death, his only son Aixin Juelu Zaicheng inherited the throne, becoming the Tongzhi Emperor. Tongzhi's adoptive mother, the Empress Consort of Xianfeng, Lady Niu Hulu, was honored as Empress Dowager Ci'an, and Tongzhi's birth mother, Consort Yi, Lady Ye Henala, was honored as Empress Dowager Cixi. And it was at this moment that Cixi's stormy political life truly began. In the real residence area of the palace zone, just east of Yanbo Zhishuanghao, there is a small courtyard, the residence of the Empress, later Empress Dowager Ci'an, known as the Eastern Side Courtyard. Today, it has been converted into a broadcasting room, and is not open to visitors. On the western side, the Western Side Courtyard was where Empress Dowager Cixi lived. Here, a dramatic coup is about to unfold. In 1861, before Xianfeng died, he established a joint regency. Two Empress Dowagers and eight Manchu-Han region ministers would govern together. No major decision could take effect without the agreement of all ten, which greatly constrained the two Empress Dowagers' authority. At the same time, Prince Gong Yixin, Xianfeng's brother, was even seen as a possible contender for the throne, was completely pushed out of the political process. And it was in a small room within the Western Side Courtyard that Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci'an secretly summoned Prince Gong Yixin and ordered a coup to arrest the eight regent ministers. With that, Empress Dowager Cixi formally stepped onto the center stage of Chinese politics, and began the nearly half-century of power that would define the final era of the Qing Dynasty. Now, we have finished walking the central axis of the mountain resort's palace zone. But beyond the axis, there are also sections of palace ruins, destroyed by war and by fire over the course of history. The largest structure in this area once stood on the eastern side of the palace zone, Qingying Pavilion. This was also a place where the Emperor watched culture theater. In form, it closely resembled the Changying Pavilion stage inside the Forbidden City and the Dehe Garden Grand Theater in Beijing's Summer Palace. In 2017, when President Donald Trump visited China, he watched the Peking Opera at the Changying Pavilion in the Forbidden City. But Qingying Pavilion here in Chengde was not so lucky. In 1945, a fire broke out and the entire magnificent wooden theater was burned to the ground. From 1703 to 1790, the construction and expansion of Chengde Mountain Resort lasted for 88 years. From the start of construction to the moment the Qing Emperor died here in 1861, 159 years passed, spanning the Qing Dynasty's rise to its zenith and its descent into decline. And it was not just a palace complex, it also included the surrounding plain zone and the lake zone, a landscape of mountains and water, breathtaking in every direction. And in world history, the most famous example of building a second political center outside the capital was to control and win over Alice and to display imperial power in the Versailles in France. East or West, monarchs used the same strategy to write their own glory. But China's context was also uniquely multi-ethnic and multi-religious. That's why, around the outer edge of the mountain resort, the Qing Emperors built eight imperial temples to win over Tibet and the various Mongol tribes. In the next episode, we will step inside the largest of them all, Putuo Zongsheng Temple, built to impress the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan world, and uncover the stories of an imperial rule hidden within its walls. See you next time!