Wanshou Mountain of the Summer Palace

It is the remnants of Yanshan Mountain, with a height of 58.59 meters. Legend has it that an old man once carved a stone urn on the mountain, so it was named Wengshan. In front of Wengshanbo, also known as West Lake, is now Kunming Lake. In the seventh year of Ming Hongzhi (1494), Emperor Xiaozong's wet nurse helped the saint Luo Shi to build the Yuanjing Temple in front of the mountain. In the fifteenth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1750), in order to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Empress Dowager, the Dabao En Yanshou Temple was built on the site of Yuanjing Temple, and the following year the mountain was renamed Wanshou Mountain, and the earthwork that opened up Kunming Lake was piled up on the mountain according to the needs of the gardening layout, so that the east and west slopes were soothing and symmetrical, becoming the main body of the whole garden. Most of the buildings built on the mountain during the Qianlong period were burned down by the British and French forces in 1860, and most of the existing buildings were rebuilt during the Guangxu period. The front mountain is centered on the Buddha Incense Pavilion with three floors and four eaves on eight sides, forming a huge main building. From the "Yunhui Yuyu" archway at the foot of the mountain, through Paiyun Gate, Ergong Gate, Paiyun Hall, Dehui Hall, Buddha Xiang Pavilion, to the Wisdom Sea on the top of the mountain, forming a central axis that rises layer by layer. On the east side, there are "Wheel Collection" and "Wanshou Mountain Kunming Lake Stone Monument". On the west side, there are Wufang Pavilion and Bronze Baoyun Pavilion. The back mountain has magnificent Tibetan-style Buddhist architecture, four major continents, and colorful glazed pagodas towering among the green trees. There are also various pavilions and pavilions on the mountain, such as Jingfu Pavilion, Chongcui Pavilion, Writing Qiu Xuan, and Painting Middle Tour, which can be called a concentrated display of classical Chinese garden architecture.