In mid October, Hannah and I took a trip to one of Beijing's many tourist attractions, the Summer Palace (not to be confused with the Old Summer Palace). UNESCO have designated this palace as a world heritage site, so it was bound to be worth a visit. And we were right.

A brief history of the Summer Palace; it was built in the Jing Dynasty, making it really quite old (between years 1115 and 1234). Come the time of the Qing (pronounced Ching) Dynasty (1644 - 1911), it was used as a luxurious Royal outpost and a place where artists would come for inspiration - not difficult to see why. Sadly, as was a habit at the height of the British Empire, it was destroyed and ransacked twice, once in 1888 and again in 1900. The British had help in both instances, in 1888 with the French and then in 1900 as a part of the Eight-Power Allied Force (Britain, USA, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Austria and Italy). Isn't it amazing what countries do when they believe themselves to be the world force? And with the help of their allies it making them believe that what they're doing is correct and justifiable (this is apt even today). History teaches us this is wrong, but no-one ever seems to learn from history.

But I digress. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, after the revolution in 1911, it was opened to the public and has remained so ever since, being immaculately preserved for the benefit of visitors.