颐和园的英文导游词

颐和园的英文导游词

The Summer Palace

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen:

My name is Joanne. I?m very honored to be youre guide. I do hope all

of you could like my guiding and enjoy everything on your pleasant

day. This morning we are going to visit the Summer Palace.

The Summer Palace is located on the northwest suburbs of Beijing,

about 20 kilometers away from the center of the city. So it will

take us about 1 hour to get there. Before we arrived at the Summer

Palace, I would like to introduce you a brief introduction of the

woderful imperial garden. The Summer Palace is the most beautiful

and the largest imperial garden existing in Chinan, and it is the

best-preserved imperial garden in the world. In 1998, it was placed

on the List of World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO.

The Summer Palace was first built as an imperial garden at the

beginning of 12th century in the Jin Dynasty. The construction

continued to the Y

uan and Ming dynasties. In the Qing Dynasty, the

building of imperial gardens reached its culmination. During Emperor

Qianlong?s reign, the famous ?Three Hills and Five Gardens? were

built on the northwest suburbs of Beijing. The Summer Palace was a

part of it and at that time was called the Garden of Clear Ripples.

In 1860, the Anglo-

French Allied Forces invaded Beijing. The ?Three

Hills and Five Gardens? were burnt down to ashes.

In 1888, the Empress Dowager Cixi spent the navy fund having the

Garden of Clear Ripples rebuilt. And then she renamed it the Garden

of Nurtured Harmony (Summer Palace).

In 1900, the Allied Forces of Eight Powers invaded Beijing. The

Summer Palace was once again severely damaged. It was rebuilt again

in 1902.

In 1924, the Last Emperor Puyi was driven out of the palace, after

that, the Summer Palace was turned into a public park.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please look over there, in front of us is an

archway. It is called “Emptiness and the collection of excellence”,

and it is the first scenery of the Summer Palace. The two Chinese

words on the front side of the archway mean emptiness and refer to

everything in nature and in the scenery. The two words on the back

side mean Collection of Excellence and refer to the tranquility of

the beautiful scenery just within the garden.

(outside the East Palace Gate)

Now, we have arrived at the East Palace Gate. It?s the main entrance

of the Summer Palace. On top of the gate there is a plaque with

three Chinese characters ?The Summer Palace? in Emperor Guangxu?s

handwriting. The gate that we are now entering was used by the

emperor, the empress only in the old days.

(Inside the East Palace Gate)

Now we are inside the Summer Palace. In front of us is the second

gate of the Summer Palace

—

the Gate of Benevolence and Longevity.

The annex halls on both sides were used for officials on duty and

the offices of the Privy Council. Well, Before we start our tour in

the garden, I will briefly introduce you the layout of the Summer

Palace and our tour route. O.K., ladies and gentlemen, may I have

your attention please? Let?s look at the map together, From it we

can see the Summer Palace covers an area of 290 hectares, which the

lake occupies the three-fourths. The whole garden can be divide into

three parts: the area was for political activities, resting places

of the emperor and empress, and sightseeing areas. Our tour will

start from the area of the political activities, and end off the

Marble Boat. On the way, we will visit the main constructions of the

Summer Palace, such as the Hall of Jade Ripples, the Hall of

Happiness and Longevity, the Long Corridor, the Hall of Dispelling

Clouds and so on. It will take us about two hours to visit the

Summer Palace. Please attention, we won?t walk back and our driver

will pick us up at the North Gate. Should you get lost or separated

from the group, please meet us at the North Gate.

Ok, everyone, let?s start our tour from the emperors? o

ffice --- the

Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. Follow me please.

(Inside the courtyard of the Benevolence and Longevity)

Passing through the Gate of Benevolence and Longevity, we have

already entered the courtyard of the Hall of Benevolence and

Longevity. The huge rock in front of us is Taihu Rock. It was

quarried from Taihu Lake in Jiangsu Province, so it was known as

Taihu Rock. Please look around the courtyard and you can see there

are four grotesque shaped rocks placed in each corner of this

courtyard, representing the four seasons of the year. The Taihu

Rocks are usually used as decoration for beautifying gardens and

they are thin, crease, leak and penetration in characters.

The bronze mythical animal behind the Taihu Rock is known as Suanni

or some people call it Qilin. According to ancient Chinese

mythology, the dragon had nine sons, but none of them became a real

dragon. Suanni was one of the nine sons of the dragon. It was an

auspicious animal that could avoid evil spirits in ancient lengeds.

Suanni has the head of dragon, the antlers of dear, the hooves of ox

and the tail of lion.

(In front of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity)

This grand hall is the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. It was

first built in 1750. The name of this hall taken from a book

entitled ?Lun Yu? by Confucius doctrine means, “ those who are

benevolent can enjoy a long life.” This hall was the place where

Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi held audience and handled

state affairs when they were in the Summer Palace. For protecting

the historical cultural relic, we couldn?t enter the hall. So I

would like to briefly introduce you the decorations in the Hall of

Benevolence and Longevity. The arrangement of the hall has been left

untouched. In the middle of the hall stands an emperor?s throne

carved with nine dragons on design. There are two big fans on both

sides behind the throne which are made of peacock feathers. Behind

the throne there is a big screen with red sandalwood

frame

and glass mirror inlaid. On the mirror there are 226 Chinese

characters of the word ?Longevity? written in different styles.

There are two scrolls on each side of the wall with a big Chinese

character ?Longevity? written on it. It was said that the word

?Longevity? written by Empress Dowager Cixi. There are 100 bats

painted at the background of the scroll symbolizing happiness.

Well, please look up the two pairs of incense burners in the shape

of a dragon and a phoenix in front of the hall. They were used to

burn incense sticks to create the appropriate atmosphere. In the old

days, the dragon and phoenix were the symbol of the emperor and

empress. According to ritual, the dragons should be placed in the

center while phoenixes were to either side in front of the hall.

However, here, the dragons are off to the sides and the phoenixes

are in the middle. This was a product of the end of Qing Dynasty

when Empress Dowager Cixi handled state affairs behind the screen.

(At the entrance of Garden of virtuour Harmony)

We are now visiting the Garden of Virtuous Harmony, where Emperor

Qianlong and Empress Dowager Cixi were entertained with Bejing Opera

performances. It mainly consists of the Dressing House, the Grand

Theater Building and the Hall of Pleasure Smile. The Grand Theater

Building was known as the ?Cradle of Beijing Opera? was uniquely

laid out and magnificently decorated. There are 7 exhibition halls

with articles of daily use on display here.

(In front of the Grand Theater Building)

This is the Grand Theater Building. Of the three main theater

buildings of the Qing Dynasty, the Grand Theater Building is the

tallest and largest one. The other two are Changyin Pavilion in the

Forbidden City and Qingyin Pavilion in the Mountain Resort in