Imperial Garden of the Summer Palace

 It serves as a popular tourist destination and recreational park. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake , it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres , three-quarters of which is water.

Longevity Hill is about 60 metres (200 feet) high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres (540 acres), was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.

In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
Source:Wikipedia

Thanks to YuanMing via Postcrossing for this great  historical card!

It must have got caught up in the Christmas jam to arrive 2 months later :p

Sent: 30 December 2015    Received: 2 March 2016   Travelled: 63 days