Photo contrast between Beijing and Chengde

Blue Skies of Chengde

Story and picture by Visuallens

A family friend of mine returned from a holiday trip to China told me that Chengde is a place that attracted them most compared to Beijing and Tianchen the package tour they took recently. I agree with their views.

This bring back my memory to the holiday trip I made with my family …

It took about four to five hour drive on the expressway across the mountainous region north of Beijing, and we arrived at a city called Chengde. It is a small plain surrounded by the Yanshan range.

And coming in from a noisy, dusty and congested Beijing, we would feel immediately the pleasant contrast in Chengde with its serenity, slow pace, blue skies and cooling mountain air. It is no wonder why the emperors in Qing Dynasty liked to spend their holiday in this city Chengde.

Chengde boasts of the biggest imperial palace garden called Bishu Shanchuang at the foot of Yanshan, which is twice the size of the Yihe Yuan summer palace in Beijing. The long name in Chinese simply means “a mountain resort to escape from the summer heat”

Those pine tree that line the pathways and decorate the open space have aged to become even more majestic now.One can almost hear the strains of pipa and gucheng floating through the courts and gardens.

As tourists, me and my family took some pictures during this China tour and also covered Beijing and Chengde . All the pictures were taken with a Canon Powershot S60 compact camera as I was advised by doctor not to carry heavy camera bag because of my neck problem.

More pictures can be seen in Pictorial

Noisy and dusty Beijing