The Beijing Summer Palace, located at Kunming Lake, in the western part of the present Chinese capital. This collection of imperial gardens and palaces once functioned as the summer retreat for the emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

The manmade lake was dug in the shape of a peach and the excavated earth was used to built the adjacent Longevity Hill, which along its foot has an over 700 meters long wooden corridor (fig.), built in the form of a bat's wings, hence referring to happiness or foo. Another attraction in the Summer Palace is a marble boat that was commissioned by Empress-Dowager Ci Xi, the de facto ruler of China around the second half of the 19th century. However, in order to pay for it, she had reallocated money originally intended to build a new fleet for the Imperial Navy.

Hence, unable to properly defend themselves, Beijing was eventually invaded by Anglo-French troops and part of the Summer Palace was burned down.