A new research institute has been established in Chengde of Hebei Province, north China, to conduct special research on the Qing Dynasty, its imperial court and related historical sites, including the world famous imperial summer resort.
A group of more than 100 well-known scholars, historians and specialists in the history of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), including Dai Yi, Wang Sizhi, Luo Ming and Zhu Chengru who is president of the Palace Museum based in China's capital, attended the founding ceremony.
Apart from the study of the imperial summer resort, the researchers will study a group of lamaseries, the imperial hunting field, and collect and rescue valuable historic relics currently scattered among local residents.
The institute has 11 research offices and 27 researchers. The scope of study will cover gardens, architecture, history, ethnic group regions, biology, archeology and fine arts.
Occupying an area of 5.6 million square meters and consisting mainly of the palace area and gardens, the 299-year-old Summer Mountain Villas in Chengde served as the temporary imperial palace resort of Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong in summer during the Qing Dynasty. With numerous unique, classical architectural structures, it is the largest classical imperial garden architecture that remains intact in China.
It is believed that about half of the significant historical events of the Qing Dynasty occurred at the Chengde Summer Mountain Villas.
The site has been placed on the World Cultural Heritage list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Chengde boasts over 1,300 ancient historic sites, nine of them are put in nation-class preservation list and 47 others in provincial-class list. More than 70,000 pieces of cultural relics are stored in local museums.
(People?s Daily September 12, 2002)
