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The Summer Palace is the place where the Emperor came to evade the heat in the Forbidden City in the summer. From the hilltop perch, the Emperor could survey the imperial navy drills.
The palace itself is constructed on a 60 meters high hill, named Longevity Hill. It consists of different temples, gardens, lakes, pavilions and corridors. Beside the hill there is also a lake, called the Kunming Lake. Kunming Lake ( 2.2 square kilometers) was entirely man-made. They used the soil to build Longevity Hill.
The Marble boat is situated near the Kunming Lake. The story goes that Empress Dowager Cixi used the money originally earmarked for a modern navy to build the Marble boat instead. The boat itself is constructed on solid stone base, so that it couldn't sink, meaning that the Qing Dinasty could not be overthrown.
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Marble Boat
