The Emperor Xianfeng died in Rehe in 1861 and his 6- year son Zaichun was enthroned, his blood mother honored the Saint Empress Dowager, i.e. Cixi. She soon started the court coup and became the actual ruler. Abandoned into the endless luxury, Cixi was fed up with the "boring" Forbidden City. In 1873, she ordered the emperor to reconstruct Yuanming Park but in vain due to the objection of officials and lack of money.

The Emperor Tongzhi died of sickness in 1874, and the 4- year son of Marquis Chun became the emperor, i.e Emperor Guangxu. Cixi attended to court affairs behind the screen. The marquis was assigned to the key position at the department of navy force .To curry favor with Cixi, the marquis Chun commenced the renovation of Qingyi Garden with military expenditure of the navy army which was collected at the excuse of establishing a military school at Kunming Lake. In the name of the Emperor Guangxu, Cixi released an imperial edict stating the renovation of the Qingyi Garden was all for the Empress Dowager's relaxation and named the garden officially the Summer Palace on Mar. 13, 1888.

Upon completion, Cixi Spent most of her time in the Summer Palace. She may stay in the palace from February till her birthday on Oct. 10 or even the end of the year before returning to the Forbidden City. Most of the architec-tures inside the Summer Palace were catered to her individual needs. Considering the Tingli Hall too small, she had the Dehe Theatre built, where 9- day Peking Opera used to be on show in event of her birthday. Since she was very dainty about food, imperial kitchen for her alone occupied the spacke of eight courtyards.

Nevertheless, the "good" time did not last long. The Sino- Japanese War of 1894- 1895 broke out when Cixi intended to celebrate her 60th birthday in 1894, leading to the debacle of the Northern Fleet. After the war, the department of the navy force was dismantled and the construction of the Summer Palace ceased.

Six years later, when the Eight Allied Forces invaded Beijing, Cixi escaped in panic to Xi'an with the emperor. The Russian army first occupied the Summer Palace on August 15, when they plundered all treasures there and destroyed everything. The buddha portrait without head on the wall of Wisdom Sea witnessed the atrocity. The subsequent invasion of the English and Italians lasted nearly one year, incurring severe devasation. One year after the sign of the humiliating Treaty of 1901 with the invaders, Cixi returned to Beijing and began to renovate the Summer Palace again. Owing to the lack of money, only the front hill was restored.

The Summer Palce witnessed the late years of Cixi, including her dealing with civil and foreign affairs which hu-miliated the nation and forfeited its sovereignty. Afraid of the assassinstion of the revolutionaries, she had the walls heightened one more meter, telecphone installed and more stationing army patrolling around in 1905. In succession to the death of Emperor Guangxu, Cixi died on Nov.15, 1908. The last Emperor Puyi of 3 years old was enthroned and the empress Dowager Longyu assumed the reigns of the dynasty, who declared no treading in the Summer Palace. The Revolution of 1911 toppled the feudal dynasty. Then, Empress Dowager Longyu declared the abdication of the last emperor on Feb.12,1912, though the Summer palace still belonged to the emperor according to the special treatment to the royal family.

As the private esate of Puyi, the Summer Palace once opened to the public in 1914.10 years later when Pu Yi was exiled out of the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace was taken over by the Beiping government of the nor-thern warlord and opened to the public again.But the costly admission ticket and inconvenient transportation at that time rendered the palace out of bounds to commoners. Lacking renovation and management, the once exceptionally grand Summer Palace was only a view of ruins.

| The Summer Palace |