Fragrant Hills Park

Fragrant Hills Park is located on the eastern sides of the Western Hills, approximately 10 kilometers to the west of Beijing. Covering an area of 160 hectares, the Fragrant Hills Park is surrounded by green hills stretching up and down; its highest peak is 557 m in altitude and is shaped in an incense burner.

This park was established in 1186 of the Jin Dynasty and it was extended to a large scale in Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In 1745, Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty had a number of large halls; pagodas, memorial archways and leisure pavilions built and changed the name of the area to the Garden of Peacefulness (Jingyi Yuan in Chinese). This park served the famous Qing ruler as one of his summer palaces and became one of the three favorite hills of Qianlong, beside Jade Spring Mountain (Yuquanshan) and Longevity Hill (Wanshoushan) in the Summer Palace. Unfortunately, lots of relics was burned or destroyed by the Anglo-French forces and the eight-Power Allied Forces in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Since 1949, with a half-century's restoration and development by Chinese government, Fragrant Hills Park has been recognized as one of the ten most famous parks in Beijing.

Due to its high elevation and dense cover of trees, spring arrives late in the area and summer days are always pleasantly cool. The best time to visit the park is late fall, when the smoke tree leaves turn red. In late fall, when hundreds of thousands of common smoke trees turn red, the boundless scene is the most distinguished autumn scenery.

Around the hill, there are lots of temples and scenic spots. Two routes to enjoy the park are available for the tourists. The first choice is to go along the path northward and then turn left, including the attractions of Luminous Temple (Zhaomiao), the Bright Temple, Studio of Tranquil Heart, etc. The other route goes to the southern part, including the main attractions of Tranquility Green Lake, Shuangqing Villa, Ruins of Fragrant Temple, the Jade Flower Villa, the Ruins of Xiangshan (Fragrant Hills) and Incense Burner Peak.