Chengde Pictures

The city of Chengde is always taken as one destination for those who take a side travel from Beijing. Chengde, once called Rehe (Hot River) or Jehol, is located roughly 250 kilometers northeast of Beijing. The city remained unknown until the Qing emperor Kangxi built a summer palace here with a throne room and the full range of court trappings in the early 18th century. Later during the reign of his grandson Qianlong, it grew into an immense Imperial Summer Resort with the surroundings dotted with temples and replicating a miniature version of Lhasa's Potala Palace inside the garden.