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Summer Palace, The: Secret Gardens of the Last Emperor’s of China

Approx. 52 Min. Ea. Audience: College, Adult, A.P. Closed captioned Asian Studies Documentaries Fine Arts Philosophy & Religious Studies Sciences

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About this film

Recommended: Video Librarian The Summer Palace, located approximately six miles from Beijing, covers over 700 acres. Within this vast area, a wide variety of palaces, gardens, pagodas, temples and other remarkable buildings can be found, representing a miniature model of the Middle Empire, a genuine living museum of Chinese art. But it is also the archetype of the philosophy and practice of Chinese land art, which played a key role in the development of this culture throughout the Far East. Assured of unrestricted access, the images captured in these documentaries enable the viewer to experience the daily life of the imperial court of China, a private and secret world as it has existed in so many dynasties, and thereby better understand the spirit of this civilization, the essence of this culture and what the Chinese traditional lifestyle represents. Part I: Emperor Qianlong And The Splendors of the Middle Kingdom Qianlong, one of the most educated emperors of the Qing Dynasty, built the gardens and palaces with the dual purpose of creating a system of water supply for the capital of the Empire, and to create a space for contemplation, meditation and reflection as opposed to the Forbidden City, site of the exerc

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