The Summer Palace
Beijing China
2014

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace

The Summer Palace is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres, three-quarters of which is water.

https://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/attraction/summer-palace.htm

The Summer Palace (Yiheyuan), in northwest Beijing, is said to be the best-preserved imperial garden in the world, and the largest of its kind still in existence in China. It is only a short drive of 15 km (10 miles) from central Beijing, but it seems like another world.

Most people find they need to spend at least half a day there, as there's so much to see and enjoy.

Close to the Summer Palace, 3 kilometers (2 miles) southwest of it, there is another imperial garden called the Old Summer Palace. They are two different gardens.

The Summer Palace is known as the 'Imperial Garden Museum' in China as its purpose now is the preservation of national heritage material. It harmonizes plants and paths, water and land, architecture and horticulture, epitomizing the philosophy and practice of Chinese garden design.

The Summer Palace played a key role in the development of this Oriental cultural form, and perhaps represents its pinnacle.

The Summer Palace was used as a summer retreat by the Chinese royal family. During the hot Beijing summers, the imperial family preferred the beautiful gardens and airy pavilions of the Summer Palace to the walled-in Forbidden City. Dowager Empress Cixi took up permanent residence there for a time, giving rise to some wonderful tales of extravagance and excess.

Bronze deer
The Palace of Gathering Elegance (Chuxiu Gong) seems to be an ordinary palace located in the north of the Six Western Palaces in the Forbidden City. However, it used to be the most important residence of Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), one of the most influential women in imperial China. From when she stepped into the Forbidden City (1852) until she ruled China behind curtains, Cixi had spent most of her lifetime in this palace.

There is a pair of bronze dragons and a pair of bronze deer at the foot of the steps outside the Palace of Gathering Elegance. Produced in 1883, these bronze deer were 1.6 meters high, 0.3 meters wide and located on a 0.22-meter-high bronze base. The deer look gentle and calm, revealing a touch of peace and feminine charm.

There are several guesses that can be made at the reasons for putting this pair of deer in front of the Palace of Gathering Elegance. Some associate it with three important events that occurred around the year of 1883.

The first one was that Cixi moved back to the Palace of Gathering Elegance from the Palace of Eternal Spring (Changchun Gong) in 1884 to celebrate her 50th birthday. In the book named Gongnü Tanwang Lu (the memory of a palace maid, literally), He Ronger, a palace maid who had served Cixi for eight years in the Forbidden City, believed that Cixi moved back to the Palace of Gathering Elegance out of her love for her husband and personal experience there. Cixi had lived in this palace for many years after she married the Xianfeng Emperor at age 17. The palace was full of memories for the young couple. Besides this, Cixi gave birth to her son in this palace, who then became the Tongzhi Emperor, paving her way to the height of supreme power over the nation.

The second event was that Cixi had just recovered from a liver ailment in 1883. The third event occurred in 1884, when Cixi used China’s loss in the Sino-French War (1884–1885) as a pretext for getting rid of Prince Gong and other important decision-makers in the Grand Council. Cixi then consolidated control over the dynasty.

Based on Cixi’s experience and the cultural meaning of deer in China, there are several other possible reasons why these deer were placed there. The deer was a symbol of romance in ancient China. Before a man married a woman, it was customary for the groom to send two pieces of buckskin as a betrothal gift to the bride’s family. Perhaps Cixi wanted to commemorate her love for her husband. The other reason may have lain in the pursuit of health and longevity. Since the Han Dynasty, the ancient Chinese have believed that venison was beneficial to health. Eating antler and venison and drinking deer blood were important in the regimen followed by the royal family of the Qing Dynasty. Some also associate deer with a longing for power, as chasing a deer symbolized fighting for the throne in traditional culture. The last reason lies in the ancient belief that the deer was an auspicious animal delivering good fortune to mankind. Meanwhile, the Chinese character for deer sounds like the character for “lu,” which means wealth and prosperity.