Apparently the original Qing name for this site meant “The Mountain Resort for Escaping Summer Heat”. You too might find it a pleasant escape from Beijing – it is only a few hours away by bus or train. Its main part consists of pavilions, temples, gardens, streams and lakes not that different (albeit writ very large!) from what you might have seen at the Old and New Summer palaces in Beijing – but attractive enough. It was constructed across the 18th century and consisted of 2 parts divided apparently by a “mini Great Wall” – inside were copies of 72 Chinese beauty spots and temples and a “Garden of 10000 trees”. Outside the wall (the "Outlying Temples" of the modern title) were 12 Tibetan Buddhist temples - 8 of which remain (photo). These included “reproductions” (more or less) of the Dalai Lama’s residence, the Potala and the Panchen Lama’s residence at Shigatse.

However, as you wander around, you might not be aware either of the original “Political” purpose for the creation of the site nor for the possible “political” ramifications of its current restoration and elevation to UNESCO inscribed status. Was it entirely coincidental that the Potala in Lhasa was inscribed in the same year (1994)as this site? Has UNESCO allowed itself to become a pawn in China’s nationalistic policy of fully incorporating Tibet within the borders of the PRC? Indeed can “Inscription” ever be purely a “neutral” or rather a "Universal" rather than a "Nationalistic" political and cultural act?

I quote from 3 different sources :-

“The resort was a summer palace built by the Qing Emperors with a political motive, to appease and unite the minority peoples living in China's border regions and to consolidate national unity. Each year the Qing Emperors spent a good deal of time at the resort handling political and military affairs and receiving foreign envoys and the chiefs of minority peoples”. (“Justification by State Party” – ie the Chinese Government)

“Standing for the different architectural style of various Minorities in China, the Eight Outer Temples is the symbol of the country's unity and minorities' solidification” (China Travel Service)

“this article focuses on a particular leisure park dense with both historical and contemporary meaning: the Mountain Resort at Chengde. At this site a seemingly innocent restoration and preservation project, supported and sanctioned by the international community, produces a host of other effects. Tibet is fixed within a multicultural national heritage enterprise .... and foreign tourists are encouraged to appreciate the unity of the Han and minority populations that make up the People’s Republic" ("World Heritage, National Culture, and the Restoration of Chengde” by James L Hevia – if you want to read the whole article go to http://positions.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/9/1/219 )