Long Corridor

The Long Corridor () is a covered walkway in the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. First erected in the middle of the 18th century, it is famous for its length in conjunction with its rich painted decoration (more than 14,000 paintings).

History

The Long Corridor was first built in 1750, when the Qianlong Emperor commissioned work to convert the area into an imperial garden. The corridor was constructed so that the emperor's mother could enjoy a walk through the gardens protected from the elements. Like most of the Summer Palace, the Long Corridor was
severely damaged by fire which Anglo-French allied forces laid in 1860 during the Second Opium War. It was rebuilt in 1886. As a part of the Summer Palace, the Long Corridor was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December, 1998.

Layout

The Long Corridor leads from the ''Gate for Greeting the Moon'' (Yao Yue Men) in the east westwards along the northern shore of Kunming Lake. Along its entire length, it keeps to the transitional zone between the lake shore and the foot of the Longevity Hill, which is on the opposite side of the corridor. The Marble Boat, a landmark lakeside pavilion, is located near the western end of the corridor. The middle section of the Long Corridor passes in a southward bend around the central building complex on the lake side of Longevity Hill, The main hall in this complex is the ''Cloud-Dispelling Hall'' (Pai Yun Dian), where the Empress Dowager Cixi used to celebrate her birthday. The Long Corridor runs through the ''Cloud-Dispelling Gate'' (Pai Yun Men) that marks the center of the corridor. The Gate is a landmark in its own right and covered in paintings.

The total length of the Long Corridor is , with crossbeams under the roof dividing it into 273 sections. Along its course, there are four octagonal pavilions with double eaves, two on each side of the Cloud-Dispelling Gate. The pavilions symbolize the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and are named (from east to west): Liu Jia (, "retaining the goodness"), Ji Lan (, "living with the ripples"), Qiu Shui (, "autumn water"), and Qing Yao (, "clear and far"). Midway between the two pavilions on either side of the Cloud-Dispelling Gate, pavilions on the lake shore can be reached through short southward extension of the Long Corridor: the ''Facing-the-Seagull Boat'' (Dui Ou Fang) Pavilion in the east and the Fish－and－Algae Pavilion (Yu Zao Xuan) in the west. In the west, there is also a northward extension opposite of the Fish-and-Algae Pavilion, which leads to a three-storey octagonal observation tower. The long corridor is called 长廊 in chinese.

Artwork

The Long Corridor is richly decorated with paintings on the beams and the ceiling. In total there are more than 14,000 paintings, which depict episodes from Chinese classical literature, folk tales, both historical and legendary figures, and famous Chinese buildings and landscapes along with flowers, birds, fish, and insects. In each of the four pavilions, there are two major paintings over the two doorways on the eastern and western sides. The topics of these paintings are described below (from east to west):

The Tale of the Peach-Blossom Land

The “ Tale of the Peach-Blossom Land” () is set during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It tells the story of a fisherman who discovers a secluded valley (Shi Wai Tao Yuan) located on the other side of a narrow cave. The inhabitants of the valley were the descendants of war refugees from the times of the Qin Dynasty. They had lived in this utopia untroubled by the further course of history in peace and harmony ever since. The fisherman returned home to tell the story, but the idyllic valley could never be found again.

Sun Wukong's Fight with Nezha

The painting depicts an episode from the Chinese classic '' Journey to the West''. In the episode, the monkey king Sun Wukong is fighting the boy god Nezha, who was sent by the Jade Emperor to capture Sun Wukong. In the fight, both Nezha and Sun Wukong transform themselves into gods with three heads and six arms. In the painting, Nezha is depicted on a fire wheel, which is commonly associated with him as his way of transport.

Zhang Fei's Fight with Ma Chao

The subject of this painting is a fierce, stalemate battle between two of the future Five Tiger Generals of the Shu Han