Beihai Park (Beihai Gongyuan)

Why Beihai Park (Beihai Gongyuan) is special ?

Beihai Park (simplified Chinese: 北海公园; traditional Chinese: 北海公園; pinyin: Běihǎi Gōngyuán) is an imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing. First built in the 10th century, it is amongst the largest of Chinese gardens, and contains numerous historically important structures, palaces and temples. Since 1925, the place has been open to the public as a park. It is also connected at its northern end to the Shichahai. The Park has an area of more than 69 hectares, with a lake that covers more than half of the entire Park. At the center of the Park is an island called Qiónghuá (琼华) Island with a highest point of 32 m. In the north of the park there is a large pool called the Taiye Pool connecting the two other pools, which are called the Middle Sea and the South Sea respectively. Therefore the Taiye Pool is also called the Beihai.