The Kuoru Pavilion in the Summer Palace

The Kuoru Pavilion in the Summer Palace

The Kuoru Pavilion in the Summer Palace is located on the eastern embankment to the east of the Seventeen-Arch Bridge. It was originally built during the Qingyi Garden period as an ornamental structure commissioned by Emperor Qianlong for the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and the Wangchan Pavilion (now known as Hanxu Hall). During the Qingyi Garden period, there were no walls to the south of the Wenchang Pavilion, offering panoramic views of the lake and rice fields from all directions within the pavilion — hence the name “Kuoru,” meaning “Spreading Out.” It is also commonly referred to by the public as the Eight-Sided Pavilion.

The Kuoru Pavilion is massive in scale, covering an area of over 130 square meters. It features an octagonal, double-eaved, pyramidal roof, supported by forty pillars arranged in three tiers both inside and outside the pavilion. The outer pillars are adorned with hanging latticework and seated bench panels, and the pavilion is enclosed by a low wall with exits on the east, south, west, and north sides.

Eight poetic plaques are hung from the inner eaves of the pavilion. Two of these are imperial poems inscribed by Emperor Qianlong in the 35th and 36th years of his reign, respectively. The remaining six plaques are stamped with Empress Dowager Cixi’s “Three Buddha Seals” and contain transcriptions by court officials of sections from Liu Xie’s “The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons,” namely “On the Way,” “Proving the Sage,” “Honoring the Classics,” “Historical Biographies,” “Divine Thought,” and “Adaptation.”

The poetic plaque inscribed by Emperor Qianlong in the year of Xinyou (the 36th year of his reign) is also not found in the two editions of the “Selected Poems by Emperor Qianlong in the Summer Palace” published by the Summer Palace. The poem is included afterward.

Location

Inside the Summer Palace, Haidian District