Ruins of Jingji Mountain Villa

Ruins of Jingji Mountain Villa

The ruins of Jingji Mountain Villa are designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Tianjin Municipality.

The ruins of Jingji Mountain Villa are located in Lianhe Village, Guanzhuang Town, Jixian County, Tianjin, dating back to the Qing Dynasty.

Also known as Panshan Temporary Palace, the villa is located at the southern foot of Panshan Mountain, covering an area of approximately 400 hectares. It was one of the five major temporary palaces built by Emperor Qianlong within Jixian County. The entire estate spans over 6,000 acres and includes inner and outer Eight Scenic Spots, New Six Scenic Spots, along with sixteen additional ones, totaling 38 scenic spots. It is the third imperial garden constructed after Emperor Kangxi’s Summer Resort and Emperor Yongzheng’s Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace), and another masterpiece of ancient Chinese garden art.

Jingji Mountain Villa was actually called “Jingyi Mountain Villa” (静挹山庄). Because the character “挹” (yì) was difficult to recognize and due to local accents, people mistakenly pronounced it as “寄” (jì). When the *Xiqing Gujian* (西清古鉴) was completed in 1755, Emperor Qianlong affixed three imperial seals here: “Qian” (乾), “Long” (隆), and “Jingyi Mountain Villa” (静挹山庄). This proves that the villa was indeed named Jingyi.

Ancient scholars once praised: “The three terraces of Panshan hide depths to be explored, its northern face resembles the south of the Yangtze. Embroidered fields unfold with sweet flowing springs; three mighty passes lie to the north of Middle Terrace. The Xun River joins the waters of Panshan Valley on the left, while white rapids tumble along the brook pools. Moisture enriches the mountain’s shadow, turning it into fertile soil—ideal for crops and mulberry trees for silkworms. At the summit of Dingguang Pagoda, dreams are lulled in slumber; Zilai Peak connects to the azure sky. ” According to Yao Wenhan’s *Panshan Map* (now housed in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan), there were over a hundred scenic sites within the villa.

Construction of the villa began in the ninth year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign during the Qing Dynasty (1744) and was completed in the nineteenth year (1754). After its completion, Emperor Qianlong stayed here more than thirty times, and Emperor Jiaqing stayed seven times. After the fifteenth year of Jiaqing’s reign, imperial visits ceased. In the eleventh year of Daoguang’s reign, Panshan Temporary Palace was abolished, and all furnishings were transported to the Summer Resort. Guards remained stationed there until the end of the Qing Dynasty. In the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, warlord Hu Jingyi’s troops, under the pretext of selling off official property to raise military funds, first cut down pine trees, then dismantled buildings, and finally sold the land by the acre, earning less than ten thousand taels of silver. Meanwhile, the villa’s caretakers also scrambled to loot the site, leaving this royal garden—meticulously maintained for nearly two hundred years—in complete ruins. During the Anti-Japanese War, it suffered further destruction from Japanese military raids, reducing the villa to mere rubble. Today, only the building foundations and six to seven li of palace walls remain.

Although only ruins and foundations remain, Jingji Mountain Villa boasts a rich historical and cultural background. From a historical perspective, Emperor Qianlong was not only an emperor but also a literati. Garden-making and landscape design were tangible expressions of ancient literati projecting their emotions onto nature—they created gardens in small spaces and borrowed scenery within confined rooms. Yet none possessed the financial resources of Emperor Qianlong, who, as a literati emperor, undertook such large-scale garden construction during his reign. On one hand, this reflected his inherent literary sensibility; on the other, it demonstrated his respect, as a Manchu emperor, for Han Chinese cultural traditions. Therefore, Jingji Mountain Villa serves as a significant case study for researching Qing Dynasty history and culture.

On January 5, 2013, the Tianjin Municipal People’s Government announced it as part of the fourth batch of Tianjin Cultural Relic Protection Units.

Lianhe Village: Lianhe Village…… Detailed information about Lianhe Village++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Tianjin Cultural Relic Protection Units