Long Corridor, Summer Palace, Beijing

So that his mother could enjoy the gardens without fear of the elements, the Qianlong emperor (reigned 1736-1795) added the Long Corridor to the Summer Palace in 1750; as is the case of many of the buildings shown in these photographs, however, this is a much later reconstruction. Almost half a mile long, the corridor runs along the shore of Kunming Lake. Some sources claim that the Long Corridor contains some fourteen thousand ceiling paintings.