Hall for Listening to Orioles 听鹂馆

When the Anglo French troops invaded, much of the Summer Palace was destroyed, however during the time of Emperor Guangxu 光绪 reconstruction started. The Hall for Listening to Orioles 听鹂馆 is one of these halls. The interestingly named hall was built in the time of Emperor Qianlong for her mother to watch opera. The Chinese often named beautiful voices orioles thus the name of the place. When the hall was reconstructed in the time of Guangxu, it served as Empress Dowager Cixi’s place for listening to Beijing opera when the Grand Stage was not completed yet.

Now the Hall for Listening to Orioles no longer shows Beijing opera. Far from it. It is now a restaurant which served imperial court cuisine. I was under the impression that it was a museum of some sort with the huge caligraphy displayed in the front door, I was surprised and dismayed to find out that it is now a restaurant. Oh well, you do need to make money somewhere.

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