To the west side of the Tower of Buddhist Incense (Fuoxiangge) on the Longevity Hill of the Summer Palace, there stands a bronze pavilion: Baoyun Pavilion. As the entire structure is made of bronze, it is also called "golden pavilion". Baoyun Pavilion is one of the three best and largest bronze-made buildings that now exist in China. It's a pity that tourists from all over the world are often unaware of this "golden pavilion" on Longevity Hill while they enjoy the scenery beauty of the grand imperial garden. Interested? Just read the following paragraphs.

Baoyun Pavilion

Baoyun Bronze Pavilion is a structure with double-eaved roof. With a height of 7.55m, it weighs as much as 207 ton. The pillars, rafters, brackets, tiles, beasts on the ridges, windows and doors and even the lintel of the bronze pavilion were all made after timberwork. Greenish-grey in color, it is delicately and intricately made. As is documented, the copper cuttings accumulated in the process of polishing the surface reached to 2,500kg. The pavilion sits on a white marble base of Buddhist-style with carvings. Bells with the same material and color hang on the four squares of the brackets and ring in wind. The sunlit painted pavilion looks dainty and delicate, giving a sense of perpetuity.

When the construction of the bronze pavilion was finished, Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) wrote poetic line on the stele standing before it. In the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Lamas from Tibet pattered here to pray for emperor and empress of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) at the first and fifteen day of each lunar month. The 10 meters high brackets on the stone cliff behind the pavilion were all employed to hang Buddha figures while praying.

Four names were engraved in the inner wall of this rare bronze pavilion: Yangguozhu, Zhangcheng, Hanzhong, and Gaoyonggu. It is likely that these four people cast this pavilion. The casting method applied in this bronze pavilion is one of the three greatest methods in ancient China that was recorded to come into existence in the Spring and Autumn Period. Artisans cast all kinds of components of the pavilion, bigger or smaller, first and then integrated them. The accomplishment of this magnificent and fancy bronze pavilion was a breakthrough of the investment casting history of China.

Unsolved Mystery

Constructed in the twentieth year of the reign of Qing Qianlong, Baoyun bronze pavilion survived many calamities and historical shifts.

In 1860, the Allied Forces of Britain and France burned the Garden of Clear Ripples (former name of the Summer Palace) but the Baoyun bronze pavilion kept intact due to the bronze material. Nevertheless, the furnishings inside the pavilion were also gone, leaving a bronze table alone. In 1900, the Eight Allied Army preyed on the summer palace, yet could do nothing to the bronze pavilion. One day in year 1908, the eunuch in charge of the summer palace psyched out when they found that the 4 big and 6 small bronze windows disappeared suddenly while they patrolled. According to the Statutes and Precedents of the Great Qing Empire, those guilty of dereliction of duty should be killed at once, therefore, the eunuch tried his best to gloss over the news. With the downfall of the Qing Dynasty and the running of the time, the loss of the ten windows, each of which weighs around 100kg, became a mystery of the Summer Palace.

In 1970s, those lost bronze windows showed up. Someone from overseas who claimed to know the whereabout of the windows wrote to the Summer Palace and said the windows could go back if certain amount of money were given. Later, it is said that the person who wrote the letter talked a wealthy man into buying the ten bronze windows and donated them to the Summer Palace. On December 2, 1993, the donation ceremony was held in the Summer Palace, hereby the ten bronze windows went back home after drifting as long as 90 years and Baoyun bronze pavilion looked as what it was before. However, it remains an unsolved mystery that how the ten bronze windows disappeared.
 

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