Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Jehol

JEHOL, or Cheng-te-fu, a city of Mongolia, famous as the seat of the summer palace of the emperor of China, is situated near 118° E. long. and 41° N. lat., about 140 miles north-east of Peking, with which it is connected by an excellent line of road. Though not enclosed by walls, the town, which is about 2 miles long, bears the stamp of a flourishing Chinese town of the same rank. The population is stated at 10,000. The palace, called Pi-shu-shan-chuang, or “mountain lodge for avoiding heat,” was built in 1703 on the plan of the palace of Yuan-ming-yuan near Peking. A substantial brick wall 6 miles in circuit encloses several well-wooded heights and extensive gardens, rockeries, pavilions, temples, &c., after the usual Chinese style. In the vicinity of Jehol are numerous Lama monasteries and temples, the most remarkable being Putala-su, built on the model of the palace of the grand lama of Tibet at Putala. It is thus described by Mr Bushell (Journ. R. Geog. Soc., Lond., 1874): “The principal building of this temple is a huge square erection with eleven rows of windows, the stories coloured alternately red, green, and yellow, surmounted by a row of five dagobas, and with the roof covered with enamelled tiles of a bright torquoise blue. The general effect is inexpressibly bizarre.”