A covered gallery, over a half mile long,
borders the north side of Kunming Lake.
Landscape scenes and fl oral motifs
decorate the crossbeams of the gallery’s
273 bays. Picturesque bridges,
such as the Marble (Jade Belt) Bridge
and the Seventeen-Arch Bridge connect
various causeways. Behind Longevity
Hill to the north, the emperor had
an urban street scene re-created along
a canal, in imitation of an actual retail
district in Suzhou. Behind the royal
palace to the east, a garden-within-agarden
(called The Garden of Harmonious
Interest) replicated a famous
Suzhou garden.