In the last part of the 1800’s a concubine maneuvered herself into power and ruled from behind the scenes for about 50 years. She place the kid on the throne that ultimately became the last emperor (remember the movie?). One of the things she also did was decimate the national budget renovating one of the favorite summering places of the emperors. Here are some pictures.
They dug this huge man-made lake
Along the lake there was a ½ mile long covered walkway for strolling under.
And, she diverted funds meant for the navy to make a marble boat. No kidding, solid marble. Though the boat didn’t sink, shortly thereafter the actual navy did, defeated in battle due to lack of modernization.
Then we went to another part of the
