Chengde · CN

Ruyi Island (Ruyizhou)

Tucked into the lake district of the Mountain Resort in Chengde (Hebei), Ruyi Island is the largest of the imperial garden's many islets and one of its most rewarding detours. Shaped like a ruyi scepter, the ~35,000-square-metre island links a tight cluster of pavilions, courtyards and water terraces across bridges and a cloud-like causeway, and packs twelve of the resort's celebrated Seventy-two Scenes onto a single shore. More than pretty scenery, Ruyi Island was the working heart of the early resort: before the main palace quarter was completed around 1711, this islet served as the residential and administrative core where the Kangxi Emperor stayed and handled affairs. Today its well-preserved buildings read as a garden-within-a-garden—northern courtyard houses softened by Jiangnan water-garden tricks, split into intimate scenic courts with covered walkways and low garden walls.