It’s the perfect time for getting out on the ice again! The massive outdoor ice skating rink in Summer Palace is now open to the public until February 4! Don’t worry if you’re a wobbly ice skating beginner or don’t have your own skates, Summer Palace’s ice skating rink has a variety of activities on ice for you to skate away without a fear of falling on the hard ice.
Professional skaters in historical garb at the Summer Palace
The History of the Ice Skating Rink at the Summer Palace
With an area of 700,000 square meters, the Summer Palace ice rink is considered to be the largest natural ice rink in Beijing. Since the Qing Dynasty, the royal family had the tradition to have a “冰嬉” (Ice play/performance) in wintertime.
At that time there were three types of ice play for the royal family to watch: race skating (a speed skating competition), acrobatic skating (throwing darts on the ice, playing with knives, and forming human pyramids), and playing football on ice. These ice sports added a lot of festive atmosphere for the upcoming new year that time.
In the 1980s, the ice rink on Kunming Lake was opened to the public for the first time. But due to management difficulties and other aspects, the ice skating rink was closed for the entire 1990s, until in 2014 it was opened again.
Nowadays, this park’s Qing Dynasty architecture makes for a fantastically exotic background that skaters can enjoy while gliding across the massive lake.
People enjoying ice gliding on Kunming Lake
What to do there
The best thing about the ice skating rink at Summer Palace is that you can have plenty of space to zip around without collisions. Summer Palace management office staff announced that Kunming Lake ice rink is divided into three areas this year, namely the main lake, Suzhou Street Lake and the upcoming west embankment ice slide area. All the ice sports are suitable for people of all ages to participate in.
There is rental gear available, such as single or double sleds (RMB 50/100 for the whole day), electronic boats (RMB 100 for 20mins), electronic bumper cars (RMB 100 for 25mins), and skates (RMB 50).
Ice Skating Rink at the Summer Palace
RMB 50 above. Daily until Feb 4, 8.30am-4.30pm. Qinglongqiao Jiedao, Haidian district. 颐和园,海淀区青龙桥街道 (6288 1144).
Photos: Linda, Shaoqing Hou via the Beijing News, news.163.com
