Fragrant Hills Park (Xiangshan Park; Chinese: 香山公园; pinyin: Xiāngshān Gōngyuán) is a public park at the foot of the Western Mountains in the Haidian District, in the northwestern part of Beijing, China. It covers 1.6 km² (395 acres) and consists of a natural pine-cypress forest, hills with maple trees, smoke trees and persimmon trees, as well as landscaped areas with traditional architecture and cultural relics. The name derives from the park's h...
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Fragrant Hills Park (Xiangshan Park; Chinese: 香山公园; pinyin: Xiāngshān Gōngyuán) is a public park at the foot of the Western Mountains in the Haidian District, in the northwestern part of Beijing, China. It covers 1.6 km² (395 acres) and consists of a natural pine-cypress forest, hills with maple trees, smoke trees and persimmon trees, as well as landscaped areas with traditional architecture and cultural relics. The name derives from the park's highest peak, Xianglu Feng (Incense Burner Peak), a 557 meters (1827 ft) hill with two large stones resembling incense burners at the top.
The xiang in the name refers to incense, not fragrance per se. This name is perhaps derived from the name of the highest peak Xianglu feng 香炉峰, or "Incense-burner peak," the bronze-cast incense burner (with remote roots in ritual bronzes) being a common article found in temples. Indeed, incense was also often used as a metonym for temples.
The park was built in 1186 in the Jin Dynasty (1115 to 1234) and...
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