北京恭王府英文导游词

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen:

　　I am very glad to serve as your guide today. You can call me Lily. Please keep my name card at hand. f you have any trouble or lose your way, just call me. My number is here. I’ll do my best to serve for you.

　　Now we are in front of the Prince Gong’s Mansion. It was the residence of He Shen. He was the Prime Ministery and the Minister of Defence in the years of Qanlong, the most prosperous stage of Qing Dynasty. In1850s, the mansion was bestowed on Prince Gong. Compared with the Forbidden City, it seems to be a little less famous. Why we come here ? The answer is its first owner, He Shen, is a very famous person in Chinese history. Every Chinese knows him no matter the kids or the old. There are even many novels, poems, movies and TV series telling his story. Why is he so well-known? Because he was the corruptest official in Chinese history. You can’t imagine how large amount of his graft is. The successive Emperor Jiaqing sentenced He′to death and took possession of his treasure. The money he left behind amounted to 4,000 tons of silver, equaling ten years’ income of the national treasury. If you change it into US dollars, it is 520 billion! I wonder how he got so large amount of money in only one life. Certainly, he paid lots of manpowers and materials to build his own mansion. It is the largest and the best preserved Prince Mansion in Beijing. As you see, the Palace Museum is grand, national and formal. I think this one is more personal. You can see another style of Chinese building . Now, let’s begin our wonderful visit. Follow me, please!

　　The gate you see is called Western Gate. Are you familiar with it? Yes, the architect learned something from Europe. Nowadays, it is very common to see there are different kinds of styles coming from different countries in a garden. But in Qing Dynasty, the emperor didn’t want any communication with other countries. So this kind of gate was really rare, at that time. There were only three Western Gates all over the country. One was this. The other two were both in imperial garden.

　　Let’s enter the garden.. Can you smell the fresh air and sweet fragrance? It’s really comfortable. Pay attention to the thin stone, please. It is not artificial but natural. ts name is Joy Peak. In China, it’s tradition to put a huge stone or screen in front of the gate. It can protect the good luck and wealth from flowing away and ward off evil spirits. It is still true today. Besides, because of its existence you can’t see the inner scene directly. You’ll be curious and have a strong desire to go in. But, this one has another special function. Look at it using you imagination. What does it look like? （Here and  here）Yes ! It looks like a holy mother hugging her son. Even though He′had many wives, he still didn’t have a son in his middle age. He was so worried about this until he found this stone. He expected it would bring him a son. It is wonderful that He′got the only son in his life the next year. What a happy coincidence!

　　After going around the stone, the Bat Pond comes into our view. It gets this name because its shape was like a bat. Why he like such an animal? Even myself as a Chinese can’t understand this at first. IN most people’s mind, this animal represents something evil. Now I get the answer. In Chinese, the pronunciation of bat is…and the pronunciation of happiness is…They are the same! There are 9999 bats in the garden. This is one of the specialties of Prince Gong’s Mansion. Of course, they are not real, hey are pictures or symbols. Have you noticed the four elm trees around the pond? Do you feel them a little strange? Look! They all grow to the heart of the pond, Their branches are above the pond. As a result, when autumn comes, the fruit and leaves of them will drop into the pond.

　　Are you confused? Why he built this? Of course, it has a further meaning. The shape of elm’s fruit and leaves is very similar with Chinese bronze coin. He′hinted his ambition to gather all the wealth in his own wallet. At last he actually got it. In addition, all the water in the mansion is circulating. It will keep fresh and clear all the year round. If you are careful enough, you may find that there are few rivers in Beijing. In ancient time, if you wanted a river flow over your garden, you must get the emperor’s permission. So it is a fairly great honor to have this. You can see how much the emperor appreciate He′! You can go around to take photos here. It will bring you good luck and wealth because of the pong and the artificial hill. There is a great secret under the hill. I will tell it to you after a while. Now, if you have any question, ask me please! We will climb the hill after a quarter. Is that OK?