Imperial gardens flourished in the Qing dynasty, and are characterised by their extensive imitation of places of interests and private gardens in regions south of the Yangtze River. Such imitation is associated with Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong’s southern inspection tours. The imperial court began to imitate the Yanyu Tower, the Xiaojin Hill and other places of interests in regions south of the Yangtze River in Chengde Mountain Resort as early as the Kangxi reign. However, imitation of whole gardens in regions south of the Yangtze River did not begin until the Qianlong reign. The first imitation is the Huishan Garden (Xiequ Garden) built imitating the Jichang Garden in Wuxi, in the Qingyi Garden.