Deheyuan, Opera theatre and museum in Summer Palace, Beijing, China

Deheyuan is an opera theatre and museum within the Summer Palace complex featuring a grand three-story building arranged along a north-south axis. It contains multiple stage areas, halls, and courtyards that work together as a complete performance venue.

The Garden of Virtue and Harmony was built between 1891 and 1895 for Empress Dowager Cixi, after the earlier Qingyi Garden complex was burned in 1860 during the Second Opium War. The architect Lei Tinchang designed its three buildings, and construction cost 710,000 taels of silver. Cixi attended performances here 262 times, the last 35 days before her death.

The theatre preserves original features like trapdoors and acoustic elements that show how opera performances worked during the Qing Dynasty. You can see how audiences once sat in this space and experienced the shows firsthand.

Entry requires either a Summer Palace ticket or an additional fee specifically for the Deheyuan complex. The site is walkable with clear pathways connecting the different areas of the theatre building.

The three storeys of the Great Theatre are named Happiness, Salary and Longevity. Openings called tianjing (heavenly well) above the stage and dijing (earthly well) in its floor held winches for quick scene changes and produced snow or water effects, while large vats beneath the stage amplified the sound.