Together with the Longevity Hill, Kunming Lake forms the key landscape features of the Summer Palace gardens.

With an area of 2.2 km2 (0.8 sq mi), Kunming Lake covers approximately three-quarters of the Summer Palace grounds.

[1] Kunming Lake takes up about 75% of the park and contains many famous small islands and bridges, making it one of the top popular sites in the Summer Palace.

Guo Shoujing, a famous astronomer and engineer in his time, developed it into a reservoir for the capital of the Yuan Dynasty in 1291.

The conversion of the area into an imperial garden was commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor with the work being carried out between 1750 and 1764.

Kunming Lake is designed to represent the traditional Chinese gardening practice of "one pond, three hills" (一池三山).

The water source of Kunming Lake mainly comes from the recharge of springs downstream of Yuquan Mountain and groundwater.

In 1965, the Jingmi Diversion Canal Project was completed, opening up Kunming Lake as a new water source.

This building was originally a three-layered pavilion imitating the Yellow Crane Tower for watching performances in the Qing Dynasty.

After being burned by the British and French allied forces, the Guangxu years rebuilt a one-layer hall.

In 1860, after the destruction of British and French forces, Cixi removed the parts of this pavilion to rebuild other buildings in the Summer Palace.