Houhai

This guide to Houhai in Beijing traces the lake's two very different pasts: dredged by Kublai Khan's engineers as the Grand Canal's northern terminus, later home to a powerful court favorite named Heshen who built his mansion on its northern shore. It follows Heshen's rise as the aging Qianlong Emperor's closest confidant across two decades, and the fortune he amassed that historians still argue over. Look toward the northern shore for the site of that mansion, now known by a different prince's name.