Fragrant Hills Park is recognized as one of the major tourist attractions in Beijing. It is located on the east foot of Western Hills, 20 km from enter of Beijing, covers an area of 160 hectares. With surrounding green hills stretching up and down, its highest peak is 557 m in altitude and is shaped in an incense burner.

The name of the park derives from the shape of the hills themselves. Two big stones lie on its peak and from a distance, on a mist-shrouded day, it looks much like a three-legged incense burner. The groves of apricots, peaches, pears and lilacs may also be reason for the name Fragrant Hills. Visitors to the park can reach the peak by trekking up the hill or by taking a cable car.

The park has 280,000 various trees in it since it is richly endowed by nature. Among them there are more than 5800 ancient as well as rare trees, which takes up 1/4 of Beijing area. With a 98% forest coverage, the park is examined to an area with highest negative oxygen ion in recent years. Birds sing, streams flow, squirrels play with each other in green gaps, and all the things enjoy a harmony with nature here. In late autumn, when hundreds of thousands of common smoke trees turn red, the boundless scene is the most distinguished autumn scenery.

From the peak of Fragrant Hill, the winding Yongding River like a white silk belt fluttering among the western valleys, the Marco Polo Bridge on the river, Shijing Mountain, the Summer Palace and Jade Spring Mountain can all be seen from here, and on a clear day one can even make out the skyline of Beijing.

Xiangshan Temple was built here at 1186 of the Jin Dynasty, for a period served as the emperor’s traveling lodge. In 1745, Emperor Qianlong had a number of large halls; pagodas, memorial archways and leisure pavilions built and changed the name of the area to Jingyiyuan. Unfortunately, almost every trace of this landscape architecture was burned or destroyed by the Anglo-French forces and the eight-Power Allied Forces in the 19th and early 20th centuries. After 1949, it was renamed Fragrant Hills Park.