Maybe one of the most remarkable buildings that visitors notice when visiting the Summer Palace, the Marble Boat (Shifang) is a structure tracing back from Emperor Qianlong's reign (1711-1799). Located at the west end of the Long Corridor gallery, the boat was built in 1755 but the fires set during the Anglo-French occupation destroyed its superstructure. Empress Dowager Cixi's general reconstruction of the Kingdom's ancient buildings saved the memory of the original boat although rebuilt in an imitation of western-style yachts. Some wood subassemblies hidden through a marble texture are present in the boat, although called "Marble Boat".

Behind the creation of that boat lies an interesting story telling a lot about emperors' way of thinking the world and the management of the country. Indeed, the boat was constructed after the Tang Dynasty (618-907) minister Wei Zheng told the Emperor these words: "The waters that bear the boat are the same that swallow it up". Reading between the lines, the Emperor understood the comparison of the boat to the Emperor and the waters to the people. The saying turned into a real advice that the Emperor should care about his people for they can overthrow him. In order to make the reign of the Qing Dynasty the longest as possible, he ordered the creation of a firm boat made of stone that cannot be overturned by the waters.