Yuanmingyuan Park (Old Summer Palace)

Yuanmingyuan park consists of three gardens of Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan and Qichunyuan, which are collectively known as the Old Summer Palace. The Old Summer Palace was built in the late Kangxi Dynasty, and through the Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng dynasties, each emperor built, expanded and renovated it, which is a concentrated embodiment of the wisdom and aesthetics of several generations.

In its long history of more than 150 years, the Old Summer Palace has been repaired and built by successive emperors, integrating the garden art of Jiangnan, Northern Nomadics and Europe, and has become a classic artistic treasure of foreign and domestic garden architecture. During the period of the complete existence of the Old Summer Palace, it can be called "the model of all gardening art", so the Old Summer Palace is also known as the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens".

Qichunyuan

Qichunyuan, also known as Wanchunyuan, is located south of the Yuanmingyuan and the Changchunyuan and was built in the late Kangxi Dynasty (1722). Once the residence of the Prince Yi Yunxiang, later it belonged to Fu Heng and he renamed it Chunheyuan. In the thirty-fifth year of Qianlong (1770), it was included in the imperial garden and named "Qichunyuan".

Zhengjue Temple is the only group of buildings in the Old Summer Palace that has survived to this day, and the reason why it was saved from the robbery of Gengshen and the Battle of Gengzi was due to the peculiarity of its geographical location - it stood alone outside the walls of Qichunyuan. Zhengjue Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, also known as the "Lama Temple".

Western-style building ruins area

In the northernmost of Changchunyuan, there is a European-style garden, commonly known as the "Western Building". The Western-style building complex was built in the 12th year of Qianlong (1747) of the Qing Dynasty, and was basically completed around the 24th year of Qianlong. It includes Western-style buildings, large fountains, several small fountains and gardens, etc. It is composed of more than 10 landscapes with a total area of about 8 hectares.

The construction of European-style buildings in the north of the Changchunyuan is the first successful attempt in the history of Chinese architecture, blending the architectural beauty of the West with the subtle beauty of the East, making the Changchunyuan the first royal garden that combines East and West.

Fuhai

Fuhai, also known as East Lake, is the largest lake in the entire park. The whole lake area, the lake and the mountains are beautiful as a fairyland. Fuhai is based on the mythical and legendary fairyland, and is named Fuhai according to the meaning of Xu Fu crossing the sea to seek immortals. The current Fuhai has been renovated many times and has become a landscape garden. Watching the sunset over Fuhai is a wonderful experience.

Address: No. 28, Qinghua West Road, Haidian District, Beijing

Reservation: WeChat public account of “Yuanmingyuan”

Translator: ZHANG Ruochen

Reviewer: BAO Minmin