Hanjing Hall site before preservation efforts
Built in 1707 under the Qing Dynasty, Yuanmingyuan (Garden of Perfect Splendor) is renowned throughout the world for its fabled charms and association with modern Chinese history. It was an imperial summer resort built and repeatedly expanded under the personal supervision of five emperors of the Qing Dynasty for more than 150 years.
Located in the northern part of Haidian District in Beijing, Yuanmingyuan is composed of three comparatively independent but interconnected gardens: Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan (Garden of Eternal Spring), and Qichunyuan (Garden of Blossoming Spring). Covering an area of about 350 hectares, Yuanmingyuan was a landscaped garden vast in scale and architectural achievement, with 250 sculptured hills, 180 bridges and 108 scenic spots.
Yuanmingyuan features four major plants: pine, bamboo, willow and lotus. The garden is also covered with 80 varieties of precious flowers.
Hanjing Hall site before excavation
Yuanmingyuan was not just famed for its beauty. It was also once an imperial museum with a vast collection of cultural treasures. Dubbed as the "Garden of Gardens" and the "Versailles of the East" during its heyday, its collections included precious ancient books, cherished utensils, rare jewelry and numerous poetry manuscripts.
But the skill and sophistication of the builders of this historic "Garden of Gardens," and the cultural treasures contained within it, failed to escape the destruction inflicted on China by the Western powers. In October 1860, Anglo-French forces sacked and looted Yuanmingyuan and burned it to the ground. From then on, the garden suffered continual damage at the hands of warlords, bandits, and the Eight-Power Allied Forces. Its former beauty and glory no more, the entire garden lay in clusters of ruin and debris.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese government has attached great importance to the preservation of the ruins. The district and municipal governments have placed Yuanmingyuan on a list of key cultural sites under special protection.
Present-day Hanjing Hall site
The administrative office of the garden carried out several efforts to protect the ruins:
The local government of Haidian District and the Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics Protection paid 340 million yuan and 10 million yuan to jointly relocate the residential areas in the three parks. As a result, the relocation of 37 households of sprawling dwellers and 13 organs successfully secured Yuanmingyuan from further demolition.
The administrative office swept away 500,000 m3 of trash and removed sprawling buildings of 20,000 square meters with a joint investment of 156 million yuan by the Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics Protection (4 million yuan) and the Haidian government (116 million yuan).
In addition, over 3,000 square meters of unnecessary entertainment areas were swept out.
The Haidian government paid 140 million yuan to rebuild mountainous regions of 300,000 square meters, cleaned lakes and streams of 100 hectares, and reforested 130,000 trees and 20 hectares of lotus in the garden. And about 29,885 meters' bank lines were remedied.
Archaeological survey and protection for the ruins have been also carried out systematically. About 29 relics were unearthed and about 10,000 square meters of cultural relics were placed under protection with 366.2 million yuan in funds from the Haidian government and the Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relic Protection.
A total of 24,000 square meters of lanes were paved and over 40 bridges were built in the garden. At present, about 1,627 square meters of buildings have been repaired and 11,000 square meters of bounding walls were rebuilt.
After years of renovation and construction, Yuanmingyuan has now opened its three major parks of Fuhai, Yichunyuan and Changchunyuan, covering a total area of 200 hectares.
