Brief information on Yuan Ming Yuan Ruins Park  

Close to Summer Palace, there is a hesternal imperial garden, Yuanmingyuan (Garden of Perfect Splendor), which enjoys worldwide fame and is renowned for its picturesque charms. It consists of Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan (Garden of Eternal Spring) and Qichunyuan (Garden of Blossoming Spring). Covering an area of about 350 hectares, Yuanmingyuan inherited the art of the Chinese traditional garden, with both the luxurious palace buildings and Southern Chinese garden style, in combination with European garden architecture as well. Nearly half of the garden area was covered by rivers and lakes, which supplied scenes of captivating beauty enhanced by pavilions, corridors, islands and bridges.

Not only for renowned for its natural beauty, Yuanmingyuan boasted countless cultural treasures. A notable French writer expressed that all the treasures in Notre Dame in Paris could not compete with those in Yuanmingyuan, the most enormous and magnificent museum in China. There were housed numerous rare cultural relics, pieces of furniture made of red sandalwood and ancient books including the Complete Library of Four Branches of Books, Gems of the Complete Library of Four Branches of Books, and the Complete Collection of Graphs and Writings of Ancient and Modern Times.

Unfortunately, Yuan Ming Yuan failed to escape the ravages of Anglo-French forces. The charming garden was sacked, looted, even burned to the ground, and then suffered continual damage at the hands of warlords, bandits and the Eight-power Allied Forces. Its glory and magnificence disappeared almost overnight. The ruins now reflect the past misdeeds of the western powers and the incompetence of the Qing government, and serve as a warning, for Chinese people never to forget the tragedy.

After the establishment of New China, the Yuanmingyuan Ruins received great attention and were preserved by the government. Massive reforestation efforts have been carried out step by step. Yuanmingyuan now is a ruins theme park emphasizing its historical value as a popular tourist destination. A number of scenic areas are open to tourists, such as Fuhai Scenic Spot, the eastern part of Qichunyuan, and the European Palaces of Changchunyuan.

*You can download the bilingual note to show it to a taxi driver or someone else to find your way to Yuan Ming Yuan Ruins Park if you plan to visit Yuan Ming Yuan Ruins Park and have language problems.

   

Chinese Pinyin: Yuan Ming Yuan
Opening Times: 7:00-17:30
Ticket Price: CNY 10
Address: No. 28, West Qinghua Rd. Haidian District
How to Get to: take bus No. 365, 432, 498, 656, 319, 320, 331, 690 or 801, etc