Yuanmingyuan Ruins

Yuanmingyuan Ruins. Yuanmingyuan, once a grand imperial garden of the Qing Dynasty, is located in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing. Composed of Yuanmingyuan, Changchun Garden, and Qichun Garden, it covered over 350 hectares and earned the reputation as the "Garden of Gardens." It was renowned for its exquisite landscaping art, featuring poetic Chinese garden scenes like "Penglai Fairyland" and "Jiuzhou Qingyan," with pavilions and buildings constructed along waterways and winding paths leading to secluded spots. It also incorporated Western baroque architecture in the Western Mansions, with magnificent fountains showcasing a brilliant fusion of Chinese and Western styles. The garden housed countless rare treasures and precious books, representing a collection of Chinese cultural gems. In 1860, Anglo-French forces recklessly set fire to the garden, with thick smoke darkening the sky as the splendid gardens were reduced to ruins. Later, the Eight-Nation Alliance looted it again, leaving it completely devastated. Today, the remaining stone pillars and sculptures in the ruins park silently tell the story of that humiliating history, serving both as a painful reminder of the destruction of civilization and a constant warning to defend cultural dignity.