the ruins of yuanmingyuan

yuanmingyuan or the garden of perfection and brightness, located on the northwestern outskirts of beijing, is one of the five famous gardens built during the qing dynasty. with its charming landscape and numerous springs, the area has always been the site of gardens and parks. in 1723 when qing emperor yongzheng succeeded the throne, he ordered yuanmingyuan be built and its construction lasted over a period of 150 years.

yuanmingyuan actually included three separate gardens. the one dating back to the yongzheng period (1723-1735) was called yuanmingyuan and the other two gardens added in its vicinity under the qianlong's reign (1736-1795) were called changchunyuan (garden of everlasting spring) and wanchunyuan (garden of eternal spring). the three put together, yuanmingyuan encompassed 347 hectares (867.5 acres) of land with constructions totaling 160,000 square metres of floor space. its major part was constructed as the model of classical chinese garden designed at its peak and a paragon of eastern art. meanwhile, giuseppe castiglione (1688-1766), or lang shining as known in china, the imperial court artist from italy, and other western missionaries working with the qing court contributed their creativity to the building of a significant part of the palace. the pavilions took on designs that integrated western and eastern aesthetics, and in the southern part of the garden were built three rows of palaces, with the hall of uprightness and brilliance standing at its centre.

the garden was later expanded. lakes and canals were excavated, hills made and trees planted. more palaces and pavilions were built to add beauty to the landscape. five qing emperors -- yongzheng, qianlong, jiaqing, daoguang, and xianfeng--spent most of their time in yuanmingyuan, holding audiences and attending to state affairs.

the landscaping of yuanmingyuan was based on the famous gardens in south china, which embodied the fine tradition of chinese gardening and the refined skills of chinese art and architecture. halls and pavilions were built into the landscape, halfway up the hills, in the valleys or in mid-lakes. the interiors used partitions, screens and decorative windows to give a sense of close proximity to the outside world.

yuanmingyuan, in its furnishings and decor, collected the best of the eastern art pieces--paintings, ceramics and porcelain and glassware-- which should match the collections and buildings in france's versailles.

the bronze ox, tiger and monkey along with nine other bronze animal heads, once stood atop the shoulders of human statues. placed on two sides of an exquisite fountain in front of the huge haiyantang hall, they represent the 12 animals in the chinese zodiac as well as each of the 12 two-hour periods a day. water would spout forth from the mouth of the heads during each of the two-hour periods. at 12 pm, water would spurt from all 12 statues at the same time to create spectacles. artistically, the bronze heads took on different designs. each offering his vivid expression, the bronze statues were made using top workmanship in the imperial dynasty. the relics experts attending the preview expressed the most favour for the monkey. the design of the monkey incorporated the face and nose of the chinese monkey king. and the horns on the ox head are definitely of western style. while the head of the tiger, king of the animals, looks plain, he bears on his forehead the hallmark wrinkles resembling the chinese character wang, or the king. the bronze heads provide valuable materials for studies on the art exchanges between the east and west in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in the field of sculpture. in 1860, the british and french invaders entered yuanmingyuan's gardens to plunder and burn during the second opium war (1856-1860). in 1900, yuanmingyuan was again plundered by the allied forces of the eight powers. warlords and bandits stole or destroyed what was left. as a correspondent for the british newspaper, the times, described in his dispatch on november 7 that year, every soldier on the spot tried to grab as many spoils as possible. fires raged for three days and nights. of the hundreds of pavilions, shrines, halls and other building complexes, only 29 in remote northern corner and in the lakes were unscathed. the haiyantang hall was left with only a few pillars, beams and its arch. the 12 bronze animals of the zodiac were looted and taken out of the country with countless other precious objects from the palace. lu yanzhen, senior researcher in imperial court history with the forbidden city said there must be a lot of time- pieces--possibly the best of the period, but none are left. during their travels abroad after china opened to the outside world in 1979, leading chinese historians, archaeologists and relics connoisseurs have had chances to view some of the looted relics in leading museums and libraries in europe and north america.

with the exception of the three heads, only four others of the 12 animal heads have surfaced and have known owners after they were smuggled abroad, the horse, now kept by a collector in taiwan, was returned to beijing for temporary viewing at an exhibition in 1995. while the pig is stored in a museum in new york, the rat and rabbit are preserved in private collections in france. the whereabouts of the remaining five remain unknown.

the return of the three bronze heads--the looted relics--to beijing has sparked another round of discussion about what to do to preserve yuanmingyuan. following the steps of the british and french soldiers, soldiers of the eight allied powers, during their invasion of beijing, swept away the valuables, destroyed the remaining buildings, and even cut down all the trees, the locals began to move in and took away the old bricks and stone pieces in 1917, when the government had decided to stop further maintenance. some farming also started at the ruins.

when new china was founded in 1949, the part of yuanmingyuan which included the ruins granite pillars of the former haiyantang hall, the brick labyrinth and some of the water ways were bordered up and opened as a public park. but today, leading historians, archaeologists, architects and many people are increasingly dissatisfied with the status quo of yuanmingyuan. in an effort to attract more tourists, a succession of the park management during the past two decades has added scenes that were not in the palace. for many years, a part of the original palace was reduced to garbage dumps and a slum where migrants lived while a number of factories operated in another part of the original yuanmingyuan.

after years of public outcry as well as urging from leading experts, the haidian district government has been working during the past three years to clear the area adjacent to the current park proper. factories have since been moved. about 600 families have been relocated from inside to apart- ments outside the palace ground.

having complied an anthology of all major original scenery within the old summer palace, he zhongyi and a number of people have expressed their beliefs that work should be done to restore a few of the traditional chinese buildings and pavilions. however, others suggest that the ruins be left alone, they believe efforts should only be made to preserve what re- mains. lu jimin said that the ruins will remind the posterity of the humiliation we chinese suffered in the past.

with the return of the three bronze heads and the hexagonal porcelain vase, attention had also been turned to the treasures that still wander adrift abroad.

the rare relics are exhibited at poly art museum with more than 100 bronze artifacts collected by poly from overseas in the past few years. the hexagonal porcelain vase, the fourth piece of looted relics auction in hong kong is exhibited at the capital museum in beijing.

the pieces that escaped destruction include the marble columns standing on the peking university campus and the beijing library courtyard. the stone screens with carvings of banners and armor, which were moved to other places, have been returned to yuanmingyuan.

soon after the founding of new china, the late premier zhou enlai gave an instruction that yuanmingyuan should be preserved. now, outlines of the imperial garden can still be traced, and much of the area has been planted with trees. paths and bridges have been renovated.

a museum has been set up showing the history of yuanmingyuan and plans for its future restoration.

a 1,997-kilogram, 2.22-metre-high bronze vessel presented by hong kong youths to the motherland 10 days before hong kong's return was officially unveiled on june 21, 1997 at yuanmingyuan (old summer palace) in beijing. modeled after "simuwu" an ancient square cooking vessel with two looped handles and four legs, the vessel expressed the youths best wishes to the nation. statue stands for rejuvenation.

a giant four-legged bronze statue, symbolizing power and sovereignty ac- cording to chinese tradition, was unveiled on january 28, 2000 at the yuanmingyuan park. the statue, named the "centennial ding of chinese rejuvenation," stands 5.6 metres high and 2.5 metres wide at the square in front of the park gate. on the statue's body are figures of a dragon, tiger, phoenix and other legendary animals, which stand for heaven, earth, and the four directions. combining designs from the xia and shang dynasties 5,000 years ago and as late as the last feudal dynasty, qing, the new one symbolizes the people's hope to rejuvenate the nation with pros- perity, power, and solidarity.

fuhai (the lake of blessings) reconstruction of the lake of blessings, which was destroyed in 1860, was begun in december, 1984 as the state council approved joint venture and completed in october, 1985. half a million cubic meters of clean water from the miyun reservoir poured into the 28-hectare (69.2 acres) lake, which is similar in size to the beihai lake in downtown beijing. the lake of blessings has three neatly mounted islets in the centre, a hexagonal pavilion on the east islet, and six stone arch bridges. the project cost 3.5 million yuan (us$423,000). two hundred boats, including five motorboats are now available for use by tourists.

reconstruction of yuanmingyuan

yuanmingyuan, once a showpiece of ancient chinese architecture and gar- dens also known as the old summer palace, will be rebuilt after years of debate. after its construction, the park will be divided into six areas: western-style buildings, a cultural relics exhibition, out-door relics, a leisure and entertainment area and a service and administration area. these features are in plans made by the beijing urban planning and designing institution. yuanmingyuan, an imperial garden larger than the pre- sent summer palace west of it, was built during the qing dynasty (1644-1911). french and british troops looted and burned it in 1860. today visitors may tour the broken walls and posts and reconstruct the park in their minds. the exhibition hall will show cultural relics from the park and its history. architects first raised the idea of reconstruction in 1983, but it evoked fierce debate about whether the park should be rebuilt or not. some experts suggested that the park be restored completely according to its original design to exhibit the imperial culture. those opposed, including architects and national people's congress members, said that the park could never be exquisite again after the 1860 war. they said the park's main value is that the remains serve to teach about the country's humiliating past. new construction will make up less than 10 percent of the total showpieces. most of it are functional construction such as bridges and pavilions. after the project is done, shops inside the park that are not in keeping with the park's style will be closed. and more than 600 families living in the park, plus 10 institutions that called it home, moved out by december 2000. but the park won't be closed during the renovation. visitors will see the construction as well as the imperial remains. the park was first built in 1709 and underwent 150 years of construction under five emperors of the qing dynasty. after yuanmingyuan was looted and burned, many of the relics were removed in the following decades.

the reconstruction of an 11-kilometre wall bordering the ruins of yuanmingyuan, which was also called garden of the gardens were completed by the end of 2001. the walls strictly follow the garden's original design. with a total investment of 11 million yuan ($1.3 million), the project reconstructed 2 kilometres and repaired 1 kilometre of wall in 2001 alone. the whole project, which started in 1985, saw 3 kilometres of wall finished in the 1980s and 6 kilometres in 1994, using municipal government grants and donations from individuals. a total of 615 families have already moved out of the garden at a cost of 280 million yuan (us$34 million). regulations about protecting the garden had been drafted before the end of may 2001 by the administrative department of the park.

central and south seas (zhongnanhai)

now we come to the central and south seas or zhongnanhai in chinese. it is located on the west of the forbidden city. the area used to be called "three seas," western lake or pool of great secretion it covers an area of 100 hectares (247 acres), of which the seas occupies 47 hectares (116 acres). it was first built in liao (907-1125) and rebuilt in jin (1115-1234), yuan (1279-1368), ming (1368-1644), and qing (1644-1911) dynasties. the area between new china gate on chang'an boulevard in the south and yingtai (sea terrace island) in the north is called the south lake. the area north of the hall of diligent government and south of the temple of endless blessings is called the central lake, which is connected to the south lake by a lock located near the old eastern gate of the area; and the area north of the hall of received brilliance and south of the five-dragon pavilions is known as the north lake or beihai. a long white marble bridge- the golden tortoise jade rainbow bridge (formerly golden sea bridge or imperial river bridge) divides the central lake from the north lake. the water supply for the lakes comes from the jade spring mountain to the west of beijing and enters the city at the gate of moral victory in the north-west corner of the old city limits. the beautiful natural hills and ponds in this area inspired the emperors of the liao dynasty (907-1125) to choose this area as their pleasure park and called the north lake the jade islet. during the jin dynasty (1115-1234), the north lake became the site of the emperors' winter palace. in the yuan dynasty (1279-1368), the lakes were enclosed to become part of the imperial palace in the mongol capital of dadu (great capital), and the lakes were granted a new name--the pool of great secretion. at that time, the lakes were widened and deepened, and the mud dredged from them was heaped up to the north of the forbidden city to form coal hill (prospect) park. the lakes attained their present dimensions of two kilometres from south to north and, at their widest point, 200 metres from east to west. when emperor yongle (1403-1424) of the ming dynasty (1368-1644) rebuilt the imperial palace in 1417, he extended the palace walls to enclose both the former yuan palace and the gardens to the west. hence the ming and qing dynasties, the area became known as the western gardens and continued to serve palace residents as a place of leisure. during the qing dynasty (1644-1911), refurbishment of the area continued on a grand scale, and the majority of the structures and relics, which remain today date from that period. after the overthrown of the qing dynasty in 1911, the central and south lakes were turned into a park for a short period of time and served as the headquarters of the government of yuan shikai (1859-1916). since the founding of the people's republic of china, it has been the headquarters of the central committee of the chinese communist party and the state council of the people’s republic of china. it is now not only the supreme leading centre for the whole nation, but also one of the important places for both the chinese people and international friendly intercourse. the late chairman mao zedong (1893-1976) and the late premier zhou enlai (1898-1976) used to live in it.

 

 

back top