Old Summer Palace

A few weeks ago, I went to visit the Old Summer Palace, also known as 圆明园 (Yuán Míng Yuán) in Chinese, which literally means "the perfect bright garden". This palace was built in 1707 during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. It was used as the private residence of the Qing Dynasty until it was looted and destroyed in 1860 by British and French troops during the Second Opium War.

The ruins of 远瀛观 (Yuǎnyíng Guān).

Many of the buildings within the grounds of the imperial gardens were built in a western style, mainly in the Italian baroque style, with grand mansions and fountains.

The ruins of 海晏堂 (Hǎiyàntáng).

Below is a replica of the statues depicting the 12 animals representing of the Chinese zodiac that used to stand in front of one of the western style mansions called 海晏堂 (Hǎiyàntáng), the ruins of which appear in the photo above.

One of the features of the imperial gardens include the beautiful 万花阵 (Wànhuāzhèn) literally meaning the "10,000 flower maze".

One of my favorite features of the gardens is the many willow trees swaying in the wind. This really added a nice relaxing touch to the atmosphere of the gardens.

Getting There

The Old Summer Palace is located across the road from the west gate of Tsinghua University. You can catch buses to there and walk across, or you can get on subway line 4 and get off at YUANMINGYUAN PARK station.