Old Summer Palace

The Old Summer Palace served as the residence and the working place of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty after the Quanlong Emperor. Today, the stunning garden complex is in ruins.

The Old Summer Palace used to be one of the most spectacular complex of palaces and gardens in all of Beijing. It was raided and destroyed by the British during the second Opium War, and today is a popular and scenic tourist attraction. It had three main parts, Yuanmingyuan, Wanchunyuan (the Garden of Blossoming Spring) and Changchunyuan (the Garden of Eternal Spring). It was heavily adorned with beautiful pavilions, pillars, statues, ponds, rockeries and so on. Being the residence of the emperor (Forbidden City was only the official residence), a huge effort had gone into making it the most premier location in China. A lot of the architecture was taken from the west as well, giving the garden a distinctive identity from typical Chinese gardens, which were usually a fusion of inspirations drawn from inside China. In present day, a lot of these objects and artefacts are displayed in European museums, leaving very little in the garden itself. However, visiting the Old Summer Palace and seeing the ruins of the stunning buildings and structures, one can imagine what it was like in it's prime.