Ancient Chinese Culture

Yuan Ming Yuan, also known as the Garden of Gardens or Versailles of the East，was an extensive collection of gardens, architectures and other works of art.

It was built in the 18th and early 19th century. During Qing Dynasty, it was the place where the emperors resided and handled government affairs.

Consisted of three gardens, namely Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan and Qichunyuan, it covered an area of 3.5 km2 (865 acres), 8 times the size of the Vatican City.

The garden collected hundreds of structures, including halls, pavilions, lakes, galleries, temples, etc. Some famous scenery sites of southern China had been reproduced in the garden. It also stored hundreds of masterpieces of Chinese art, antiquities, unique copies of literary work and compilations, making the garden one of the largest collections in the world at that time.

In the garden, one of the most representative works of the blend between Chinese and Western culture were the statues of twelve animals. Each of them had a carved stone human body and an animal head made of bronze. Every two hours a column of water would flow out from one of the twelve animals in turns and at 12 o’clock, all the 12 animals would gush out water simultaneously.

However, it was destroyed by the Anglo-French forces during the Second Opium War in 1860. A large number of collections were plundered by the forces and at the same time as the Garden was burnt down.

Yet miracle and mythological Yuan Ming Yuan was burnt into ashes, only for visitors, dilapidated buildings and regret are left.

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