Glimpses of history

Visitors at the holographic displaying hall. Photos provided to China Daily

The most popular part of the exhibition has been the imperial cuisine experience center, says Chen.

Two veteran chefs have been invited from Beijing to demonstrate Chinese royal pastry making. The pastries are then given away for free to the visitors for a taste of Chinese royal life.

First built in 1707 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Yuanmingyuan was maintained and expanded by various emperors in the following 150 years. It measures about 350 hectares, equivalent to more than 490 football fields. Because of its extensive collection of gardens, architecture and other artworks, Yuanmingyuan is also known as "the Garden of Gardens".

Compared with other scenic spots in Beijing, Yuanmingyuan is the place with the greatest political legacy, says Zhang Chao, director at the research institute in Yuanmingyuan.

"The emperors generally spent two thirds of their time in Yuanmingyuan, so did the ministers," says Zhang. "Together with the Forbidden City, Yuanmingyuan formed the political center in the later half of the Qing Dynasty."

It is for this reason that Yuanmingyuan became the target of Anglo-French allied forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War. It was looted for a second time by the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900 and was left as rubble.

"People tend to have an attachment to Yuanmingyuan because it is a symbol of national disgrace. It has now become a national totem of patriotism," says Zhang.

Over the past 10 years, the government has invested more than 1 billion yuan ($16.34 million) to renovate the garden, discovering more than 40 pieces of cultural relics in the process.

A team led by Guo Daiheng, an architect and professor with the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, revived the 3-D images of more than 30 sites of Yuanmingyuan based on 14 years of research, costing about 40 million yuan.

The garden is now developing a 600-square-meter experience center in Beijing to allow local audiences and travelers to take part in the interactive and digital projects, says Cao Yu-ming, director of the Yuanmingyuan Administration.

The exhibition toured to Berlin last year to celebrate Chinese Culture Year in Germany, as well as the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Germany.

It runs in Moscow from Aug 31 to Sept 20.

The exhibition is expected to go to Paris next year, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, Cao says.