Still millions of relics missing

Yuanmingyuan Park statistics show there are still about 1.5 million relics missing, after they were looted by invading foreign troops: the British and French in October 1860, and later in 1900, by the allied forces of eight countries. More than 100 relics are believed to be in Beijing, and an untold number are still scattered around the world.

This event means that Chinese government is starting the retrieval process for cultural relics of Yuanmingyuan after more than 100 years of scattering.

Rebuild or not

Better known as the Old Summer Palace, the park was an imperial palace during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is renowned throughout the world for its fabled charms and association with Chinese modern history, extolled as the "Garden of Gardens" and the "Versailles of the East" during its heyday. It was an imperial summer resort painstakingly built and repeatedly expanded under the personal supervision of five emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

In October 1860, the Anglo-French forces sacked and looted Yuanmingyuan and burned it to the ground, and this occurred again in 1900, by an allied coalition of eight countries. What remains is a vast, sprawling and almost empty park. Its former beauty and glory no more, the entire garden lies in clusters of ruins and debris.

There have been several plans to rebuild Yuanmingyuan, but for one backer the task would be impossibly expensive. For another, in hushed silence it bore witness to the atrocities of the Western powers and the corruption and incompetence of the Qing rulers and admonished the Chinese people never to forget the tragedy. It should be remembered as an eternal monument.

How to protect it

The government has attached great importance to the preservation of the ruins. The guiding principle for the park's development is to accentuate the importance of the historical ruins as a prominent feature of Yuanmingyuan. To highlight the characteristics of the ruins, the workers put them under meticulous care during the course of restoration.

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