Shan Jixiang (1st L), director of the Palace Museum introduces a garden to Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong (2nd R), US Secretary of State John Kerry (2nd L) and US Ambassador to China Max Baucus (1st R) in the Forbidden City in Beijing on June 5. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday visited a famous garden in the Forbidden City which has become a symbol of two-power cooperation after extensive renovation by specialists from China and the US.

Liu said the project was an example of bilateral cultural relic exchange and cooperation.

She expected the garden to be fully renovated and opened to the public soon.

The Qianlong Garden was built by the Qianlong Emperor, the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to serve as part of his retirement complex following his 60-year reign.

In 2001, Beijing's Palace Museum and the World Monuments Fund of the US began the first phase of project, restoring the Juanqinzhai (Studio of Exhaustion after Diligent Service). This phase was finished in 2008.

Intended to be used for relaxation and entertainment, the studio's exquisite interiors include a private theater and a receiving room.

The garden shows the impact of European influence on Chinese art and architecture, with the work of Giuseppe Castiglione, an Italian Jesuit missionary and painter who settled in China around 1715, evident, especially in the brightness of color.

Since the last emperor was dispelled from the Forbidden City in 1924, the garden had fallen into bad repair.