Old Summer Palace 圆明园

About Old Summer Palace

Its best-known stone remains belong to the Western Mansions, where European-influenced palaces and fountains formed only a small part of a much larger predominantly Chinese garden. Lakes, former building sites, and garden divisions are essential to understanding that wider setting. Visit the ruins as evidence of the complex’s destruction in 1860, then look beyond the famous stone fragments to the water and ground plan that once organized the gardens.

Kangxi Emperor granted the garden to his fourth son Yinzhen (胤禛), later the Yongzheng Emperor, and inscribed it with the name 'Yuanming' (圆明); the founding date is disputed, most commonly given as 1709. After succeeding to the throne, the Qianlong Emperor moved into the garden in 1737 and carried out a second expansion, finished by 1744, producing the 'forty scenes of Yuanmingyuan' (圆明园四十景). Qing emperors afterward spent more time at Yuanmingyuan than in the Forbidden City.

East and south of Yuanmingyuan, two adjoining gardens were later added: Changchun Garden (长春园), begun in 1738 and completed in 1749, and Qichun Garden (绮春园), formed in 1772 by merging gardens earlier granted to princes and princesses. Administered together and commonly called the 'Yuanming Three Gardens' (圆明三园), the complex covered 3.5 square kilometers with over 150 named scenic spots.

A Yuanmingyuan management office, established in 1976, began conservation of the ruins, which were listed as a protected cultural relic in 1979; in 1988 the State Council named them one of the third group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位). Their central and eastern portions became the Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park (圆明园遗址公园), which opened its Jiuzhou (九州) scenic area to the public on 29 July 2008.

What to look for

• Western Mansions ruins: examine the surviving architectural and fountain remains in their garden setting.
• The wider lake landscape: trace how water and former building sites connect the three historic garden areas.

Location & getting there

Getting to Old Summer Palace

Yuanmingyuan is in Haidian northwest of Beijing’s former imperial city. Select the visitor approach for the Western Mansions or the garden area you want to see first.

• The Western Mansions occupy one section of the Garden of Eternal Spring; reaching the park boundary does not mean you have arrived at the ruins.