Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace
October 9th 2019 Most people that come to Beijing know of the Summer Palace, which was an imperial garden during the Qing Dynasty. It is a vast and beautiful place. The Old Summer Palace (圆明园/Yuanmingyuan), which is close to the Summer Palace, in contrast is not that well known. A co-worker had been and had enjoyed the place so I decided to give it a visit. It has its own subway station, Yuanmingyuan Park on
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Yuanmingyuan...evidence of a Chinese tragedy
This is one of the sites in China that moved Denise & I the most. As I recall in the Opium Wars the European & American armies gave the Chinese a choice that resulted in the Forbidden City being saved and Yuanmingyuan being destroyed. When we were there, just before the Beijing Olympics, there were signs that the Chinese had left the smashed pieces and debris of the marble Grecian and Euro style palaces in their destroyed state as a reminder to the Chinese people of this national tragedy. That is our lasting memory. Was that made evident to you on your visit?