Known as the Gardens of Perfect Brightness 圆明园, the ruins of the old Summer Palace are a memory of one of the most beautiful palaces in China. During the second Opium War, in 1860, European forces plundered and destroyed the place, taking relics that dated back 3500 years. Charles George Gordon, a French captain, wrote "You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the places we burn. It made one's heart sore to burn them; in fact these places were so large, and we were so pressed for time, that we could not plunder them carefully." Many Chinese artifacts in western museums today are the result of plundering and looting of ancient China. Then in 1900 again the eight nations, during the boxers rebellion, came back and tore down whatever had survived.
The ruins are one of the very few remaining "unrestored" ancient sites of Beijing I know of. Most places have been either completely restored to look like they would have in ancient times or simply torn down to give space to modern buildings.
I used quotation marks because although these are ruins, I can't say I'm completely convinced this is all original. While I don't have proof of anything, several facts lead me to believe these aren't simply the ruins of what was once the largest palace in the history of China. Many of the stone pieces and their engravings seemed to me too well conserved for such an old piece, specially when thousands of people are stepping on them and handling them everyday.
Another notable fact is that - and architects or engineers reading, please correct me if I'm wrong - some of the stones were noticeably different. It seemed that several blocks were actually marble, while others were of a simpler material, not cement, but of the likes.
The pictures in this post are from two very different times of the year, winter 2015 and spring 2016.
Students walk over the ruins of one of the European style buildings. These stones seemed like marble to me.
I found it very interesting that visitors were allowed to walk over the ruins, something unthinkable in Italy or Greece these days.
The gardens have been more or less restored to the same layout as they were and some of the rubble piled up in an orderly fashion. This picture is from 2015. This year, a boardwalk is being constructed for people to walk on and probably only view the ruins from a distance.
On a hot spring day last week, a tourist looks at ruins that have been stacked up in a seemingly random fashion. It's like a modern day Stonehenge.
The column standing in the back is one of the items I suspect of its veracity. The engravings look so fresh to be that old and gone through so much.
In China, it's very common to see people, specially women, with umbrellas to protect themselves from the sun.
In one corner of the park there is a maze, which I believe is modern. I like mazes. I saw several people just jump over the little walls. I swear I figured it out myself.
At the center of the maze, there is a beautiful gazebo with a bit of shade for you to rest before trying to find your way out.
This pavilion and arch are two of the very few structures that remain standing in the site of the Summer Palace. Although very beautiful, the current Summer Palace is a lot smaller than this one and, they say, less beautiful.
Several man-made lakes decorate the gardens of the palace.
This lion seemed authentic. I'm no specialist, but after all I've seen in China with its repairs, I'm skeptical of everything.
In the winter, although super cold and windy, there aren't many people and it's well worth the visit. In the summer, it's packed and might not be as pleasant.