2012年12月17日星期一

Beijing: The Old Summer Palace(Yuanmingyuan Imperial Garden)


Everyone comes to the Old Summer Palace just to see the same scenery — the dilapidated walls and rubble stones after a smoke of the war. I still remember when I first came to Beijing in my Beijing Xian tour, I heard many friends say: “ You wanna go to Yuanmingyuan? Just forget about it. It’s really boring to see a mess of stones.” And I replied: “ This is a must-see place for me. As a Chinese, I go there especially for the unrepaired mass stones. Because it bears too much nationalistic sentiments.”


In a winter morning of north China, with the respect and worship for eastern culture and Chinese history and also the curiosity about the Imperial Garden, I entered the Old Summer Palace.

The Yuanmingyuan (the Gardens of Perfect Brightness) Imperial Garden is hailed as the “Garden of Gardens”, which indicates that it is known for its extensive collection of Chinese ancient garden and building architectures and other works of art. Built from 1709, it was gradually completed under the reigns of fiver emperors with over 150 years. From the picture below, you may understand why the Old Summer Palace is called “Garden of Gardens”. It is not only featured with the elegant and poised imperial palace style, but also characterized with the grace and charm of south China’s water town, combining with the dignified and solemn style of European gardens. It is the only one garden that integrates gardens of different styles together in China.


 In this winter day, the palace looks a little bit depressed with few tourists coming, which, I think is exactly corresponding with the garden however. Despite of the tragedy of burning down the Old Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan Garden still and always will be live in Chinese people’s hearts.


Similar to Beijing, Xian is also a famous historical and cultural city. A Xian package tour will give you a full display of Chinese history, especially the Qin, Tang and Ming Dynasties.

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