Yuan Ming Yuan
圆明园
Yuan Ming 'Yuan, located on the western outskirts of Beijing, is adjacentto the Summer Palace. First built in the 46th year of the reign of Emperor Kongxi ( 1707) , it is composed of three gardens, i. e. Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan and Qichunyuan, with an area of 350 hectares, including a water area of 140 hectares. It has over one hundred landscape gardens, with a total building area of over 160,000 square meters. It was a large imperial garden built and managed by the emperors of the Gting Dynasty over 150 years. It inherited the excellent gardening traditions of over three thousand years in China and integrated the garden architecture of different styles, as can be reflected by the fact that it had the splendour and grandeur of the imperial structures and the serenity and gracefulness of gardens in the waterside towns in South China, and assimilated some elements from the European garden architecture. Yuan Ming Yuan used to be well-known in the world for its vast land scale, remarkable building techniques, elegant architectural groups, abundant cultural collections and profound national cultural connotations. It was reputated as "model of all gardening arts" and "Garden of Gardens". Unfortunately, this world-known garden was sacked and burned to the ground by the Anglo-French forces in October, 1860 and was later plundered and looted for many times. Consequently, the grand garden fell into ruins. Now, with the relics as the theme, Yuan Ming Yuan has formed a unique tourist scenery in combination with the history and vigorous atmosphere of the garden, having an important political and historical value as well as being a rare tourist resort.
圆明园坐落在北京西郊，与颐和园紧相毗邻。它始建于康熙四十六年(1707)，由圆明、长春、绮春三园组成。占地350公顷（5200余亩），其中水面面积约140公顷（2100亩），有园林风景百余处，建筑面积逾16万平方米，是清朝帝王在150余年间创建和经营的一座大型皇家宫苑。它继承了中国3000多年的优秀造园传统，既有宫廷建筑的雍容华贵，又有江南水乡园林的委婉多姿，同时，又吸取了欧洲的园林建筑形式，把不同风格的园林建筑融为一体，圆明园曾以其宏大的地域规模、杰出的营造技艺、精美的建筑景群、丰富的文化收藏和博大精深的民族文化内涵而享誉于世，被誉为“一切造园艺术的典范”和“万园之园”。不幸的是，这一世界名园于1860年10月惨遭英法联军野蛮的劫掠焚毁，以后又经历了无数次毁灭和劫掠，这一恢弘的名园最终沦为一片废墟。如今的圆明园遗址公园，以遗址为主题，形成了凝固的历史与充满蓬勃生机的园林气氛相结合的独特的旅游景观，既具有重大的政治历史价值，又是一处难得的旅游胜地。