Hello, my dear fellows in the Hive universe!
I hope your day is going well and you are enjoying each day. Last weekend was fantastic for me since I visited Yuan Ming Yuan Park in Beijing, one of Beijing's most popular tourist destinations. It has been a long time since I have visited such an amazing place as the Long Winter. It is very hard to go outside and explore some places like this. So, now my goal is to cover the rest of the places which are not explored to be explored during the late spring and early summer season, which is also the best time to visit the natural scenic spots all over Beijing.
In general, the place is known as one of the Imperial Gardens among a lot in China and is occasionally referred to as the Old Summer Palace. It is also known as Yuanmingyuan (traditional Chinese: 圓明園; simplified Chinese: 圆明园; pinyin: Yuánmíng Yuán; which means 'Gardens of Perfect Brightness') or Yuanmingyuan Park as it is now known to the whole world. It is located towards the northwest of Beijing's City and can be visited through the subway or bus service very easily. This Old Summer Palace is a masterpiece of Chinese imperial garden and palace design and was renowned for its vast array of gardens, its architectural design, and its plethora of historical and artistic artefacts.
The Old Summer Palace, built in the course of the 18th and early 19th centuries, served as the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors' principal imperial home and the location of their handling of state matters. On October 6, 1860, French and British forces took control of the palace during the Second Opium War. Over the following three days, they plundered and destroyed the royal possessions. It took 4,000 men three days to demolish the palace since it covered more than 3.5 square kilometres (860 acres). Numerous priceless pieces of art, including sculptures, porcelain, jade, silk robes, ornate fabrics, gold artefacts, and more, were pilfered and are now housed in 47 museums worldwide, as reported by UNESCO. source
This beautiful roadside canal a white marble-like boundary and the bridge make footpath walking more enjoyable. This is the just opposite to the entrance of the park.
The entrance of the south gate where I take my selfie and the whole surrounding with the entrance gate at the south side of the park.
This is the whole map of the park, and I am at the right-bottom of the map. It is so difficult to cover all these locations in a single day to explore everything. It is very necessary to make your possible or intended route to make your walking efficient way; otherwise, you will face frequent crossing of the same routes, which is too much tiredness as the area is a vast area.
Currently, the vast area is a complete relic of the destroyed building, and I was shocked at how the huge area has become a place of dust with the thousands of pieces of concrete and signs of the great design of the complete location with hundreds of water channels and so many trees to make it a truly heavenly garden. The more I walked, the more I found so many parts to cover, and I was so tired that I could not finish it all, especially the part where some bigger relics are preserved; maybe on my next visit, I will go there to cover the rest of the park.
The park is a moving combination of historical artefacts and natural beauty that reminds the great China's rich past. I started my trip at the southern gate and found the traditional Chinese entrance with a vast empty space with a roadside rally of trees and a lake. The area's boundary is really big, and it is very difficult to make a plan for covering such an enormous area. And I was also unable to cover all the areas.
This whole ground was a great hall before it was destroyed, but now only a few relics are present. The surroundings of each hall or building are really so peaceful and soothing.
The Yuanmingyuan Park is astoundingly large. It used to be separated into three separate gardens, Yuanmingyuan, Changchunyuan (Garden of Everlasting Spring), and Qichunyuan (Garden of Flourishing Spring), covering an area of more than 3.5 square kilometres. There were distinctive building designs, landscapes, and creative works in every area. Even in its present condition, strolling around the park provided a window into its previous grandeur.
The first hall relics that I discovered were the remains of the Siyong Lodge, and I went further into that area to have a close look, which are just destroyed broken walls, but the floors are still okay in many places. Once resounding with imperial proclamations, its crumbling walls now murmured stories of a vanished age. A haunting beauty might be seen close by in the remnants of the lodge. Its skeleton structure produced a haunting and alluring sight still in this modern age.
Besides the relics surrounding beauty always charming and can attracted your sight at any direction. Though the naked trees are not so beautiful but they have decorated like painting by a great painter who knows how to make a place beautiful.
There were many exhibition buildings displaying the found artefacts scattered around the area. Bits of delicate porcelain and elaborate sculptures in jade, each preserving a little of the colourful history of Yuanmingyuan. A particularly moving exhibit included stolen artefacts that were subsequently returned to China, serving as a melancholy reminder of the palace's untimely demise.
The next relics area is the Lion Grove Garden, which is also a great place of beauty. A more interesting fact is that many rocks and expert designers were brought here for such magnificent works at that time.
In such a big country, doing these types of activities are really expensive and time-consuming, but the emperor or the ruling people were beauty lovers, and they bear all these costs and difficulties to make such a place to dwell in.
There was no denying the park's natural beauty, even with the winter temperature. The scenery was filled with well-planned gardens and man-made lakes among rolling hills. The trees had a stark grandeur even without their summer foliage, their naked limbs arching up to the winter sky.
Occasionally, the sound of birds singing or leaves rustling in the breeze would break the stillness. It was not difficult to see the gardens in full bloom during the warmer months, a riot of colour and scent. In the next spring and summer, guests may expect to experience the delightful aroma of blossoming peonies and the soothing sound of babbling brooks.
The elaborate canals and lakes winding through the gardens was one of its most remarkable features. Even though it's cold and dry now, I could only picture the tranquil beauty they must have brought in their heyday. These streams functioned as both a method of transportation and decorative features. On elaborate boats, emperors and their court would have cruised around the park, taking in the constantly shifting vistas.
I couldn't help but feel in awe and depressed as I strolled about the ruins. Every shattered china piece and every broken pillar murmured tales of a magnificent past. Nonetheless, there was a feeling of resiliency despite the destruction. The park itself remained sturdy, demonstrating China's resilient character.
The place is too large to cover all the locations on the map, so I could not manage my stamina to cover every place, but I have walked through many locations and taken many pictures of them surrounding my walking routes. I hope you will like these photos.
If you want to visit the park properly, my suggestion is to take time and bring enough snacks and water with you though you can get all of these foods items here but price will be slightly higher.
If you want to visit the park , you can get some useful information from the following figure.
I hope you like my visit to such an amazing place, my visit to the Yuan Ming Yuan Park. It was amazing to have visited an amazing place like this with the beauty of nature to enjoy and lose myself away from the whole busy life! If you have any queries, let me know in the comments, and I will try my best to answer them.
Thanks a lot for your time and attention, I will catch you at the next one.
Wish you a great day!
What an incredible place to visit!
Thanks for the support!
Hiya, @livinguktaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2157.
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