ROYAL VIEW
The discovery of rock garden in Beijing’s Old Summer Palace will help the public better understand Qing-era construction. Wang Kaihao reports.
In the northwestern corner of Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, which spreads over 340 hectares, is a 15-meter-high rock garden with over 1,000 pieces of megalith.
It used to be the highest point of Yuanmingyuan (“the garden of perfect brightness”) — also known as Old Summer Palace — the large royal resort of the Qing Dynasty (16441911).
The layout of Yuanmingyuan was designed as a scaleddown replica of the country’s geographic features. So this rock garden represents the Kunlun Mountains, a range that extends over 3,000 kilometers on the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in Northwest China.
Invading Anglo-French forces burned down Yuanmingyuan in 1860 and turned this place once full of wonders into ruins. Nothing of consequence was visible around the rock garden until recently.
In an excavation lasting from June to November, archaeologists discovered a huge garden at the foot of the “miniature Kunlun Mountains”.
The 13,700-square-meter Zibi Shanfang, which literally means “a purple-and-green villa on the mountain”, was first built during the reign of Yongzheng (1722-35) and was renovated, in typical Jiangnan style (south of the Yangtze River), during the reign of his son Qianlong (1736-96).
Over 2,000 square meters were excavated this year. And archaeologists will expand the research site in 2019, says Zhang Zhonghua, leader of the archaeological team, who revealed the discovery to the public in Beijing last week.
Many stone relics, including towers, palaces, roads, sewage systems and bridges, were also unearthed.
“I didn’t expect so many findings because villagers from the surrounding area built new constructions after Yuanmingyuan was destroyed,” Zhang says.
Local people built and abandoned three villages in the area after 1860. But most of Zibi Shanfang’s foundations survived.
Zhang says the more than 2-meter-high foundation of the main hall in the garden was unearthed, and 2 meters are still underground.
“I’ve never seen so thick a foundation among the remains in Yuanmingyuan, which may show the great importance of this structure,” he explains.
“The foundation is even more solid than reinforced concrete today. It reflects the high level of craftsmanship at that time.”
A waterway was built in the garden to enable an emperor to enter by boat. Remains of several piers, which were absent in blueprints, were found.
The discovery of these remains may help experts to more accurately determine the time of the garden’s construction.
“Archaeological studies and historical records can complement each other,” he says.
Some constructional methods used above water are similar to those in Venice.
The similarity does not necessarily mean that China learned from Italy in ancient times, or vice versa, Zhang says.
“However, similar situations may inspire common wisdom among different cultures.”
A trail in the rock garden was also found in the recent discovery. Perhaps, Qianlong once stood at its highest point to view a panorama of the complex built at the zenith of Chinese garden construction.
Zhang says many relics indicating olden-day scenes are scattered among the pieces of megalith and will need further study.
Earlier this year, discovery of Ruyuan, a garden in the southeast of Yuanmingyuan, also grabbed public attention.
According to Li Bo, director of the administrative office of Yuanmingyuan Ruins Park, there are 86 visible sites above ground in the park, but many more are buried underground.
“When talking about Yuanmingyuan, many people believe little was left despite its past splendor,” Li says. “However, that’s not true. Many historical stories are hidden beneath the grass and earth but are neglected.
“We need to better display the sites after excavation. If the Forbidden City in Beijing is a museum for cultural relics, Yuanmingyuan can be a museum for ruins.”
It’s a widely held misconception among the Chinese public that Yuanmingyuan was built according to Western styles since the most famous aboveground icons that survived are columns and the gates of Xiyang Lou, a building that was built according to foreign conventions, Li says.
“However, Xiyang Lou accounts for only 2 percent of the area in Yuanmingyuan,” Li explains. “The true Yuanmingyuan can be unveiled through more studies on what’s underground.”
The government of Haidian district, where the park is located, has spent 5.6 billion yuan ($848 million) in recent years to relocate villagers living on an area of 22 hectares, which was the park of Yuanmingyuan.
“Villagers used to take bricks from the ruins to construct their own houses,” Li says.
“Now, we’ve reclaimed more than 80,000 bricks or other components. They can be used to restore some sites in the park.”
Some construction plans in Beijing have been amended to protect historical sites amid rapid urbanization.
Yu Ping, deputy director of Beijing’s Administration of Cultural Heritage, says the discoveries will consolidate the city’s status as a national cultural hub.
“Multiple ways are being developed to better use these cultural resources to benefit the public,” she says.
“That also serves the inheritance of cultural heritage, a goal emphasized by the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.” Contact the writer at wangkaihao@ chinadaily.com.cn